Berta Arsénio Da Silva Shingirayi

Biography

My academic and professional background are in both finance and economics; I began my career as a Finance Assistant for the Finance Director of the Aga Khan Foundation Portugal, which is part of a global network of organizations working in social and economic development. During that time I pursuit two Master’s degrees, the first in development economics with a specialization in food security and the second in finance, specifically the field of microfinance. Thereafter, I took on a role with the Aga Khan Foundation Mozambique where I was the Finance Manager within the organization’s Coastal Rural Support Programme, a position that I left to focus on my studies.  The experience I obtained in these posts instilled in me a strong interest in the links between financial issues and development processes, thus encouraging me to focus on these topics more fully in an academic environment. Therefore, I enrolled in a PhD programme in Development Finance at Stellenbosch University in 2014. In January 2018 I joined the French School of Cape Town as a Finance and Administrative Director where I achieved great results within an international environment. In 2019 I moved back to Portugal and joined TESE (a Portuguese NGO that operates mainly in African countries) as a Financial Advisor.

In addition to the role of Financial Director I started teaching at ISEG as a part-time worker in 2022. By taking this new role I found out that I wanted to do it full time and contribute with my experience to the field of management and finance.