Lawrence Yanovitch is the president of the GSMA Foundation which supports programmes to connect the underserved to a better future. The Foundation brings together the mobile industry, adjacent industries, and the international development community in order to advance commercial business models in connectivity, health, education, banking, women’s empowerment, agricultural productivity, identity, and renewable energy.

Mr Yanovitch was previously an officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where he managed a portfolio of investments in financial services for the unbanked targeted to reach 80 million households. Prior to that, he had a long career in microfinance and philanthropy.

He is a former member of the management team at FINCA and of the faculty of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Lawrence’s hobbies include learning new languages, and he currently speaks six fluently.