Financial Inclusion Unlocked

SIJ Media

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The podcast meeting innovators and sector leaders who are unlocking the potential of financial inclusion as an enabler of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through a mix of in-depth conversations and documentary-style storytelling, the podcast highlights the people and projects driving meaningful change, while also exploring the big questions the sector needs to confront to move forward. Produced by SIJ Media

Sep 18

S3 EP3 - The Story of Fundación Génesis Empresarial with Edgardo Perez, CEO

Fundación Génesis Empresarial in Guatemala is one of the largest microfinance institutions in Latin America, and its approach to measuring success is built around a framework it calls the Ruta del Desarrollo, or the development pathway, sketched out on a napkin nearly four decades ago. In this episode, we're joined by Edgardo Perez, CEO of Fundación Génesis Empresarial, to talk about how that napkin sketch became a system tracking eight financial and twelve social variables for every client, why the organisation built its own resilience pathways, and how insurance, agri-tech, and a shift from "financial inclusion" toward "financial health" are shaping where Génesis goes next. Episode Themes The founding story of Génesis, born out of a chance conversation on an airplane and a $500,000 loanFrom commercial banking to microfinance: Edgardo's journey and what changed his mind about who counts as a customerThe Ruta del Desarrollo, and how a concept sketched on a napkin became a scientifically tracked development pathwayTurning loan officers into "development promoters," and how their goals are measured differentlyBuilding the digital development path in response to the rise of fintech, and why Génesis didn't want to compete on speed aloneHow AI-driven agricultural tools shape lending decisions for smallholder farmersCommunicating impact to funders and investors, and why purpose has driven Génesis's consistent 25-30% annual growthFrom financial inclusion to financial health: what the shift means for the sector, and the influence of Queen Máxima's UNSGSA advocacy About Our Guest Edgardo Perez is CEO of Fundación Génesis Empresarial, a microfinance institution in Guatemala serving over 550,000 customers, 85% of them women. He has spent most of his career in commercial banking, becoming a CEO at 29 in a credit card company and going on to lead several banks across Latin America before joining Génesis as CEO in January of 2015. Connect With Us Don't miss the rest of Series 3! Subscribe to Financial Inclusion Unlocked on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app. Join the conversation on LinkedIn at Financial Inclusion Unlocked for video highlights, insights, and updates from the world of financial inclusion. Financial Inclusion Unlocked is produced by SIJ Media, and hosted by Jack Farren.
Sep 7

S3 EP2 - Building the Resilience of Micro and Small Businesses with Anindita Chakraborty, Centre for Financial Inclusion

The financial inclusion sector has made significant progress on access. More people than ever hold accounts, use digital payments, and can access credit. But access alone doesn't protect a small business owner in Lagos when floods shut her street for three weeks, or a street vendor in Delhi when a heatwave keeps customers away for a month. The next frontier for financial inclusion is resilience: not just whether people have financial tools, but whether those tools work together to help them withstand shocks, adapt, and recover. In this episode, we're joined by Anindita Chakraborty, Director of Research and Strategy at the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI), to unpack two landmark pieces of CFI research: the Small Firms, Big Impact study, which surveyed over 20,000 MSEs across Addis Ababa, Delhi, Jakarta, Lagos and São Paulo, and the Building Resilience Capital brief, which makes the case for a more integrated approach to how financial services are designed and delivered. Episode Themes What small firms are actually facing, and the reality of running a business under pressureThe predictable sequence small firms fall back on when a shock hits, and what it reveals about the financial systemWhy fewer than 2% of the businesses surveyed relied on insuranceThe fragmentation problem across savings, credit and insurance, and what shared infrastructure could look likeDigitisation as a resilience tool, and why adoption still lags in markets like Jakarta and Addis AbabaTreating resilience as an investable form of capital rather than a downstream outcome of accessWhere the sector needs to go in the next five years to make resilience a genuine outcome rather than a stated goal About Our Guest Anindita Chakraborty is Director of Research and Strategy at the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI), where she works closely with CFI's leadership team on strategy, fundraising, and the organisation's research agenda. She is an inclusive finance specialist with eleven years of experience across research, ratings, client protection certifications, and programme implementation in Asia and Africa. Before joining CFI, she worked as an evidence and insights fellow at the UN Foundation's Digital Impact Alliance, and has previously worked with Dvara Finance, M-CRIL, and the Entrepreneurial Finance Lab. Anindita holds an MPA in Economic and Political Development from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Learn More For those that wish to learn more about the topic discussed in this episode, see here: Building Resilience Capital: The Missing Layer in Outcome-Oriented Financial InclusionSmall Firms, Big Impact StudyFinancial Inclusion Week Connect With Us Don't miss the rest of Series 3! Subscribe to Financial Inclusion Unlocked on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app. Join the conversation on LinkedIn at Financial Inclusion Unlocked for video highlights, insights, and updates from the world of financial inclusion. Financial Inclusion Unlocked is produced by SIJ Media and hosted by Jack Farren.
Aug 10

