The Mastercard Foundation has announced the appointment of Rosy Fynn as the new Country Head for Ghana. In her role, she will lead the delivery of the Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy to unlock work opportunities for three million young Ghanaian women and men in the agricultural value chain.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Rosy was the Chief Executive Officer of BusyInternet, a leading 4G internet provider in Ghana, where she spearheaded the turnaround of the business with a focus on digital transformation. Her impact at the company earned her the coveted Outstanding Telecommunication CEO of the Year honours at the 2021 Entrepreneurs and Corporate Executive Awards.
Rosy is a mentor for Emerging Public Leaders, an organisation focused on creating a new generation of public servants committed to social impact. She is also an advocate for women in STEM and her active participation in STEM initiatives has resulted in her being named one of 30 Top women in STEM in 2020, by The Stem Woman Project.
Rosy is also a member of the prestigious Archbishop Tutu Fellowship, a programme focused on identifying, nurturing, and equipping Africa’s future leaders with the tools they need to address the continent’s challenges.
She assumes Nathalie Akon Gabala’s role, who recently transitioned to Regional Director, West, Central, and Northern Africa for the Mastercard Foundation, to focus on the expansion of the Foundation’s regional work, which started in August 2021.
According to Nathalie, “Rosy has extensive senior leadership experience across the private sector and her deep passion for empowering young people will be instrumental to our work in the country. She joins at a time when the Foundation is gearing up to implement our reimagined Young Africa Works in Ghana strategy, which will deepen our agricultural sector efforts, unlock work opportunities, and make the sector more rewarding for young Ghanaian women and men.”
Rosy joins the Foundation with over 17 years of extensive experience across multiple industries, including telecommunications, financial services, consulting, and insurance. She also has over a decade of executive experience in transforming organisations across Africa, the United States, and the Caribbean.
“I am delighted to join the Mastercard Foundation, an organisation that I admire for their longstanding commitment to Africa – supporting education and promoting financial inclusion for some of the most vulnerable and excluded populations on the continent – and for the Foundation’s deep focus on young people, a passion I mutually share,” said Rosy Fynn.
Rosy holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA (honours) in Computer Science and Mathematics from Smith College, Massachusetts, USA.
Young Africa Works in Ghana
The Foundation’s vision for Young Africa Works in Ghana is that by 2030, the country will be a continental demonstration of young people, especially women, harnessing opportunities to shape the future of work and to create an inclusive economy with enhanced resilience for the most vulnerable.
To achieve this vision, the Foundation is focusing its efforts in the agricultural sector, using a value chain and market systems development approach, and addressing barriers by leveraging digital solutions to enhance productivity, and providing access to financial services to value chain operators.
The Foundation’s work will also support policy implementation to unlock the full potential of the agricultural sector to create work opportunities for young Ghanaian women and men.