Sally Asaad

After earning her BA of business administration in finance from The American University in Cairo (AUC), her professional journey began as a corporate banker at Egypt’s foremost privately owned bank CIB Egypt. Accredited by Chase Manhattan Bank, she delved into the intricacies of customizing credit and relationship management across 16 diverse industries, overseeing substantial portfolios and syndicated finance for an extensive nine-year tenure. 

She transitioned to spearhead business development, co-leading initiatives in global transaction & digital banking. Her progression led to pivotal responsibilities, which mainly revolved around contributing to CIB’s digital transformation and innovation strategic efforts by leading and fostering engagements with fintechs, startups, as well as nurturing intrapreneurship within the bank. In five years, she integrated multifaceted concepts encompassing digital transformation, innovation, finance, psychology, and training methodologies. Simultaneously, Asaad contributed significantly as part of the bank’s sustainability development task force for 8 years; and conducted technical trainings, offloading awareness campaigns, onboarding workshops for new hires, interns, branch staff, and credit course employees across CIB. 

Additionally, for two years, she embarked on freelance consultancy services through which she advised 6 key players predominantly in fintech, NBFIs, edtech, HORECA and IoT sectors. Her consultancy journey coincided with her lifelong commitment to leadership, having initiated training programs since the age of 16, and subsequently, leading scout teams and leading leaders at the age of 28. 

Asaad is also a certified positive psychology, group, and relationship coach.

Presently, she is the co-founder of Balad, a fintech venture aimed at revolutionizing cross-border transactions established in 2022.