Women's World Banking Blog

In the News

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.

Latest Posts

Southeast Asian woman using financial services on her smartphone, highlighting the importance of inclusive fintechs
General

Five Insights to Drive Digital Inclusion of Women

By Dr. Sonja Kelly, Global Vice President, Research & Advocacy, Women’s World Banking The early release of the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap 2024 headlines, the World Bank Global Digital Summit, and the preparations for Brazil’s G20 focus on digital identity and data governance converged this past week, with important insights

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WWB News

Danida announces grant to Women’s World Banking to increase women’s financial inclusion in Pakistan

Danida, the term used for Denmark’s development cooperation under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has announced a seven partner consortia to receive a total of DKK 60 million (approximately USD 10.04 million) for partnership projects. The partnerships will contribute to local economic growth, job and income opportunities with a focus on women and girls.

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WWB News

PRESS RELEASE | On International Women’s Day, Indonesia Announces Partnership with Women’s World Banking to Improve Women’s Financial Inclusion

On International Women’s Day, the Secretariat of the National Council for Financial Inclusion of Indonesia (Secretariat) and global nonprofit Women’s World Banking announce a partnership to promote women’s financial inclusion in Indonesia. The project, made possible with funding from the Department of Foreign and Trade of Australia (DFAT), will support Indonesia’s goal to reach 75 percent financial inclusion by 2019.

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Products & Solutions

CNBC Africa | Why Africa Needs Mobile Banking

Martha Oluwatobi is the proud owner of a market stall in Lagos, Nigeria. She sells minerals used for health benefits by expectant mothers who routinely buy small amounts of clay-like ingredients a few times a week.

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Research & Perspectives

CFR | The Right to Identity

Women’s World Banking President and CEO co-authored a blog on one of the biggest barriers facing financial access for low-income women: ID’s.

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WWB News

MI-BOSPO Celebrates the International Day of Rural Women

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.

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Products & Solutions

CGAP | Five Things Any Youth Savings Program Needs

Savings Specialist Ryan Newton blogs about the five key lessons about designing sustainable youth savings programs, based on an evaluation of Banco ADOPEM’s (Dominican Republic) youth savings program, developed together with Women’s World Banking.

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Research & Perspectives

A Fireside Chat with Mary Ellen Iskenderian

Georgetown student Mike Fox reflects on Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian’s visit to the school to discuss the importance of leveraging diverse, cross-sector experience to achieve meaningful outcomes.

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Leadership & Diversity

Bloomberg | Bloomberg quotes Mary Ellen Iskenderian

Our President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian weighs in on Bloomberg”s latest look at the glass ceiling facing women around the world. Excerpt: Disparities exist at both ends of the economic scale around the world. In 2012, a Gallup poll for the World Bank showed that only 47 percent of

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Research & Perspectives

Mary Ellen Iskenderian blogs for the Corporate Citizenship Center

Our President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian blogged for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Corporate Citizenship Center blog as part of their International Women’s Day 2014 celebration. Here’s an excerpt of the post entitled “The Key to Successfully Banking the Poor: Start with Women”: “That would make us feel

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Products & Solutions

CGAP | CGAP blogs about our work in Nigeria

Antonique Koning, a microfinance specialist at CGAP, blogged about our work on promoting financial inclusion for low-income women in Nigeria through the use of savings products and innovative outreach and delivery strategies.

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Research & Perspectives

Savings: The Next Frontier in Financial Inclusion

CFR Senior Fellow Isobel Coleman leads a conversation with Mary Ellen Iskenderian of Women’s World Banking and Steve Hollingworth of Freedom from Hunger about how savings are blazing the next frontier in poverty eradication.

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WWB News

Nigeria News | EFInA Hosts Women’s Financial Inclusion Forum

Our Savings Manager Jennifer McDonald attended Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access’s (EFInA) inaugural Women’s Financial Inclusion Forum in Lagos on November 14. Jennifer presented global best practices for women’s financial inclusion, sharing Women’s World Banking’s experience in developing products that enhance women’s financial inclusion.

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WWB News

Our microinsurance work in Jordan on the Upsides

Research has shown that healthcare costs often exert the most financial pressure on poor families. The poor lack the resources to respond quickly in a health emergency, both with the cost of care and the ability to forfeit work to seek care.

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Research & Perspectives

Mary Ellen Iskenderian on the NYSE Big Stage

The NYSE Big Stage website featured a summary of Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian’s talk at TEDxWallStreet on Wednesday, October 30, 2012. Microfinance is the ideal that small investments to reach those underserved by financial institutions can solve big problems. But Mary Ellen Iskendrian, CEO of

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Research & Perspectives

Financial Mail | Bring the poor into the banking system

President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian was interviewed by South Africa’s Financial Mail about Women’s World Banking’s pilot project with Diamond Bank in Nigeria to encourage underbanked women and small entrepreneurs to enter the banking system.

