To conclude our series profiling the finalists of the ITFA Emerging Leaders Competition, we can proudly announce that we have a winner!
At the competition finals, hosted at the ITFA Annual Conference in Split, Croatia, Harry Thursby-Pelham received the 2026 ITFA Emerging Trade Financier Award for his project submission ‘Fluent in Finance’, an app that seeks to gamify the learning of trade finance in much the same way apps like Duolingo have done for the learning of languages. He hopes that the project can help unlock the ‘black box’ that trade finance can often seem to be to those unfamiliar with the subject and get new crops of talent engaged with learning about the industry.
When asked how it feels to have won the prestigious award, “AMAZING!” was his simple answer. “One of the main things that attracted me to finance is its resemblance to languages,” he explains. “It’s nice to have been able to marry those two passions together in one app”.
His project was one born of enthusiasm, and he’s extremely gratified other people seem as excited about it as he is. Following the presentation, several organisations have approached Harry expressing an interest in partnering with him to take the app to the next level, including his own employer, HSBC. “I can’t wait to see what the future holds,” he says in the wake of experiencing the real benefit of the ITFA Emerging Leaders programme.
Competitions like this are about more than the prize awarded onstage – they open doors to future opportunities that the finalists may not have known even existed. Harry recognises that stepping through these doors can “help turn my dream into a reality”.
This year’s competition for the Emerging Leader Award was fierce, with fellow finalists Mohit Panjwani and Ayush Bhandari each presenting innovative ideas for tackling complex areas of the industry. Mohit’s project submission ‘Dynamic Trade Credit Intelligence Infrastructure (DTCII)’ offered a practical way to get disparate evidence of trade activities into a trusted information layer that allows banks to properly assess the cases of SMEs, while Ayush’s paper ‘Risk that Cannot Travel: Rewiring Trade Finance in a Fragmented World’ sought to address a fundamental contradiction in the industry: that the enormous pools of global capital fail to meet the viable trade transactions in emerging and frontier markets.
Three fascinating project submissions from three talented finalists, all in agreement that simply making it to the final was the real prize.
Every aspect of attending the award finals at the ITFA Annual Conference in Croatia was an exciting and rewarding one for Harry. Beyond being “an adventure with fun, beaches, and free drinks”, it also presented an “unmatched networking opportunity,” in Harry’s words. “I cannot think of another occasion when I will get to know so many heads of industry on a first name basis and be able to present on stage something of use to them”.
Ultimately, the mission of the ITFA award is to allow emerging leaders in the field of trade finance to showcase their ability and add value to the industry. From the strength of this year’s finalists and its eventual winner, it is safe to say this mission was very much accomplished.
The importance of initiatives like this is clear for an industry that sometimes seems to face an uphill battle attracting new talent and charting its future. Bringing emerging leaders like Harry, Mohit, and Ayush to the ITFA Annual Conference definitely helps win this battle and ensure the future is in safe hands. As Harry himself concludes, “trade finance is an industry that is looking for young people to help shape it, so the chance is there for the taking”.
And Harry certainly took it! Congratulations to the winner of the 2026 ITFA Emerging Leader Award, Harry Thursby-Pelham.
