Stewart Pirnie

Stewart has 40 years of experience in the field of equipment leasing working with leasing companies across Central and Eastern Europe, South America, Asia and Africa. He has established and managed leasing companies in transition economies, most notably in Poland. Stewart began his leasing career in the UK, but through project work for De Lage Landen Leasing also gained overseas experience.

He spent three years as Managing Director and President of De Lage Landen Leasing Polska S.A., where the company grew from a green field start-up to become the tenth largest leasing company in Poland within 18 months. Prior to becoming a consultant, he was Group Chief Executive Officer of the New Europe Leasing Division of UniCredito Italiano based in Warsaw. In this role Stewart was responsible for the development of Unicredito’s leasing companies throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Since the end of 2003, Stewart has worked as a leasing and business consultant on projects in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation in Palestine, Liberia, Myanmar, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mali, Haiti, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Mongolia, Nicaragua, and Bolivia (the projects in the last five countries included developing leasing legislation).

He was the lead writer of IFC’s leasing manual (Leasing in Development; Guidelines for Emerging Economies). Stewart has also worked on projects with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development developing the technical knowledge of leasing companies in Latvia, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria and Moldova and has directly advised leasing companies in Algeria, Tunisia, Russia, Vietnam, Mongolia, Romania, Moldova, Trinidad, Egypt and Peru.

He co-operated with AGCO (the third largest global agricultural equipment manufacturer) from 2009 to 2014 developing leasing solutions for their retailers in Central Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, South Africa and Turkey. Recently Stewart has redrafted the Financial Leasing Laws in Mongolia and Montenegro as part of EBRD initiatives and is working with KfW (the German Development Bank) on agricultural equipment financing initiatives in Zambia and Ethiopia.