Explore the latest global and regional insights from Women’s World Banking’s work in policy, leadership, women’s entrepreneurship, gender lens investing, and more.
Spanning operations in 35 countries and comprised of 62 diverse financial services providers, Women’s World Banking’s Global Network is the only network focused on driving inclusive access to and usage of financial services for low-income women across the globe. In honor of Women’s History Month in March, we are proudly
For 43 years, Women’s World Banking’s Global Network has played a vital role in advancing our mission of empowering low-income women through financial inclusion. This Women’s History Month, we are celebrating milestone anniversaries of eight of our Network Members, showcasing their achievements in advancing women’s financial inclusion and gender equality.
SME Finance Forum and Women’s World Banking’s hosted panel explores how financial service providers can leverage business support services to empower women-led businesses with the skills, networks, and resources needed to reach their growth potential. For micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), monetary support is not the sole determinant of
By Andy Woolnough, Global Head of Advocacy and Ade Ashaye, Executive Vice President, Women’s World Banking This blog was written with the kind support of the Visa Foundation. The impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the global economy will only become fully known in the coming months, as government responses
She Counts, a global platform that harnesses the power of financial services to put savings and financial tools in the hands of women, enabling them to plan for a more prosperous future.
Women’s World Banking undertook research to determine why women aren’t saving actively in a bank and tested prototypes to change that behavior.
Essential considerations for successful youth banking propositions that increase youth’s economic opportunity and offer a valuable business case to banks.
Women’s World Banking hosted a workshop in Nigeria for our partners on advancing women’s financial inclusion through digital financial services.
Women’s World Banking hosted a digital financial services workshop in Nigeria to facilitate peer learning among financial institutions leveraging digital technology to serve low-income women.
Diamond Bank today joins Women’s World Banking to host a global discussion on the role of digital financial services in empowering low-income women who do not have access to formal financial products. During a three-day workshop, discussants from the Central Bank of Nigeria, MTN Nigeria, Diamond Bank Plc, Jazz of Pakistan, BIMA of Cambodia and Women’s World Banking will examine the best practices in developing, enhancing and delivering world-class digital financial services to women.
A new case study on our work with NBS Bank designing a digital savings account that addresses the barriers to banking facing low-income women in rural Malawi.
Africa.com highlights our Africa Advisory Council meeting which focused on women’s financial inclusion, held during WEF Africa.
On International Women’s Day, Women’s World Banking announces that Banco de Ahorro y Crédito ADOPEM, S.A. (Banco ADOPEM) of the Dominican Republic receives the Excellence in Leadership Award. The award recognizes Banco ADOPEM’s commitment to promoting gender diversity among the organization’s staff, leadership and governance alongside its mission to serve low-income women.
Women’s World Banking went to Lagos to join Diamond Bank in launching their agency banking model for Nigeria’s un- and underbanked population.
National Microfinance Bank Plc (NMB) in collaboration with global nonprofit Women’s World Banking is launching WAJIBU, a family of youth savings accounts paired with a financial capability program designed to help youth and parents in schools across Tanzania save and manage money together for a bright future.
Jordan’s Microfund for Women and global nonprofit Women’s World Banking will host representatives from around the world for an intensive workshop on microinsurance in Amman. Microfund for Women, a Women’s World Banking network member, created the first private health microinsurance offering in Jordan.
Providing savings for low-income segments is a valuable opportunity for commercial banks. Three CEOs share how they made the strategic decision to serve this market.
The International Day of Rural Women was established by the General Assembley in 2007, and this year was celebrated on the October 15. Over the past few years, MI-BOSPO has marked this day by organizing trade fairs with our clients and members of the Women’s in Business Network.
A profile of Frances Sinha, co-founder of one of the largest social enterprises in India, Economic Development Associates, on her life’s work in financial inclusion.
Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation is a semi-finalist in this year’s award recognizing excellence in serving clients in post-disaster/ conflict areas and fragile states.
Kashf Foundation has been awarded with client protection certification by Smart Campaign for meeting excellent standards of customer care which are globally recognized.
Head of consumer business at NBS Bank (Malawi) shares his key takeaways from an agency banking training in Tanzania led by Women’s World Banking and Helix Institute.
Women’s World Banking’s Susan Gao wrote a piece for the Better Than Cash Alliance blog about our recent agency banking training in Tanzania
Ujjivan (India) leaders visit fellow network member Fundación delamujer (Colombia) to learn individual lending best practices.