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WWB News

Kenya Women Finance Trust awarded best company to work for by Deloitte

For the second straight year, Kenya Women Finance Trust DTM has been recognized by Deloitte and ranked as the third “Best Company to Work For 2013” in Kenya. In the words of Mwangi Githaiga, Managing Director, “This award demonstrates the confidence that our employees have in the institution, board and management.”

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Research & Perspectives

Blog response featured on The Guardian

Research specialist Anjali Banthia’s response blog to an op-ed about the link between domestic violence and microfinance was cited in a recent Guardian article on the state of the microfinance industry.

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WWB News

Women’s World Banking in the Giving Library

Women’s World Banking would like to thank The Giving Library for sponsoring our organization to be part of their online archive of organizations. Our President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian visited their studios in Houston to produce a video found here.

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Research & Perspectives

About Microfinance interviews Mary Ellen Iskenderian

boutMicrofinance, an aggregator and disseminator of current and authoritative information and resources on all aspects of the microfinance industry, featured an interview with Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian in their Fall Newsletter.

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WWB News

Ujjivan Raises Debt Capital from Oikocredit

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.

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WWB News

Banco ADOPEM hosts anniversary celebration for employees

Dominican Republic network member Banco ADOPEM celebrated its anniversary by holding a sports day for its staff. Awards were also handed out to exceptional employees. Congratulations on remaining a strong institution committed to serving women and celebrating the hard work of its employees! Read the full article on El Dia</em rel=”nofollow”>.

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WWB News

Women’s World Banking in The MIX Newsletter

Women’s World Banking’s social media engagement with the Center for Financial Inclusion’s recent video explaining financial inclusion was featured in the August edition of the MIX Dispatch, The MIX Market’s monthly newsletter.

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WWB News

Participation in Pacific Financial Inclusion Workshop highlighted

The Pacific Financial Inclusion Program (PFIP) featured Women’s World Banking’s participation at the recent financial inclusion and women”s empowerment workshop in Papua New Guinea. Senior Associate for Research Anjali Banthia was in attendance to present our research of the financial needs of low-income women in the Pacific.

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WWB News

BSP | CARD Bank inaugurated into Philippine central bank’s Hall of Fame for Financial Inclusion

This elevated the bank to become a Hall of Fame awardee for the said category. Looking back, CARD Bank, Inc. was established on September 1, 1997 and envisioned to build a sustainable financial institution owned, managed and controlled by the landless rural women by providing continued access to financial services to an expanding client base by organizing and empowering landless rural women.

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Research & Perspectives

Are Financial Institutions Serving Women Well?

When a financial institution reaches out to us and tells us they are starting to see the value of serving low-income women but don’t know how to begin, we are of course pleased that institutions are starting to recognize what Women’s World Banking has known for more than 30 years.

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WWB News

Equity Bank wins at 7th African Banker Awards

Equity Bank was awarded “the Best Bank in East Africa” in 2013 and was a nominee for “African Bank of the Year” at the 7th African Banker Awards which took place during the Annual Meeting of the African Development Bank.

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Products & Solutions

Savings work with Banco ADOPEM featured

Our savings work with Banco ADOPEM, our network member in the Dominican Republica, was featured in a local media outlet, Informate Diario, for promoting a savings culture to low-income communities in outlying areas.

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WWB News

Ujjivan at Pacific Forum 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.

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WWB News

Women’s World Banking and Interfisa Financiera celebrate the launch of NdeVale in Paraguay

On May 30, 2012, Women’s World Banking (WWB) and network member Interfisa Financiera celebrated the launch of NdeVale, a new loan product targeted at Paraguay’s rural women population. NdeVale was developed so that it can be issued to all clients who have a income-generating activity, with minimal documentation requirements and flexible collateral and duration. Through market research, we knew that collateral was a concern for women as assets, particularly property, are traditionally owned by men.

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WWB News

The Great Power of Ela Bhatt’s Gentle Revolution

‘It all started at the world conference of the international women’s year in Mexico City in 1975. There I met with Esther Afua Ocloo from Ghana. She shared her stories about the position of market women in the capital city Accra and their need for economic empowerment.’

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WWB News

9th Annual Women’s World Banking and the Capital Markets Conference

On April 7th and 8th, WWB hosted the 9th annual Women’s World Banking and the Capital Markets Conference. This conference is the leading industry event of its kind, bringing together expert practitioners from the mainstream financial sector and the microfinance industry, and providing a forum for knowledge exchange.

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