About Speaker
Jhale Hajiyeva has over 20 years of experience in microfinance, project management, financial inclusion, and financial sector development. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Azerbaijan Micro-finance Association (AMFA), leading initiatives to strengthen the capacity of microfinance institutions, expand access to financial services, and promote the sustainable development of the sector. She has played a key role in advancing socio-economic innovations in the financial sector at both national and international levels, including diversification of financial products and development of microfinance networks. From 2008 to 2014, she was the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Microfinance Centre for Eastern Europe and the CIS, and from 2009 to 2015, she served on the Board of Directors of the SEEP Network. Between 2012 and 2021, she was a member of SEEP’s Advisory Council on Association Development. Her contributions have been recognized with several awards by SEEP Network, IFC, ASK, and EBRD. In 2017, she was awarded the “Progress” Medal by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan for her contribution to the country’s economic development and support for entrepreneurial policy.
Since 2013, Jhale Hajiyeva has been a member of the Presidium of the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (ASK), Chair of the Commission on Women’s Entrepreneurship Development, and a member of the Commission on Financial Institutions. Since 2017, she has also served as ASK’s Vice President, responsible for women’s entrepreneurship and microfinance. She is a co-founder of the Association for the Development of Women’s Entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan and, as of 2025, a member of the Public Council under the Small and Medium Business Development Agency (KOBİA).
