Gerhard Coetzee

Gerhard Coetzee formerly led the outcome area in CGAP that aims to Foster a Responsible Enabling Ecosystem for inclusive finance. 

Gerhard is an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Stellenbosch Business School. Previously, he was Head of Inclusive Banking at Absa Bank (South Africa), responsible for its digital money proposition. Gerhard was the founder and Director of the Centre for Inclusive Banking in Africa and a Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Pretoria. He was the technical lead and CEO of ECIAfrica (a consulting firm owned by DAI). He had several senior roles focused on policy at the Development Bank of Southern Africa. His specialization areas are inclusive finance, development finance, agricultural finance and rural development. He has been published widely and worked in several countries, the majority in Africa.

Gerhard holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

By Gerhard Coetzee

Blog

Findex 2021 Insights: Boosting Financial inclusion in Africa

Global Findex 2021 shows Sub-Saharan Africa has made progress in financial account ownership and usage over the past decade but lags behind in closing the financial inclusion gender gap and indicators around the value of financial services.
Blog

Rethinking Consumer Protection: A Responsible Digital Finance Ecosystem

With the rapidly changing digital finance market bringing new risks that can only be addressed through a new, holistic approach to consumer protection, this leadership essay argues that it is now time to build a “responsible digital finance ecosystem”.
Research

The Evolution of the Nature and Scale of DFS Consumer Risks: A Review of Evidence

While digital financial services have delivered substantial financial inclusion benefits and unlocked life-changing opportunities for consumers, CGAP’s latest research finds that they have exacerbated existing consumer risks and continue to introduce new and ever-evolving risks—some outgrowing consumer adoption rates.
Research

Financial Solutions for Women in Rural and Agricultural Livelihoods

This deck synthesizes CGAP research and insights on the constraints faced by women in rural and agricultural livelihoods (WIRAL) and the opportunities for service providers and funders to add value to their lives and livelihoods.
Blog

Pitfalls in MFI Digitization: Not Listening to the Customer

Customer centricity is key to ensuring a microfinance institution's digital solutions actually meet customer needs -- and there's ample evidence it's good for business. Yet many microfinance institutions overlook this critical aspect of digitization.