Kaivan K. Sattar

Kaivan K. Sattar has a wealth of work experience in the financial sector. In 2016, they were the CEO and Founder of Asaak, a Ugandan fintech company providing asset financing to SMEs. In 2018, the company raised a $1.5M seed round backed by American and African VCs. That same year, Sattar began working as an Instructor for FinTech School. Prior to that, they worked as a Data Scientist for LendingHome in 2016 and a Senior Model Developer and Senior Research Analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2012-2016. Kaivan K.'s work at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York included using machine learning and time series methods to forecast how the U.S. economy would respond to a rise in interest rates, studying the optimal control problem, conducting A/B testing and segmented analysis on iterations of the Survey of Consumer Expectations, and writing and editing policy-oriented articles for the New York Fed's website. Before that, Sattar was a Research Intern for Innovations for Poverty Action in 2011, an Intern for B.A.S.I.C.S International in 2010, and an Economic Empowerment Intern for Sanctuary for Families in 2009. Kaivan K. also conducted independent research for BRAC and Grameen Bank in 2009.

Kaivan K. Sattar received a Master of Science (MS) in Operations Research from Columbia Engineering between 2013 and 2016. Prior to that, they obtained a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Mathematics & Economics from New York University between 2008 and 2012.