Izzat Begum B Rajan

 25 years of experience in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India.
Expat for 18 years (UK, Mali, Gabon, Denmark, Cameroon, UAE, Kenya) and relocated back to Paris, France (end 2020).Offers a unique blend of skills to handle Tax, Legal, and Financial matters gained in multinationals and consulting firms (Cap Gemini, Loyens, TRACFIN, Maersk, EY) combined with a strong knowledge of impact projects and social enterprises mainly gained at the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).Leadership: Reached top-level Management at the age of 35 as the youngest Direct Admit Equity Partner at EY (Tax and Law Services in Francophone Africa). Board and C-suite positions held continuously since 2005: CEO, COO, CFO, CLO, CLTO, Advisory Board member, Trustee, and Board Chair. Industry focus: Financial (TradFi, DeFi); Emerging Tech (Blockchain, DAO, Metaverse, AI); Shipping, Port Operations, and related services; Energy and Renewables; Large infrastructure projects.Strengths: Collaborative and Authentic Leadership, Problem-solver of complex issues, Process-oriented (Finance, Accounting, Tax, Law, Compliance, HR, and IT), and Result-driven. Robust expertise in Diplomatic, Commercial Negotiations, and cross-border ADR/ODR as a Certified Negotiator/Mediator, and International Faculty (CEDR in London, UK).
Weaknesses: it is always chocolate o’clock somewhere in the world!
Professional Values: Integrity, Critical thinking, Inclusiveness, Agility, Diplomacy.Multilingual: Native speaker of Gujarati, English, and French; Professional: Danish; Intermediary: German.Hobbies: Licensed practice of Judo for 40 years as a Veteran Athlete and Sensei (Black Belt 1 Dan).
Education: Master’s Degree in Business Law and Taxation (University Panthéon-Assas, France); LL.M. in Banking Law and Law of International Finance.(School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London, UK); Ph.D. candidate in Tax Law: The Legal Framework and the Taxation of Crypto Asset(s) focusing on Utility Tokens (in progress at the University of (highlights): Legal and Tax engineering of the first fundraise through NFT/f-NFT in East Africa to finance affordable housing projects (resulting in the growth of the domestic mortgage markets by 10%) evolving toward a DAO; Structuring of hybrid financial products (fiat-crypto) bringing institutional and crypto investors together in Europe and Africa; DAO and Tokenization of scientific research related IP (DeSciFi) for novel science (genetics, neuroscience); Tokenization of industrial IP and dissemination of knowledge in an educational metaverse in Europe.Conferences (highlights): Closing remarks at the Innovative Legal Services Forum, AI in Dispute Resolution (2019); Legal, Accounting, and Tax compliance issues related to the issuance of an NFT, Oxford University’s First Blockchain, Art & Technology Conference, OxBAT (2022); Taxation of digital assets, University of Amsterdam (2023); CBDCs in Africa, Université Paris-Dauphine, Campus Tunis (2023).