The volunteers were in Bolivia as part of DB’s Corporate Community Partnership (CCP) Program, a volunteer program aimed at providing employees an opportunity to use their skills to support a DB partner organization in a meaningful way. Given Women’s World Banking’s long relationship with DB, we were honored to facilitate Pedro, Costina and Katharina’s engagement with FUNBODEM. This is the eighth time over the last six years that DB employees have volunteers to work work with a Women’s World Banking Network member.
KWFT Celebrates 32 Years of Banking on Women
The Chair of Kenya Women’s Finance Trust (KWFT) and Women’s World Banking Board Chair, Dr. Jennifer Riria was nominated in the Masters category for the Ernst and Young Awards.
In 2012, an estimated 64 percent of Nigerians were unbanked and had never accessed any formal financial services or products, a number that is higher for women: nearly 73 percent of all Nigerian women are unbanked. This number does not include figures for the underbanked—men and women who have had
With 39 members across 28 countries, Women’s World Banking’s network is often faced with the tremendous challenge of operating in a crisis.
Women’s World Banking worked with Visa. In Nigeria, just 26% of women and 12% of low-income adults have formal bank accounts, according to a 2012 report from the World Bank.
India network member Ujjivan has just released the results of an independent impact assessment survey.
Women’s World Banking is proud to announce that three members of the Women’s World Banking network have been ranked in the top 20 list of microfinance institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean: Banco WWB, Banco ADOPEM and Fundación delamujer.
India network member Ujjivan raised INR 50 Crores of debt capital through issuance of listed, secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to Oikocredit, an international cooperative and social investor.
Women’s World Banking and Diamond Bank (Nigeria), with the support of Visa, developed a savings product to promote financial inclusion for low-income un(der)banked women in the country.
Head of Pakistan network member Kashf Foundation and member of the Women’s World Banking board Roshaneh Zafar was interviewed by authors of the Ashoka blog on Forbes.com
Essma ben Hamida and Essia Nciri, two leaders from our Tunisian network member, enda inter-arabe, were featured by The Montreal Gazette on a list of women who were instrumental in transforming the political landscape of Tunisia.
Julián Acuña, business banking manager at Santander Banefe, discusses the bank’s new product, Santander Select.
The Post Nigeria featured the launch of BETA Savings, a project Women’s World Banking developed with Diamond Bank to provide easy savings accounts to low-income women in Nigeria.
Samit Ghosh, head of India network member Ujjivan and Women’s World Banking board member, shared his experiences of the Financial Inclusion Symposium last July 19-20, 2013 at Turin.
Indian Cooperative featured the introduction of financial literacy in SEWA Bank’s services.
Congratulations to SWWB Board Member Samit Ghosh for being elected as the new president of the Microfinance Institutions Network!
In the three decades he worked for CitiGroup and Bank Muscat, Samit Ghosh picked up every nuance of the banking business.
We are proud to share with you that two of the first MFIs to be certified by the Smart Campaign are members of the Women’s World Banking network. Please join me in congratulating MI-BOSPO (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Ujjivan Financial Services (India) on receiving the Client Protection Certification.
Congratulations to Sudha Suresh, Chief Financial Officer of network member Ujjivan Financial Services, for being recognized as by the Indian CFO Institute’s 2013 Roll of Honour Awards.
A pesar de los avances obtenidos por las mujeres en términos de integración en los distintos sectores productivos de la sociedad, aún no han logrado igualdad en los puestos de dirección de las distintas empresas y entidades del país.
We congratulate network member Ujjivan Financial Services for making the Great Place to Work and Economic Times’ “India’s Best Companies to Work for 2013”!
Ujjivan was invited for the Pacific Regional Forum held at Auckland, New Zealand from February 28 to March 1, 2013 to share best practices in building an organizational culture that values human capital and creative ways of building capacity in a resource-constrained environment.
Women’s World Banking worked with Banco ADOPEM to create a soap opera to help teach women how to save. This guide takes trainers through a step-by-step process of the classroom education component.
A growing chorus of voices is calling for a shift away from cash-based economies in the developing world. For governments, non-governmental organizations and companies focused on expanding financial access to the underserved, it is fast becoming a top priority. Not only is it too costly and unsustainable to reach people
