Mathias Schmit

Professor of finance at Solvay Brussels School, founder of Sagora

Mathias Schmit is the founder of Sagora, which he has led since its foundation in 2006. Holder of a PhD in management science, he has been a professor of finance at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (ULB) since 2003, where he is Academic Director of the Finance for Non-Financials programme at Solvay Lifelong Learning. He has also headed Solvay’s Centre for Financial Studies and contributed to policy analysis projects with the European Commission and the Belgian financial services authority. A research fellow at the Centre Emile Bernheim, he has authored reference work on credit risk in the leasing industry, microfinance and banking regulation, published notably in the Journal of Banking & Finance and in the SUERF Studies. His research on credit risk in microcredit and on European public financial institutions is cited internationally. As much a practitioner as an academic, he serves as an independent director on boards and committees. At Sagora, he teaches the "Financial diagnosis and planning" module of the Finance for managers programme and oversees the entire teaching method: starting from participants’ real financial statements to anchor every concept in their management practice.