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

Blog

The 10-Year Challenge: How Has Financial Inclusion Funding Changed?

Funding for financial inclusion quadrupled between 2007 and 2017. However, greater coordination is needed to ensure funders focus on filling gaps in the sector without duplicating efforts and they build interventions based on their comparative advantage.
Research

Navigating the Next Wave of Blended Finance for Financial Inclusion

This Brief presents opportunities for the new wave of blended finance and points to areas that deserve further attention to optimize the use of different funding sources to advance responsible financial inclusion.
Blog

Women’s Financial Inclusion: Are Funders Moving the Needle?

Many countries with significant funding for women’s financial inclusion are seeing a widening gender gap. What does this mean for funders?
Blog

Is Funding for Rural Finance Going Where It’s Needed Most?

Global funding for rural finance has risen to nearly $5 billion. Are funds reaching communities with the greatest needs?
Blog

The Many Faces of Social Exclusion

FinScope consumer data shows how people experience social exclusion differently and points to groups that are especially excluded, including farmers, women and youth.