S3 EP1 - What's The True Cost of Digital Finance with Willie Blackmon (IPA) and Francis Annan (UC Berkeley)

Digital financial services have been one of the most significant development stories of the last two decades. Across sub-Saharan Africa and beyond, DFS has extended financial access to hundreds of millions of people, enabling remittances, savings, small business payments, and emergency transfers in ways that were simply impossible before. But scale brings scrutiny. As adoption deepens and DFS reaches communities with lower digital literacy, less price awareness, and fewer alternatives, the question of what people are actually paying becomes more urgent, not less. In this episode, we sit down with Francis Annan, Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley, and William Blackmon, Associate Director of IPA's Financial Inclusion Program, to dig into the economics of why DFS markets get stuck in low transparency equilibria, and what research, tools, and policy are starting to do about it. Episode Themes What DFS has achieved, and where the evidence shows its limitsThe low transparency equilibrium, and why competitive markets get stuck thereThe gap between disclosed and understood, and how it translates into real consumer harmWhat it would take to build a DFS market with transparency as a core objectiveIPA's new AI-powered transparency tool, and what it makes possible at scaleWhat a genuinely transparent DFS market could look like in ten years About Our Guests William Blackmon is an Associate Director for IPA's Financial Inclusion Program, where he oversees a portfolio of research studies including work on mobile money agent networks and consumer protection for digital finance users. He previously worked in IPA's Kenya office as a Research Coordinator, and prior to joining IPA consulted for the World Bank and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania. He holds a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University. Francis Annan is an Assistant Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley's Agricultural and Resource Economics department, a Faculty Research Fellow at the NBER, and the Scientific Lead and Co-Chair of the Retail Finance Distribution (ReFinD) Research Initiative at ISSER in Ghana. His research centres on development economics with a focus on digital financial markets, insurance, and firms across Sub-Saharan Africa (mostly Ghana) and the United States. He holds a PhD in Sustainable Development from Columbia University Connect With Us Don't miss the rest of Series 3! Subscribe to Financial Inclusion Unlocked on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app. Join the conversation on LinkedIn at Financial Inclusion Unlocked for video highlights, insights, and updates from the world of financial inclusion.
Aug 3

S2 EP10 - Human Wildlife Conflict Insurance and Closing the Protection Gap in Africa

The global insurance industry has spent centuries developing tools to manage risk, yet the people most exposed to climate shocks, from smallholder farmers to displaced communities, have historically been the least able to access them. Humanity Insured is an industry backed charity working to close that gap, with an ambition to make £2 billion in insurance coverage accessible to 30 million people by 2030, helping them build resilient futures and stay out of poverty. In this episode, Jack is joined by Charlie Langdale, CEO of Humanity Insured, to trace the charity's origin story, its funding model, and the early proof points emerging from its first programmes. Pravin Kalpage, CEO of Hollard International, then explains what drew Hollard to support Humanity Insured as a donor partner and how he sees inclusive insurance evolving across Africa over the next decade. Finally, Anne Kamau of AB Entheos introduces WILD Cover, a Humanity Insured supported product protecting rural households in Zambia from the financial risks of human wildlife conflict, while supporting conservation. Episode Themes The origin story behind Humanity InsuredHow Humanity Insured is structured, who it funds, who its donors are, and how community designed insurance shapes the products it supportsEarly impact, including the charity's progress toward its goal of protecting 30 million people by 2030, and what comes next for its programmes and partnershipsWhat inspired Hollard to step in as a donor partner to Humanity Insured, and how that support connects to Hollard's broader purpose across the African markets it servesInside WILD Cover, the human wildlife conflict insurance product piloted by AB Entheos in Zambia's Kafue region, and how it helps farmers safeguard their livelihoods while supporting conservation Learn More For listeners wanting to go deeper on the themes in this episode: The Telegraph explores how wildlife insurance is being used to protect people from animal attacks while easing the pressure on communities to retaliate against wildlife: "Wildlife insurance: protecting humans from animal attacks" Humanity Insured's blog on WILD Cover looks at how drought is intensifying human wildlife conflict in Zambia and how the fund is helping farmers stay resilient: "AB Entheos: WILD Cover, protecting people, preserving wildlife and promoting coexistence" About Our Sponsor We are proud that CGAP is the exclusive sponsor of Season 2! CGAP are a global partnership of 40+ development organisations working to advance the lives of people living in poverty through financial inclusion. Housed at the World Bank, its independent research and analysis is available to all as a global public good. Follow CGAP on LinkedIn or subscribe to its newsletter. Connect With Us Series 3 will be launching next Monday 10th August 2026! Subscribe to Financial Inclusion Unlocked on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app. Join the conversation on LinkedIn at Financial Inclusion Unlocked for video highlights, insights, and updates.
Apr 9

