Mayada El-Zoghbi

Mayada El-Zoghbi is the managing director of the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion. Until September 2019, Ms. El-Zoghbi was a senior financial sector specialist and led CGAP’s strategy, research and development unit. Her work focused on leading CGAP’s research on women’s financial inclusion, financial services in crisis environments and other emerging topics.

Before joining CGAP, she founded and managed a development consulting firm working with funding agencies such as the IFC and USAID. She led numerous technical assistance, evaluation, and research assignments and also served as a research director for a USAID knowledge management initiative on microfinance and conflict, where she authored numerous papers and facilitated many industry learning events. She holds a master’s degree in international affairs from SIPA at Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Minnesota. She is bilingual in Arabic and English.

By Mayada El-Zoghbi

Blog

The Arab Spring: An Opportunity For Financial Inclusion?

This post kicks off a special series on regional reflections for 2012. The end of 2011 was undeniably a momentous time across the Arab World with uprisings first emerging in Tunisia and Egypt and then spreading to Libya, Yemen, and Syria. Expectations of 2012 were high as old regimes were discarded and new governments brought with them hopes of more equitable societies and opportunities for all, including in particular the region’s large numbers of young people. New governments have been scrambling to enact reforms that will appease the hopes of the now vocal and restless street, while trying to create democracies in a region with limited experience in democratic processes.
Blog

Expanding the Funding Horizon for Financial Access

There is broad recognition within the development community that donors have contributed significantly to building microfinance institutions that serve the poor around the world. But isn’t it time donors updated their investment portfolio to reflect new thinking and the new reality on the ground?
Research

Can Postal Networks Advance Financial Inclusion in the Arab World?

As existing and trusted institutions with large branch networks reaching rural areas, Arab postal networks have the potential to be powerful tools in the fight for greater financial inclusion in the Arab World.
Blog

From Arab Spring to Real Opportunities for the Poor

Microfinance industries in the region have been supported by governments as a form of benevolent neglect.
Blog

CGAP and Microfinance Investors: New Questions and Role

MIVs constitute the largest group of MIIs. MIV investment levels quadrupled between 2006 and 2008, and today, according to Symbiotics and MicroRate 2011 MIV surveys, more than 100 MIVs manage total assets of around US$7 billion.