(Previously, we explained how girls and women are underserved by the financial industry and often cut off from the world economy.)
Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of Women’s World Banking, pointed out another challenge: banks need to see the financial return in making services available to women and girls. “If this work is done as a charity, or only as social responsibility, this work is the first thing to be cut. Therefore, we must work with the private sector to ensure a bundle of products we offer financial institutions is sustainable,” she said.
In line with that point, during the panel Daniela Ligiero, vice president of Girls and Women Strategy at the United Nations Foundation, referenced a September McKinsey report that estimated $12tn to $20tn would be added to the global economy if women gained control over their finances. Beyond the money, she added: “Banks must and should focus on women and girls because it’s right thing to do, and the smart thing to do.”
When women are included, corporations see results. Melinda Gates, in a recent essay in the New York Times, pointed out that when Telesom ZAAD, a mobile money service in Somalia, used female staff members to register women, the number of female customers increased from 17% to 24% in just one year.
Part of the solution, the panelists agreed, is helping corporations and banks understand women’s wants and needs.
“Some of these platforms are very clearly not marketed to women,” noted Evelyn Stark, assistant vice president of financial inclusion at MetLife Foundation. She said that because mobile device manufacturers make cellphones difficult for women to use, and often have prompts written in wordy English in places where literacy rates are low, many hand the phone over to a man to do the banking. “If we really want to serve women, we have to figure out how to make the whole process profitable for sure, but also how to make it attractive and make it work for her,” Stark said.
Iskendarian said in a prior interview that banks and nonprofits must consult women when customizing any services or offerings specifically designed for the demographic. “Listening to women and being customer-centric around women is essential to our success,” she said. For instance, when the nonprofit Women’s World Banking brought Diamond Bank executives to Peru, many listened to female entrepreneurs who told them hefty ATM fees made them have less trust in their banks when they earned so little every day.
Toyin Saraki, founder and president of Well-Being Foundation Africa, said timing was everything. “We’ve found, through several efforts, pregnancy is a good time to target women and bring them into financial inclusion efforts. This is when women are resting and planning ahead so they are more likely to see financial services as a useful tool for providing for the family,” Saraki said.
Near the end of the roundtable, several representatives mentioned the need for a communications campaign using more storytelling to tell their successes. For instance, Visa promotes its financial inclusion programs to women through video, with the intention of planting the seed for other corporations to follow suit.
Olajobi Makinwa, senior civil society coordinator at the UN Global Compact, asked businesses that are focused on corporate responsibility to stop competing with one another. “Collective action is important as we move forward,” she said.
Ndunge Kiiti, professor of international development with the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion, declared that ongoing research was essential to helping women gain control over their finances: “Research fuels policy – people can only care about a problem when they understand its parameters and depth.”
Content on this page is brought to you by Visa, sponsor of the Financial inclusion hub.