S2 EP9 - Navigating Consumer Rights in the Mobile Money Era with Kennedy Kipkemboi, GSMA

Consumer protection is fast becoming one of the defining challenges of the mobile money era. From fraud and impersonation scams to opaque fees and inadequate recourse, the risks facing digital financial services users are growing, and as mobile money scales across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and other emerging markets, so do the vulnerabilities it creates. This episode takes a hard look at the full arc of consumer protection in mobile money: what the challenge looks like today, where the industry is innovating, and what still needs to change. Regulators in fast-growing markets face a genuine tension — push too hard on protection and you risk stifling the growth that has brought hundreds of millions of people into the formal financial system; move too slowly and those same people bear the cost. Grounded in global evidence and policy experience, Jack is joined by Kennedy Kipkemboi, Director of Policy, Regulatory & Advocacy for Mobile Money at the GSMA, to explore what good regulation looks like, how it needs to evolve as mobile money moves beyond payments into credit, savings, and insurance, and what the next chapter of the regulatory playbook must deliver. Episode Themes A snapshot of the consumer protection landscape in mobile money today, including the fraud typologies growing fastest and the populations most exposedHow regulators are learning to strike the balance between enabling mobile money growth and protecting users, drawing on the Mobile Money Regulatory Index, the 2024 Policy and Regulatory Handbook, and the markets that have managed to do bothHow regulation needs to evolve as mobile money expands beyond payments into credit, savings, and insuranceWhat the next chapter of mobile money regulation needs to look like About Our Guest Kennedy Kipkemboi is the Director of Policy, Regulatory & Advocacy for Mobile Money at the GSMA. In this capacity, he leads GSMA's regulatory strategy for mobile financial services across GSMA's global footprint. Kennedy is an experienced public policy and regulatory affairs practitioner with over 14 years' experience spanning converged telecommunications and financial services. Prior to joining the GSMA, he worked with Safaricom PLC where he held several roles in Regulatory and Public Policy, Financial Services, and Customer Management. He is skilled in Government Relations, Stakeholder Management, and Strategic Planning. About Our Sponsor We are proud that CGAP is also the exclusive sponsor of Season 2! CGAP are a global partnership of 40+ development organisations working to advance the lives of people living in poverty through financial inclusion. Housed at the World Bank, its independent research and analysis is available to all as a global public good. For listeners interested to learn more about the topic, CGAP has produced valuable research: An Ecosystem Approach to Consumer Protection: What, Why and How?Three Lessons from Cote D'Ivoire on Responsible Digital Finance EcosystemsFollow CGAP on LinkedIn or subscribe to its newsletter. Connect With Us Don't miss the remaining episodes of Series 2! Subscribe to Financial Inclusion Unlocked on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app. Join the conversation on LinkedIn at Financial Inclusion Unlocked for video highlights, insights, and updates.
Mar 30

S2 EP8 - How Can Financial Institutions Climate-Proof Their Portfolios? Insights from Andrée Simon (FINCA Global CEO) and Peter Zetterli (Green Lead, CGAP)

