Each year, the ITFA Emerging Leaders initiative challenges the next generation of trade finance professionals to develop and present a project of their own choosing related to the industry. From this year’s entries, three finalists have been selected to present their ideas at the ITFA Annual Conference in Split, Croatia, where delegates will ultimately vote for the winner.
Ahead of the final, TTP is profiling each of the three candidates, exploring the ideas behind their projects and the people behind the pitches. Rounding out the series is Mohit Panjwani and Dynamic Trade Credit Intelligence Infrastructure (DTCII), which asks whether the evidence SMEs already generate through everyday trade can be turned into something underwriters can actually use.
Practical, firsthand experience inspired Mohit’s project submission. Despite completing undergraduate study in finance, trade finance was largely an unknown arena until he began working in trade credit insurance on an internship at Allianz. This offered invaluable knowledge that he brought home when he began working at his family business as a sales director a little over a year ago. Putting his new perspectives to use, he noticed a gap in their operations.
Mohit observed that his family electronics trading company had surprisingly few buyers from Africa. The reason for this appeared to be simply because there was limited access to trade finance support in-country in the region, with more of a reliance on cash or bank transfers. With Mohit’s business typically dealing in larger wholesale volumes, small cash-reliant transaction like these were difficult.
There was a problem here, and Mohit was determined to find a solution. Interrogating the challenges and consulting with colleagues revealed that it seemed much of the evidence banks need to offer trade finance solutions was being generated by trade-active SMEs, but not necessarily in a form they could easily use. It was fragmented, inconsistent, or difficult to verify, so banks were deeming strong businesses as high-risk simply because the evidence was tricky to assess.
DTCII is based around a very simple question: if the evidence of trade activity already exists across customs systems, logistics platforms, bank records, and buyer histories, what would it take to turn that evidence into something an underwriter can actually use? SMEs could access valuable trade finance if there was simply a trusted, neutral information layer that collated, organised, and verified disparate information into an accessible source of truth. DTCII would provide this data layer.
Mohit has chosen Morocco as the pilot for DTCII. It is a growing market and already has a lot of infrastructure in place as it transitions to digitalisation, but it also has a $20.4 billion MSME financing gap. He believes DTCII can close this gap. Seeing how it works as a practical solution in this pilot would provide insight into how DTCII can be of benefit in smaller, ‘riskier’ markets.
With a love of numbers, strong attention to detail, and aptitude for spotting patterns, Mohit seems the blueprint for the perfect analyst. He is calculating by nature, wanting to know all the variables before making a decision. But he also has a restless mind and is the kind of person who needs music playing while he works as a baseline level of distraction. His mind seems to be always racing, like the karts he drives to unwind in his downtime.
By his own admission, Mohit is something of an introvert. Finding the confidence to actively engage with colleagues and clients has been a large personal undertaking and proud professional accomplishment. But it is through engaging and interacting with people where he finds the greatest joys, and perhaps the source of his greatest strength. Collaboration is his engine for growth. He takes something away from everyone he meets and every interaction he has. He learns through other people’s experience, and an innate love of helping others presents him with plenty of learning opportunities.
It is this want to help people that seems to ultimately drive him. He has a strong desire to build something of his own and make an impact bigger than simply increasing profits for his company. With a project that has the potential to be a driver for growth and prosperity the world over, he might just achieve that goal and leave that impact.
