Assessing the Future of Microfinance as a Development Tool: Continuing the Conversation
Co-hosted by the Financial Access Initiative (FAI) at NYU and FinDev Gateway, this faiVLive webinar will continue exploring the present and future of microfinance in development policy and practice. Join leaders from all parts of the microfinance sector as they discuss pressing questions for funders, practitioners, policymakers and others, including:
- How do we keep microfinance "on the rails" (in contrast to Cambodia for instance) given pressures to minimize subsidy?
- What is "smart subsidy" in practice? What does smart subsidy look like from the perspective of practitioners, funders and policymakers?
- How should limited subsidy be allocated?
- What guidance is needed for regulators trying to chart a course between consumer protection, sustainability of subsidized finance reaching the excluded, and financial system stability and growth?
- How will continued digitization influence this conversation over the next 5 years?
- How do we balance the cost of technology, the cost-savings of technology, and the risks of technology (surveillance, criminality)?
This is a follow-up to the FinDev webinar, Reassessing Microfinance as a Development Tool, which took place on 10 Jul 2024.
Organized in partnership with:
Webinar Resources
Speaker Bios
Greta Bull
Greta Bull is the Director of Women’s Economic Empowerment at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She leads the Foundation’s work on Women’s Economic Empowerment, where she oversees a portfolio of investments covering gender data and evidence, women’s economic collectives (WECs) and livelihoods development for poor women. Prior to joining the foundation, Greta worked for 15 years at the World Bank Group, where she served for six years as the CEO of CGAP.
Upoma Husain
Upoma Husain is the CEO of BRAC Rwanda Microfinance Company PLC. Prior to her current role, she held multiple senior positions at BRAC International Microfinance (BI MF), where she provided strategic leadership in social performance and impact management, product innovation and knowledge management across all BI MF’s entities in Asia and Africa.
Andrée Simon
Andrée Simon is the President and Global CEO of FINCA International. From 2016 to 2023, Andrée served as President and CEO of FINCA’s global network of community-based microfinance banks and institutions known as FINCA Impact Finance (FIF). Most recently, Andrée led the transformation of FIF’s business model during the global pandemic toward digitization and optimization, creating better value for customers and resilience for the network.
Sophie Sirtaine
Sophie Sirtaine is the CEO of CGAP. She has dedicated her professional career to the development of inclusive and sustainable financial ecosystems around the world, with more than twenty years of experience at the World Bank, where she has held different positions, including Director of Strategy and Operations at the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) and Director for the Caribbean region. Previously, Sophie worked as an expert in financial sector development and stability in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
Tim Ogden
Tim Ogden is Managing Director of the Financial Access Initiative, a research center exploring how financial services can better meet the needs and improve the lives of poor households. He also serves as the managing director of the Small Firm Diaries project, and was the managing director of the US Financial Diaries project. He is a co-founder of Sona Partners, a thought leadership communications firm. He is the author of Experimental Conversations, a collection of interviews with leading development economists, and co-author of Toyota Under Fire.