Climate shocks are intensifying, and inclusive financial institutions are caught in the crossfire. As extreme weather events grow more frequent and severe, MFIs and inclusive banks face a dual challenge: protecting portfolio quality while continuing to support the clients who need them most. This episode takes a hard look at what happens when climate disaster strikes. Severe flooding in Pakistan wiped out livelihoods, disrupted local economies, and laid bare the fragility of financial systems serving climate-vulnerable communities. In the aftermath, around 40% of MFIs in the country reduced or paused lending to climate-affected sectors - decisions that compounded financial stress for households and slowed recovery at precisely the moment finance was needed most. Grounded in local stories and global evidence, Jack is joined by Peter Zetterli, Green Lead at CGAP, and Andrée Simon, Global CEO of FINCA, to explore practical, institution-level approaches that help MFIs and inclusive banks remain viable, protect their social mission, and channel climate adaptation finance to the communities that need it most. Episode Themes The global picture: who climate change is hitting hardestCGAP's study in Pakistan: what the data revealsFINCA's experience on the ground in PakistanHow inclusive financial institutions can adapt their products, operations, and governance to survive and serve in a climate-volatile worldWhat the sector needs from investors, donors, and governments to unlock the flow of climate adaptation finance to local communities About Our Guests Peter Zetterli is CGAP's Green Lead, spearheading the organisation's work at the intersection of financial inclusion and climate change. With over 20 years of experience in economic and financial inclusion, much of it spent on the ground across multiple parts of Africa and China, Peter has led CGAP's work on fintech and the future of banking, merchant payments, rural agent networks, and social protection. He has also been deeply involved in shaping business models and regulatory frameworks for mobile money. Andrée Simon is the Global CEO of FINCA, overseeing the organisation's mission to end poverty through sustainable, scalable solutions driven by the needs of the communities it serves. FINCA creates opportunities for millions of people across more than 45 countries, with a focus on measurable results in income generation, resilience, and access to education. Andrée has dedicated more than 20 years to FINCA, playing a central role in shaping the organisation's growth, strategic direction, and business model transformation to create better value for customers and greater resilience across the network. Additional Resources If you would like to read more on climate and financial inclusion, you can check out this collection of resources developed by CGAP. About Our Sponsor We are proud that CGAP is also the exclusive sponsor of Season 2! CGAP are a global partnership of 40+ development organisations working to advance the lives of people living in poverty through financial inclusion. Housed at the World Bank, its independent research and analysis is available to all as a global public good. Follow CGAP on LinkedIn or subscribe to its newsletter. Connect With Us Don't miss the remaining episodes of Series 2! Subscribe to Financial Inclusion Unlocked on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app. Join the conversation on LinkedIn at Financial Inclusion Unlocked for video highlights, insights, and updates.
Mar 25

S2 EP7 - 70 Million Views: Driving Financial Literacy through Edutainment in Central Asia

Stories stick where statistics don't. In this episode, we head to Central Asia to explore what happens when financial literacy stops being a classroom exercise and starts becoming entertainment. Our guests Buazhar Abdykadyrova is a master trainer at the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic. Recognising that institutional expertise has limits when it stays in a classroom, Buazhar built her social media presence across YouTube, Instagram, and Telegram — turning complex financial regulations into digestible 60-second videos. Arsen Imankulov is the founder of Salt LLC, working at the intersection of communications and behaviour change. The IFC-funded edutainment campaign spanning Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan implemented together with Buazhar produced TV drama series, social experiment videos, TED-style live events, and targeted digital campaigns — ultimately reaching 5.8 million citizens with over 70 million views. In the episode, we discuss: Why traditional financial education strategies fall short, and why social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) principles are becoming essential for organisations serious about shifting financial behaviours — not just awareness.The strategic logic behind the campaign's multi-channel funnel — how social experiment videos at the top of the funnel generated curiosity and reach, feeding into longer-form TV dramas designed to embed financial behaviours into relatable everyday narratives.How social experiment videos work as an edutainment tool, what made them effective with Central Asian audiences, and the key lessons for anyone considering this format. How do you decide which financial behaviours belong at the centre of a drama storyline? Buazhar shares how the team shaped content narratives for the TV series — and what made certain stories land with audiences across Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Running a campaign across two countries with distinct cultures, languages, and financial contexts meant far more than translating a script. The team shares what authentic localisation actually looks like in practice. The campaign didn't stop at reach. Arsen explains how TED-style live events with financial institutions physically present — with products on offer — bridged the gap between awareness and action. Plus: how the team ran a digital retargeting campaign using YouTube and Meta databases built through the social experiment videos, generating over 22,000 leads. Buazhar shares her experience using gamification as a financial literacy tool, and what she has learned about what makes people stop scrolling and actually engage with financial content on social media.The single most important takeaway from running SBCC campaigns at this scale... About Our Sponsor We are proud that CGAP is also the exclusive sponsor of Season 2! CGAP are a global partnership of 40+ development organisations working to advance the lives of people living in poverty through financial inclusion. Housed at the World Bank, its independent research and analysis is available to all as a global public good. Follow CGAP on LinkedIn or subscribe to its newsletter. Connect With Us Don't miss the remaining episodes of Series 2! Subscribe to Financial Inclusion Unlocked on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app. Join the conversation on LinkedIn at Financial Inclusion Unlocked for video highlights, insights, and updates. Financial Inclusion Unlocked is produced by SIJ Media and your host is Jack Farren.
Mar 9

