Young Women's Financial Inclusion: What Works
Webinar
Between the late teen and early adulthood years, many young women in low-income countries undergo critical transitions – leaving school, entering the workforce, marriage, motherhood – that shape not only the rest of their lives but often those of future generations as well. Research has shown that well-designed financial inclusion initiatives can help them successfully navigate these transitions. But what exactly does “well-designed” mean?
To answer this question, CGAP has compiled insights from two decades of industry experience showing how to offer customized financial inclusion strategies for different segments of young women. Join us to learn more about five key components of these strategies – product design, product delivery, financial capability building, social intermediation, and commercial viability – and hear firsthand practitioner perspectives on applying these strategies to reach young women at different stages of financial independence. Together, we will discuss how we can help more young women rise up the financial inclusion ladder.
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Sophie is the CEO of CGAP, an international partnership housed in the World Bank Group, dedicated to promoting inclusive financial ecosystems that enable a green, resilient, and equitable world for all.
Sophie has dedicated her professional career to the development of inclusive and sustainable financial ecosystems around the world, with more than twenty years of experience at the World Bank, where she has held different positions, including Director of Strategy and Operations at the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) and Director for the Caribbean region. Previously, Sophie worked as an expert in financial sector development and stability in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Among others, she led various Financial Sector Assessment Programs (FSAPs) in various countries in Europe, Central Asia, and Latin America, and she was the Manager who led the World Bank's response to banking crises in various countries of the European Union during the global financial crisis of 2008-2011.
Prior to joining the World Bank, Sophie worked in JP Morgan's Financial Institutions (FIG) team on Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) in Europe, and for Halcrow Fox and Associates' Infrastructure team. Sophie holds a Masters in Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE).
Antonique Koning leads CGAP’s work on Women’s Economic Empowerment through financial inclusion. She has more than 25 years of experience working on inclusive finance and has expertise in gender norms affecting women’s financial inclusion and empowerment, young women’s financial inclusion, responsible finance and customer centricity. Antonique is co-author of Addressing Gender Norms to Increase Financial Inclusion: Designing for Impact and chairs the Technical Advisory Committee of FinEquity, the community of practice convened by CGAP on women’s economic empowerment through financial inclusion. Antonique also led CGAP’s work on customer outcomes-based approaches to consumer protection, and is a contributor to CGAP’s Customer Centric Guide.
Before joining CGAP in 2004, Antonique gained hands-on experience developing and implementing microcredit programs in El Salvador and working with savings banks globally. She has a Master’s degree in International Trade Management and Policy from the University of Birmingham, and a Master’s degree in Applied Economics from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Antonique is based in Belgium, and speaks Spanish, French, and Dutch.
Rani Deshpande rejoined CGAP in 2019 as part of an initiative to understand the potential of targeted financial services to maximize the benefits of the burgeoning digitally-mediated “gig” economy for young, marginalized workers, especially women.
Rani brings 20 years of experience in various aspects of financial inclusion, youth livelihoods, and nonprofit strategy and management. Most recently, she directed Save the Children’s $35M portfolio of youth and off-farm livelihoods development work in over a dozen countries. From 2010 to 2016 she led YouthSave, an initiative that assisted over 150,000 teens to open tailored savings accounts and save over $1.2M. Ms. Deshpande worked at CGAP from 2003-2006 and built institutional and industry capacity on financial products including savings and money transfers. She has also served as a strategy consultant to US nonprofits and worked directly with MSMEs in India and West Africa, providing technical assistance on production for export and small business management.
Rani earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and a dual Master’s degree in International Affairs and Business from Columbia University. She is fluent in French and Marathi.
Diana Lugutuah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience across development, account management, and consulting, driven by a passion for creating positive change within communities. Throughout her career, she has successfully led high-impact teams and managed diverse projects across multiple sectors, including banking, procurement, technology, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and development work.
Currently, Diana serves as a Senior Programmes Officer at CAMFED Ghana, an international NGO that catalyzes the power of the most vulnerable girls and young women to create the future they imagine: for themselves, for their communities, and for Africa.
Her expertise spans community and partnership engagement, gender and safeguarding, organizational process review, project monitoring and evaluation, capacity building, training, facilitation, content development, coaching and mentoring.
Diana holds an MSc in International Business from the University of Ghana, Legon, and MSc in Development Management from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. She has a degree in Social Work from University of Ghana.
Diana is committed to nurturing the next generation of African leaders, dedicating her time to mentoring and empowering young women through CAMFED’s tertiary and enterprise programs.
Diana loves travelling, listening to music and exploring new adventures.
Esther Dassanou joined the Mastercard Foundation in May of 2023 to lead the Foundation’s journey to accelerating access to dignified and fulfilling work for young women in Africa.
Prior to the Mastercard Foundation, Esther was the Manager of the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), an initiative of the African Development Bank to reduce the USD 42 billion access to finance gap for women-empowered businesses in Africa. Prior to joining AfDB, Esther led the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) work on advancing women’s inclusion in the insurance sector as the head of the women’s insurance program. Esther worked with insurers across Africa and Asia to help insurers in de-risking female-owned SMEs and providing better coverage for women’s daily risk. Esther also led the mainstreaming of IFC’s women’s access to finance through the organization’s SME banking program.
She has also managed the Secretariat of the Global Banking Alliance for Women now known as the Financial Alliance for Women, a consortium of financial institutions dedicated to promoting the growth of women-owned enterprises. Esther is the co-author of SheforShield: Insure Women to Better Protect All, a groundbreaking report articulating the business case for the insurance industry to address the needs of women as clients, employees, entrepreneurs and leaders. Esther was also a lead author of the G20 reports G20 – Access to Finance for Women MSMEs and Women-owned SMEs: A Business Opportunity for Financial Institutions, which for the first time measured the access to finance gap for female-owned SMEs in developing markets.
Mercedes Canalda de Beras-Goico is the President of Banco Adopem, a microfinance institution dedicated to women’s empowerment and part of the BBVA Foundation group in the Dominican Republic. From 1993 – 2003 she served as Executive Director of the bank. Prior to that, she spent 8 years at the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic, in various areas ranging from economics to international affairs. Ms. Canalda is a founding and Board member of the Dominican Microfinance Network (REDOMIF) and a past president of REDCAMIF (Central American and Caribbean Microfinance Association). She is also a Board member of SOLIDARIOS (Council of American Foundations for Development) and Board Secretary of ABANCORD (Association of Savings & Credit Banks and Credit Corporations of the Dominican Republic). In addition, she is Treasurer of the Organizing Committee for the Central American-Caribbean Games/Santo Domingo 2026 (JJCC2026). Ms. Canalda holds a degree in Economics and an M.B.A.