UNCDF works around the world to increase women’s access and usage of financial and other critical digital services so that women can be builders of digital economies.

To advance inclusive digital economies, where women are active agents of change, UNCDF advocates for the promotion of women as leaders. Recently, as part of a global advocacy movement that challenged leaders to prioritize women’s digital financial inclusion, UNCDF called on financial service providers and MNOs to employ more women and girls. We aren’t just advocating for this; UNCDF is intentional about employing and developing emerging female leaders. The talents of two of UNCDF’s rising women stars have been recognized; Arianna Gasparri and Olivia-Kelly Lonkeu have been chosen for the Innovate Finance ‘Standout 35’ from the Women in FinTech Powerlist 2020. Last year over 1000 women were nominated for the Powerlist, which makes Arianna and Olivia’s achievement all the more impressive. They spoke about their work championing women’s financial inclusion.

Why are digital financial services so important for women?

Arianna: Digital financial services have the ability to change women’s lives because they offer a greater degree of accessibility. In countries where women have less ability to travel by themselves, less control over the money they earn, and lower ownership of the IDs needed to open accounts digital financial services can provide a vital way for women to participate in the formal financial ecosystem. For instance, in Ghana, UNCDF is working with Ecobank Ghana and Ozé, to help microentrepreneurs to keep track of their finances and uses data gathered through usage to create credit scores and inform lending decisions. This is a great example of a digital financial service that uses an innovative approach to overcome barriers faced by women. The app creates a credit score based on the financial behaviour of a single user, rather than at a household level, which is important for women as they have less control over household finances. When designed with women’s needs in mind digital financial services can help women to access the services they need in spite of social norms that stand in their way.

What are the constraints to the digital financial inclusion of women in West and Central Africa?

Olivia: According to the Global Findex, in Sub-Saharan Africa, 48 percent of men and 37 percent of women had access to an account in 2017. In the majority of countries in West and Central Africa, these gender disparities have grown between 2014 and 2017. To close this gender gap, it is essential to tackle the social, cultural, economic, infrastructural, and regulatory barriers to the financial inclusion of women. Since the focus is on FinTech here, to be more specific, I can focus on the constraints related to the supply of Digital Financial Services (DFS). Financial service providers and FinTech in particular have a key role to play in the design of women-inclusive financial solutions. Despite the phenomenal rise in digital solutions rethinking customer experience in financial services, there’s still a certain disconnect between the supply of DFS and the specific financial needs of women. In 2020, we’ve launched a consultation with over 20 different financial service providers in Central Africa. The vast majority of these FSPs acknowledged that they didn’t have any financial products or services tailored to the needs of women and that they did not collect sex-disaggregated data to better understand women’s behaviours, aspirations and needs. In this context, we’ve launched a Consultative Panel on Women and DFS in Central Africa to provide a platform so that women’s organisations, consumer protection associations and financial services providers can work together to come up with actions to scale up women-inclusive digital financial services. In addition, as illustrated by the initiative presented by Arianna, we continue to support financial service providers in the conception of digital solutions including a women-centred approach.

What should FinTechs be focusing on to reach more women?

Arianna: The importance of financial literacy for women is consistently underestimated. I have seen well designed products fail because the developers haven’t thought about financial education for their users. UNCDF carried out diagnostics in a number of countries and found that women consistently have lower levels of financial literacy. Addressing financial literacy can also have a powerful knock-on effect on women’s equality in other areas. In Uganda, UNCDF supports a project which made the link between financial education and greater independence for girls. TrustGirls is a platform that teaches girls about money management and reproductive health at the same time with the aim of addressing the barriers to women’s financial inclusion in a holistic way.

What are you doing to solve the regulatory constraints faced by FinTechs in West Africa?

Olivia: UNCDF is playing a unique convening role to facilitate public-private dialogues between FinTechs and regulators in West Africa. Over the past few years, we’ve organized several events to raise awareness on the regulatory constraints faced by FinTechs in West Africa and to enable the regulators to become more actively engaged in the creation of an enabling FinTech ecosystem.

In January 2021, we contributed to the organization of a FinTech Roundtable Discussion between H.M Queen Maxima and leading FinTechs in Senegal. Following this event, during a bilateral meeting between H.M Queen Maxima and the governor of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), H.M. emphasized the importance of setting up a FinTech innovation office to support the development of FinTech in the region. As a follow-up to these events, we’re currently providing technical guidance to the BCEAO for the set-up of a FinTech Innovation Office and a Regulatory Sandbox. Ultimately, thanks to greater regulatory clarity, FinTech will be better positioned to launch innovative financial products and services, especially women-inclusive digital financial services.

Why is winning this award important to you?

Arianna: It is an honor to be part of this list with such an outstanding group of women championing innovation. FinTech is a very male-dominated field and research has shown that this is a problem for several reasons; gender-diverse teams are more innovative and evidence suggests that women use financial services more often when they encounter female staff and agents. This initiative is a clear sign that diversity is no longer an act of simple awareness building. The dialogue has shifted and is now geared towards action and we want to ensure the change actually happens. That’s why UNCDF is calling for digital financial service providers to employ more women to offer solutions for women made by women. I hope that these awards show FinTech companies that there is a wealth of talent out there.

Olivia: I am also humbled and honoured to receive this important recognition and to be listed alongside so many inspirational and talented women. The actions of the women recognized in the Women in FinTech Powerlist serve as a reminder that solutions exist to ensure that more women can have access to, use and have control over formal financial services. Putting the spotlight on these women and their work will hopefully serve to scale up the initiatives they lead which are having a positive impact on the financial inclusion of women and accelerating the growth of the FinTech industry in general.

Arianna Gasparri

Arianna Gasparri is a UNCDF Financial Inclusion Specialist in Ghana, where she manages a portfolio of US 5 million to increase access and usage of innovative financial services for women and youth. In this role, Arianna works closely with a wide variety of FinTechs across West Africa and serves as a passionate advocate for digital financial services’ transformative impact on the lives of vulnerable people. Before joining the team, Arianna was the Youth Finance Advisor for the UNCDF Regional Office in Senegal. She co-led multiple technical assistance projects to build financial and fintech ecosystems in West Africa that enable youth to flourish in their communities. Prior to joining UNCDF, Arianna worked as analyst for a rating company, where she has been in charge of diagnostics, risk management and performance evaluation of financial services providers worldwide. Her career has led her to work in more than 20 countries around the world.

Olivia-Kelly Lonkeu

Olivia-Kelly is a Policy Analyst specialized in Digital Finance at UNCDF, where she leads policy-related activities in West and Central Africa. In this capacity, she advises policy makers and regulators on the design of enabling policy and regulatory environments for the uptake of Digital Financial Services with a particular emphasis on women’s financial inclusion.

Prior to joining UNCDF, Olivia-Kelly was a Manager at PwC Luxembourg’s consulting practice. She led large, multi-partner assignments for clients such as the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB). She notably contributed to the implementation of projects throughout the policy cycle: from the design of EU innovation policies, to the development of investment platforms to maximize public and private investments in local digital infrastructures through to the monitoring of the implementation of the European Small Business Act and the evaluation of European financial instruments to support the growth of SMEs.

More on the UNCDF approach Women as Builders of Digital Economies and our partnership with the G7 on Advancing Women’s Economic Empowerment in Africa

More on the full Women in FinTech Powerlist from Innovate Finance