Deogratias Bugandwa Mungu Akonkwa holds a PhD in Economics and Management from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Solvay Brussel School of Economics and Management). He has an advanced master (MSc) in Management Sciences from the Louvain School of Management (UCLouvain), and a Master in Financial Management (Catholic University of Bukavu). He also trained in Statistics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles; and earned a Certificate in Governance and Management of Microfinance Institutions (Boulder Institute of Microfinance - ILO/Turin). He has extensive experience in the management of higher education policies and microfinance institutions. Deogratias Bugandwa is a consultant for the United Nations, the World Bank, local and international non-governmental organizations. He is also a teacher-researcher, expert in financial inclusion, data analysis, market studies, project evaluation and the conduct of high-level scientific studies. He has published several articles in and acted as a reviewer for prestigious journals such as International Journal of Bank Marketing, Journal of Financial Services Marketing, International Journal of Quality Services, and African Journal of Marketing Management. He represents the DRC in an international consortium on savings groups at the level of Sub-Saharan Africa; working with colleagues from the University of Johannesburg and the Policy Evaluation and Education Platform (Portugal).