Martha Sazon, president and CEO of Mynt, the parent company of GCash, has once again earned a place on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women 2026 Asia list, marking her third consecutive year of recognition. The distinction highlights her contributions to transforming financial access in the Philippines and establishing GCash as the country’s #1 finance superapp.
Sazon took the helm during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading GCash through a period of unprecedented demand for digital financial services. Guided by a strong customer-first approach, she helped transform the platform into an essential lifeline for Filipinos, expanding access to digital payments, savings, credit, insurance, and investments.
Under her leadership, Mynt became the Philippines’ first and only $5 billion unicorn, integrating itself into the daily lives of millions of Filipinos and becoming a household name—even a verb used across the country. Building on this growth, the company is now undertaking its historic initial public offering (IPO), described as the largest in Philippine history. Its inclusive pricing structure is designed to give everyday Filipinos the opportunity to participate in the investment market, broadening access to wealth-building opportunities nationwide. This milestone reinforces Mynt’s position as a transformative force in Philippine fintech and reflects investor confidence in its long-term vision.
Sazon’s influence extends well beyond GCash. She has represented Philippine fintech and innovation at prominent international gatherings, including the World Economic Forum in Davos, the International Monetary Fund Executive Board Retreat, the Global Summit of Women in Dubai, and the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. More recently, she participated in the UN Global Compact (UNGC) Leaders Summit 2026 in New York City. By bringing the Philippine experience to these global platforms, she has helped showcase the country’s growing role in advancing inclusive digital finance.
“I’m grateful for this recognition, which reflects the work of the whole team behind what we do. For us at GCash, ‘Finance for All’ means using technology to make everyday life better and create more opportunities for Filipinos. There’s still so much more we can do, and that’s what keeps us going,” said Sazon.
The impact of her leadership is particularly evident in the Philippines’ progress toward financial inclusion. GCash has pioneered inclusive lending through GScore, its AI-powered credit scoring system, which evaluates digital behavior rather than relying solely on traditional collateral. Through this approach, the platform has expanded loan access to more than 11 million borrowers, half of whom are women.
Before the pandemic, only 29% of Filipinos had bank accounts, while formal borrowing penetration stood at just 12%, and 40% relied on informal lenders. Today, largely driven by the growth of financial applications such as GCash, 50% of Filipino adults have a formal financial account. This progress is helping bridge the divide between the banked and unbanked, enabling households to manage everyday expenses, supporting small businesses, and strengthening communities. These innovations demonstrate the potential of fintech to promote financial empowerment on a broader scale.
Sazon brings three decades of professional experience spanning multiple industries, including consumer goods, telecommunications, and fintech. Before joining Mynt, she spent 12 years at Globe Telecom, where she led growth initiatives across mobile postpaid, small and medium enterprise (SME), and broadband services. She graduated cum laude with a degree in business administration and accountancy from the University of the Philippines Diliman and pursued further studies at IMD, INSEAD, and Harvard Business School.
Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Asia list is among the publication’s most prestigious recognition programs, honoring 150 women leaders across the region whose influence extends across business, culture, and public life. Candidates are assessed based on scale, innovation, influence, trajectory, and impact, making inclusion highly competitive and a significant benchmark of leadership achievement in Asia. Sazon’s continued presence on the list recognizes her accomplishments at GCash and places her among the region’s influential business leaders.
Her recognition also highlights how Philippine fintech, under her leadership, continues to advance financial inclusion through customer-focused innovation, create opportunities for communities, and strengthen the country’s standing on the global stage while contributing to nation-building.
For more information, visit www.gcash.com.