S2 EP6 - Addressing the Systemic Barriers to Women’s Financial Inclusion with Gayatri Murthy, Gender Lead at CGAP

In this episode, Jack met Gayatri Murthy, Gender Lead at CGAP to explore the next chapter of women's financial inclusion. Women’s financial inclusion has made undeniable progress, but access alone has not delivered empowerment. Drawing on global research and country experience, we unpack the systemic barriers that persist beneath the surface including gender norms embedded in institutions, fragmented efforts, and misaligned incentives. Through the episode, we explore how to move from access to agency, why collective action matters, and what it takes to trigger a visible step-change toward genuine economic empowerment for women. About Our Guest Gayatri Murthy is CGAP’s gender lead. She is currently working on building country-level platforms in Mexico, Morocco and India to transform the financial sector for women customers. Her expertise spans building research methods, digital business models and gender intentional policy for low-income communities and women business owners. Gayatri has a Master’s degree in International Communication from the School of International Service at American University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, India. She is fluent in Hindi. Additional Resources If you would like to read more on women's financial inclusion, you can check out this collection of resources developed by CGAP. Also, you can read this brand new blog co-authored by Gayatri on Redefining Approaches to Women's Financial Inclusion through a Collective Shift in Mexico. About Our Sponsor We are proud that CGAP is also the exclusive sponsor of Season 2! CGAP are a global partnership of 40+ development organisations working to advance the lives of people living in poverty through financial inclusion. Housed at the World Bank, its independent research and analysis is available to all as a global public good. Follow CGAP on LinkedIn or subscribe to its newsletter. Connect With Us Don't miss the remaining episodes of Series 2! Subscribe to Financial Inclusion Unlocked on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app. Join the conversation on LinkedIn at Financial Inclusion Unlocked for video highlights, insights, and updates. Financial Inclusion Unlocked is produced by SIJ Media and your host is Jack Farren.

See All (26)

Creator

SIJ Media
Years Active

2025 - 2026
Episodes

26
Rating

Clean
Show Website

Financial Inclusion Unlocked

Financial Inclusion Unlocked

Episodes

S3 EP3 - The Story of Fundación Génesis Empresarial with Edgardo Perez, CEO

S3 EP2 - Building the Resilience of Micro and Small Businesses with Anindita Chakraborty, Centre for Financial Inclusion

S3 EP1 - What's The True Cost of Digital Finance with Willie Blackmon (IPA) and Francis Annan (UC Berkeley)

S2 EP10 - Human Wildlife Conflict Insurance and Closing the Protection Gap in Africa

S2 EP9 - Navigating Consumer Rights in the Mobile Money Era with Kennedy Kipkemboi, GSMA

S2 EP8 - How Can Financial Institutions Climate-Proof Their Portfolios? Insights from Andrée Simon (FINCA Global CEO) and Peter Zetterli (Green Lead, CGAP)

S2 EP7 - 70 Million Views: Driving Financial Literacy through Edutainment in Central Asia

S2 EP6 - Addressing the Systemic Barriers to Women’s Financial Inclusion with Gayatri Murthy, Gender Lead at CGAP

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