MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Leadership as a Driver of Innovative Financial Services for Women;” by Jaclyn Berfond, Jennifer Iwueze; Published by WWB

This paper offers an analysis of data collected from alumni of the Women’s World Banking Leadership & Diversity for Innovation Program (LDIP), which engages “senior executives and high-potential women leaders to enable them to successfully serve low-income women” customers of financial service providers (FSPs). The authors focus on “the strategic business initiatives of LDIP participants” and their failure or success in narrowing the gender gap in financial inclusion. Examples of these initiatives include “re-activating dormant savings accounts, launching a mobile platform for women, implementing an internal women’s leadership program and more.”

For this paper, 43 women responded to an online survey, and executives and staff members of six FSPs participated in personal interviews. The results indicate that self-confidence was a key determinant of the participants’ ability to create change. The specific skills cited as most important were crisis management, effective two-way communication and the ability to influence external FSP partners.

Sixty-nine percent of survey participants noted it was important for their strategic business initiatives to have “alignment to institutional strategy and buy-in of senior leadership.” To maximize the success of implementing such initiatives, the authors argue that: (1) team training and technical support are crucial; and (2) initiatives should be centered around customer needs, especially the needs of women customers. As part of implementation, FSPs need to balance profitability with social impact.

In terms of challenges to implementing strategic business initiatives, the survey participants noted external factors such as regulation, competition and COVID-19. Despite these challenges, 90 percent of survey participants reported their initiatives “helped improve service for women customers” by, for example, launching mobile apps targeted at rural customers and adding new features to mobile banking platforms.

This is a summary of a paper by Jaclyn Berfond and Jennifer Iwueze; published by Women’s World Banking; May 2021; 12 pages; available at https://www.findevgateway.org/paper/2021/05/leadership-driver-innovative-financial-services-women

By Harriet Ritchie, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

Women’s World Banking homepage
https://womensworldbanking.org/

LDIP webpage
https://www.womensworldbanking.org/womens-leadership-programs/leadership-and-diversity-for-innovation-program/

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