Spotlight On: Changing of the Guard
This month I had the huge honor of participating in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) second International Financial Inclusion Conference to celebrate the launch of the Nigerian Women’s Financial Inclusion Dashboard. Leveraging data from Nigeria’s banks and non-bank financial institutions, the dashboard provides a real-time gender disaggregated view of the supply of financial products and services across the country, to support policymaking and the development of tailored products and services to advance women’s financial inclusion. It is the culmination of an extraordinary collaboration between CBN and the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) and was designed and implemented with technical support from ConsumerCentriX in a joint project with the Alliance, backed with financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
It is the second such national dashboard we’ve unveiled this year, following the launch of a similar platform in Bangladesh. We are working with ConsumerCentriX towards unveiling national dashboards in Pakistan and Uganda, and hope these are replicated widely going forward.
Another proud moment during CBN’s conference was the launch of the WE Finance Code Nigeria. With 40 signatories so far including all the major banks, CBN as Champion along with two national development finance banks, the Code is off to a great start. I also had the privilege of joining a panel discussion with Tosin Eniolorunda, founder/Chief Executive Officer of Alliance member Moniepoint Inc, who shared his views on the importance of gender data in driving his commitment to serving women-led businesses. Moniepoint’s female customers have a 7.2 per cent higher activity rate than their male counterparts and an 87.5 per cent lower loan non-performance rate.
The Alliance’s latest annual aggregated data from across members continues to demonstrate the value of a strategic focus on Women’s Markets. Members are reaching parity in terms of representation of women as customers; in average products per customer and members are also seeing higher annual growth rates in their portfolios held by women. As true champions of the female economy, they are hugely supportive of each other in achieving these goals through our peer learning and mentoring activities. This year our members have also supported non-members who are interested in the WE Finance Code by sharing their expertise throughout our industry building learning activities to support the rollout in 30+ countries. See highlights of their and our achievements here.
Next year, please mark your calendars for our 2025 Annual Summit, set to take place in Kigali, Rwanda, on May 28 and 29, hosted by Alliance member Access to Finance Rwanda and National Bank of Rwanda. The country has been a leader on policy to enable women’s financial inclusion and the data to support it. Rwandan stakeholders see a WE Finance Code as a natural extension of this work. We very much look forward to launching the WE Finance Code at the Summit and to having a robust debate about what we need to do to get more finance into women owned/led businesses on the continent.
This month we are very proud to welcome Standard Bank Group, Africa’s biggest lender by assets, as our latest member. Standard Bank started its Women’s Markets program in Zambia and then implemented it in Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria. In this issue, Mwansa Mutati, Head, Personal and Private Banking, Africa Regions, Standard Bank, shares the Group’s vision for expanding Women’s Markets from four to the ten other countries in Africa where they have a retail presence. We also welcome MICROWD, a financing platform that connects investors looking for profitability and social impact with women entrepreneurs in LATAM. We interview Beatriz Tena de la Peña, COO, who shares what is unique about their platform and why they joined our Alliance.
Our final session of the WE Finance Code Community of Champions takes place on December 4 during which we will discuss reaching national consensus on defining women owned/led businesses as well as hearing from the latest countries that have signed up. If you are a national Champion and have not yet joined this Community, please register here.
Last but not least, this month we extend a very warm welcome to our incoming Chair, Alison Rose, while we farewell our outgoing Chair, Ann Cairns. I encourage you to read Alison’s vision for the Alliance, and Ann’s reflection on the Alliance’s achievements during her tenure.
We thank you both for your leadership and steadfast commitment to women’s financial inclusion. Thanks also to our wonderful and committed members, who are so generous in their support of building a more inclusive world, and our financial sponsors for your support during 2024.
Let us celebrate how far we have come.
In community,
