Sam Mendelson is co-founder of SPA – a microfinance social performance consultancy – and a freelance writer on various Africa-related subjects. He writes regularly for Africa Investor and Financial World on subjects including Ghana, Libya, Kenya, informal remittance models, and technology in microfinance. He has conducted social audits of MFIs and member training methodologies in West and East Africa, and is the co-author since 2009 of Microfinance Banana Skins – the gold standard survey of sector risk.

Sam was formerly Programme Director at the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation; Deputy Editor of Financial World, and a senior consultant at ESL&Network. He has undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Laws from the University of Western Australia, and a Master of Laws from UCL.