About DMA Global

Leon is recognised as a global authority in the remittances and money transfer industry as well as a seasoned expert and business leader. As one of the co-founders of DMA he has helped lead the company since 2007. He specialises on all elements in connection with remittances, payments, financial inclusion and diaspora investment.

Leon was also Managing Director of the International Association of Money Transfer Networks, an international trade association between 2008 and 2013 where he interacted with numerous regulators and stakeholders to represent the industry. 

He is an observer to the G20 Consultative Committee of the Private-Public Sector Partnership on Remittances and has a number of honorary roles within the industry.  Leon has spoken at, and chaired, numerous international conferences on remittances including at the World Bank, the United Nations and the G8.  He was a steering group member of the UK Government's Remittances Task Force, form its inception in 2005 until the completion of its work early in 2010.

Jonathan is a specialist in the field of international remittances with a background in managing remittances, financial literacy, migration and development projects, and foreign investments forums. In 2009 Jonathan launched DMA’s Asia Pacific operation in Sydney, Australia. From this office he manages the Australian and New Zealand government supported project, sendmoneypacific.org and the Australian government initiated www.sendmoneyasia.org website.

Furthermore, Jonathan is involved in major remittances projects including the World Bank’s ongoing global remittance prices database – remittanceprices.worldbank.org. He has managed investment programmes for a number of governments. Prior to his career at DMA, Jonathan was the production manager on flagship investment journals for both government and corporate clients and consulted on innovative remittances projects for DFID. Jonathan holds a degree in Economics and Public Policy.

Sarah is a specialist in the field of international remittances with a background in managing strategy and financials for new investment projects. Sarah’s main responsibilities include market entry and growth strategies for remittance service providers (RSPs), financial feasibilities for new investments and developments, competitive market analysis, project and pilot planning, monitoring & evaluation frameworks and providing advisory services on licensing and regulatory requirements.

Whilst working in the Business Development Department for one of the Dubai Government’s asset management companies, Sarah was responsible for conducting feasibility analyses on new business opportunities both in Dubai and internationally. Prior to that Sarah worked as a Senior Economic Researcher with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Sarah has a first class degree in Economics and a Masters in Economic Development.

Francine is a remittances, digital finance and diaspora matters expert with extensive experience delivering projects for public and private sector clients and bilateral and multilateral organisations. 

Following a career in project management within the UK banking sector, Francine began working with DMA Global in 2018. As Regional Manager, Africa, Francine has led research, policy analysis, and technical assistance projects across Africa and globally. Francine’s specialist areas include remittance market intelligence; digital finance; diaspora engagement and investment; stakeholder and consumer engagement strategies and financial inclusion. 

Francine is also a Remittances and Inclusive Digital Finance Specialist for the Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR) at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and a co-founder of the UK diaspora organisation Project 1957, an initiative dedicated to curating events and activities for the British Ghanaian diaspora, as well as friends of the diaspora. 

Francine completed a BSc in Computer Science at Brunel University and is currently studying for an MSc in Sustainable Development at the University of Sussex.

Nina Huelsken, is DMAG’s regulatory partner, specialising in regulatory advisory work cross border transaction processing, payments and e-commerce strategy. Services are individually designed and adjusted to the special needs of Payment Institutions, Payment Service Providers, Retail Banks and Banking Institutions as well as Fintech companies.

Nina’s work has included: management of EMI/ PI and banking license applications across EU member states (Cyprus/ Malta/ Luxembourg/ Netherlands/ Belgium/ UK/ Germany/Lithuania) for FinTechs; strategic advisory for a German private bank on BIN Sharing options; licensing issues with the Card Schemes; ATM and Cash Management; market entry for PSPs in Europe including applications for remittance companies; de-risking; AML, due diligence guidelines; codes of conduct; digitalization strategy; setting up an Acquiring Bank; advisory work on payments, payment ecosystems and rules and regulations by the Payment Card Schemes.

Nina has extensive practical payments history acquired through working for a number payments companies. She has a Masters in Political Science and Modern History.

Omolayo joined DMAG in 2019 as a Research Analyst. She is a multi-lingual researcher and strategist with over ten years experience in the African migration and diaspora space and has worked with private and public organizations to engage and mobilise diaspora communities. At DMAG, she has been the lead consultant or research manager on several key projects in Ethiopia, Nigeria and the ECOWAS region generally. Her areas of expertise lie in remittance data collection methodologies, diaspora engagement and investments; migration trends and policies, particularly within Africa and Europe; gender and racial equality globally; and remittances and digital financial inclusion, especially for marginalized women and youth in rural communities across Africa.

Omolayo holds an MSc with Distinction in Migration, Mobility and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and is fluent in French and English, with a high intermediate knowledge of Yoruba, and elementary knowledge of Wolof and Igbo.

Robyn has worked in the remittance industry for ten years and joined DMA in 2009. Predominantly her work has focussed on the World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide project, surveying costs of global money transfers, coordinating the team of field researchers and processing the data. Since moving to New Zealand in 2011 Robyn now also assists on projects based from the Australian office including sendmoneypacific.org. Robyn had previously worked for a consultancy setting up a DFID supported UK remittance prices project as well as having substantial experience as an editorial manager on a portfolio of business information titles aimed at the UK and international financial markets. Robyn also has experience in project management at the Commonwealth Institute and additionally for an acclaimed web-based events management consultancy.

Poppy is a senior analyst working on a range of projects at DMA Global for both donor organisations and private sector clients. Poppy’s role covers a variety of topics such as organising focus groups, conducting industry research, data analysis and presentation, and writing project reports. Poppy also manages many of DMAG’s social media activities and IT requirements.

Poppy joined DMAG in a graduate capacity after graduating from the University of Exeter in 2016.

Vibhor has been associated with DMA for some time, and has an experience of 7+ years in the area of research and data analytics with 5+ years experience in remittance and mobile payments sector. Prior to DMA, he has been associated with GSMA for 4+ years working in their Intelligence and Mobile Money teams, hence having a good exprience of remittances industry as well. He has completed his M.Sc. (International Economics) degree from London Metropoliton University, UK and did his B.A. Hons. (Economics) degree from Delhi University.

With a background in research to inform public policy and programmes, Kimberley joined DMAG as a Research Analyst in 2020 and works on a range of migration, remittances and diaspora engagement projects, particularly within Africa. She has experience leading on various aspects of project delivery across research design, participant recruitment and coordination, data analysis, and report writing and presenting.

Kimberley holds an MSc with Distinction in Globalisation and Development from SOAS, University of London and First-Class undergraduate degree from the University of Durham. She also recently completed the certificate programme in Migration Governance and Diaspora Engagement run by GRFDT, iDiaspora, ADEPT and CISAN.

Eden has a background in humanitarian and development research and has a focus on innovation in development. In his previous involvement with the Western Sydney University Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative, he studied the application of best practice principles and the factors that led to their success. He has a passion for holistic and cutting-edge development strategies.

He has been working with the DMAG team as a Research Analyst since 2021 and has worked on several remittance analytic projects as well as labour migration research pieces in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

He holds a bachelor in Humanitarian and Development Studies with Western Sydney University. His studies included a global outlook, including working and studying in Nepal, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, and Timor Leste.