Spotlight on: Age and Gender Diversity as Competitive Advantage
This month we welcomed participants from members in 30 countries to our 2026 All Stars Academy hosted by Bank al Etihad in Amman Jordan. The rigorous five-day training was taught by 15 expert practitioners from Bank al Etihad, Kenya Commercial Bank, Banco Pichincha Ecuador and Veefin, India in-person, with call-ins from Banco BHD Dominican Republic and ABN AMRO Netherlands.
It was delightful to be with such a talented and motivated group for the week, and to be with the Alliance team who rarely get to meet in person. The All Stars is our flagship training, and with an overall satisfaction score of 4.7 on a 5-point scale (1 being “very unsatisfied” and 5 being “very satisfied”), students went home brimming with insights and detailed action plans.
Hosted and funded by Bank al Etihad, with content built from their own practice and that of fellow expert practitioners and the Alliance team, the training represents the pinnacle of peer learning and the power of our network.
Bank al Etihad’s journey started with a workforce gender diversity and inclusion set of policies and evolved into the market facing Sharouq program in 2014 to signify a “new day” for women’s financial independence and economic participation. Remarkable results include a 13x growth in the women’s portfolio, and women reaching 40 percent of the total customers in 2025.
We are capturing Bank al Etihad’s journey to becoming the employer of choice and bank of choice for women in Jordan in a forthcoming Case Study, adding to our strong library of case studies that can be found on the resources page of our website.
With up to five generations now active in today’s workforce, members are rethinking their Employee Value Propositions (EVPs) to better engage, motivate, and retain talent across age groups. This month’s EVP Taskforce focused on managing multi-generations at the workplace with speakers from AXA HQ, ProCredit Germany, and HBL Pakistan. Read a summary of their insights here.
Big news this month is that due to circumstances beyond 2026 Summit Host Central Bank of Uzbekistan’s control, we are now moving the event from May in Samarkand to Q4 with host and location to be announced shortly.
Our support of the WE Finance Code rollout continues in 2026 with the Alliance running the Gender Data Learning Series on-line weekly from May 14 – June 11 to support the collection and use of sex disaggregated data. The Learning Series is complemented by this year’s Primer on the Strategic and Business Case for Service WMSMEs, a four-week webinar series designed for senior representatives from banks, fintechs and top tier microfinance providers seeking to develop strategies for WMSMEs, taking place from Sept 10 – Oct 1. And last but not least, we’re supporting We-Fi to run the WE Finance Code Community of Champions the first meeting of which takes place March 12.
This month we are delighted to welcome our third member in Uganda, the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) to the Alliance. PSFU is Uganda’s apex private sector body uniting over 340 business associations and corporate entities to drive. In this insightful interview, Chief Executive Officer Stephen Asiimwe, shares their ambitious national strategy to support women entrepreneurs including their adoption of the WE Finance Code, and how the Alliance is supporting FSP signatories to fulfill their commitments.
Last but not least, we are proud of the National Dashboard work we are doing in partnership with Consumer Centrix and Gates Foundation. A taster of the analysis possible from the Nigerian and Bangladesh dashboards are our Resource of the Month and can be found here.
Thank you for reading this letter and thanks to our members and strategic partners without whom our work would not be possible.
In community,
