Estelle Lahaye

Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Estelle Lahaye leads CGAP’s work to contribute to enhancing practices of impact investors with measuring and managing impact for inclusive finance. She has more than 15 years’ experience in development finance and financial inclusion having previously led CGAP’s work with donors and investors to co-create knowledge, provide guidance, and advocate for effective financial inclusion, and led CGAP’s experimentation and research activities on digital financial services in the West African Economic and Monetary Union.

Before joining CGAP, Estelle worked as a private banker in Luxembourg at Banco Itaú Europa, the international private banking division of Banco Itaú, Brazil.

Estelle has a Master’s degree in Business from San Francisco State University and an undergraduate degree in banking, finance, and insurance from the University of Nancy 2 in France. She is based in Paris and fluent in French and Portuguese.

By Estelle Lahaye

Research

Global Partnerships Case Study: Measuring and Managing Financial Inclusion Outcomes

Impact investors are increasingly prioritizing outcomes-focused impact measurement and management (IMM) to address global challenges and mitigate risks. This case study explores how Global Partnerships integrates outcomes data into investment decisions, highlighting key enablers for success, including leadership support, impact-driven strategy, and collaborative partnerships with financial service providers.
Research

Investing for Financial Inclusion: Four Enablers for Outcomes Measurement and Management

Impact investors are shifting towards outcomes-focused impact measurement and management (IMM) to enhance transparency and mitigate risks. This approach prioritizes measuring actual development and intermediate outcomes, like women's economic empowerment, and integrates this data into decision-making. The paper outlines key enablers to advance outcomes-focused IMM within financial inclusion investments.
Blog

Shaping the Future of Impact Investing in Inclusive Finance

Impact investors have an opportunity to bolster inclusive finance by adopting an outcome-oriented strategy for impact measurement and management. This allocates resources towards investments that offer significant and influential results.
Blog

Four Ways to Integrate Gender in Financial Inclusion Investments

How can impact investors integrate gender throughout the investment cycle to improve women’s financial inclusion and contribute to WEE and gender equality? We highlight four emerging practices investors can use.
Blog

Setting Up Funders to Advance Inclusive Finance: 5 Recommendations

Development funders play a key role in advancing inclusive finance – they influence the dynamics of financial systems and transform the way they work to serve people living in poverty. Here, we share five actions funders can take to drive change.