Nageen Qasim: Inclusive finance through fintech and strategic leadership

What is your professional and educational background?

I have over a decade of experience in programme management in the global financial markets/fintech space where I have led multi-million dollar initiatives including mergers and acquisitions deals. Currently, I lead the Project Management Office for a payments fintech based in New York and I am charged with running strategic initiatives across the organisation as well as optimising our M&A portfolio.

I graduated magna cum laude from American University where I majored in International Business and also took up another language, Spanish!

What is the most exciting thing about your work?

I’m an avid problem-solver at heart and love a good challenge! My profession provides me the flexibility, autonomy and space to come up with creative solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing the payments fintech space today. Some of our customers are small businesses and it’s incredibly fulfilling to be able to craft bespoke solutions for them and create stakeholder value in the process. 

What attracted you to Cambridge Judge Business School and the Global Executive MBA?

Cambridge’s strong start-up culture, known as Silicon Fen, along with its ties to expert practitioners and international business communities, were a few of my top reasons for choosing this programme. Moreover, the Global Executive MBA provides a perfect blend of both in-person and online learning aimed at maximising all the key elements of a robust MBA programme including cross-functional collaboration, networking, diversity and innovation. I truly feel like I have the best of both worlds!

What are you hoping to get out of the Global Executive MBA?

I’m most excited about the prospect of building an international network and learning from some of the brightest and most innovative minds in the business world. Moreover, as I think through my next professional endeavour, I’m looking forward to learning about how I can scale my managerial expertise to enter the C-suite and serve as an effective and dynamic leader. 

What are your career ambitions in the long term?

Long-term, I plan on transitioning to either the fashion tech or financial inclusion space as a Chief of Staff/Executive Director. I’m exploring opportunities to build on my program management experience and bringing my strategic skills to the exciting spaces of financial inclusion and fashion tech.