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Aparna Jhajharia
Head - Programme Delivery
Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN)
View LinkedIn profileAparna has 18+ years of experience leading commercial and programme strategy across fintech, mining and energy. She specialises in building institutional trust and delivering complex, high-impact initiatives.
She has built and scaled digital financial infrastructure across Africa, South Asia, ASEAN and Central Asia, working directly with central banks and multilateral institutions. Her work includes designing public–private frameworks and developing the first global metahub for cross-border B2B trade, integrated with India’s ONDC.
Aparna currently leads programme delivery for government-linked digital inclusion and AI ecosystem initiatives in India and internationally. Previously, she negotiated mining contracts worth more than US$1 billion, delivered over US$350 million in category savings, and led a major internal transformation programme for a renewable energy organisation.
She is a strong advocate for diversity across gender, age, culture and experience as a driver of better outcomes.
Speaking At
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1:45–3:15pmTue 17 NovPublic-Private RoundtableRoundtable Room 4Invite-OnlyModerator
Enabling The Next Wave Of Innovation
Built for Enterprise, Priced Out for SMEs: Closing the Emerging Tech Access Gap
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Amira KarimHead of International Public Policy, Payments & Financial ServicesAmazon
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Helena ForestExecutive Vice President, Global Product & Commercial, Real Time PaymentsMastercard
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Jiang FangfangAsia Lead for Digital Financial ServiceInternational Finance Corporation
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Aparna JhajhariaHead - Programme DeliveryGlobal Finance & Technology Network (GFTN)Moderator
About this session
A report by Google and the India SME Forum found that AI adoption by India's MSMEs could unlock more than US$490 billion in economic value, and that number sits inside a pattern that isn't unique to India. OECD data shows that each wave of digital adoption has widened, not narrowed, the gap between SMEs and large enterprises: cloud adoption gaps grew even as SME uptake rose, and AI is following the same trajectory, with large firms adopting AI at more than three times the rate of small ones. Limited access to compute, skilled labour, and capital means this next wave of AI-led transformation risks further locking SMEs out of gains at a scale the world has not yet seen.
This roundtable, held under Chatham House Rule, convenes policymakers, industry associations, multilateral organisations, investors, banks, and technology providers best positioned to close this gap. Discussants will explore whether AI adoption genuinely changes SME bankability and risk profiles, the interventions policymakers, industry associations, and investors can make to improve the structural conditions that enable access for SMEs, and the concrete strategies for AI adoption that SMEs can undertake to reduce costs and increase revenue.
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