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| Founded | 1979 |
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| Founders | Esther Afua Ocloo, Ela Bhatt, Michaela Walsh Elizabeth Mary Okelo |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) [1] |
| Focus | Low-income women |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 40°45′05″N73°58′35″W / 40.751330°N 73.976450°W |
| Method | Women-Centered Policy & Product Design |
| Mary Ellen Iskenderian | |
| Website | www |
Women's World Banking is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to women's economic empowerment through financial inclusion.
As an NGO, Women's World Banking (WWB) partners with financial institutions and policymakers to design and develop solutions and programs that facilitate systemic change for women.
As an investor, WWB Asset Management advances women in the workplace and as customers through direct equity to bring financial security, prosperity and independence to women.
Women's World Banking was born out of an idea conceived during the first United Nations World Conference on Women, held in Mexico City in 1975 to coincide with the International Women's Year and to mark the start of the "UN Decade for Women" (1976–1985).
The Mexico City conference was convened by the United Nations General Assembly to focus international attention on the need to develop future-oriented goals, effective strategies, and plans of action for the advancement of women. [2] It was there that Michaela’s vision for change took shape after crossing paths with incredible individuals, such as Kenyan entrepreneur and banker, Mary Okelo, Indian cooperative organizer (SEWA) and Gandhian, Ela Bhatt, and Ghanian businesswoman and microloan pioneer, Esther Ocloo. Their shared belief in the power of women was palpable and their comradery was almost instant. They determined that economic independence can reinforce women's rights, enabling them to make choices and affect their own education, opportunity and well-being. Providing small loans and other financial services to poor women entrepreneurs was seen to be a powerful weapon in the global fight against poverty. Women's World Banking was founded four years later by several women leaders from a diversity of cultures. According to Bhatt, the goal was "To reach women who have been bypassed by the traditional banking system and to bring them into the economic mainstream." [3]
In 1979, WWB was officially incorporated, registering in the Netherlands as Stichting (Foundation) to Promote Women's World Banking, an international nonprofit organization with the objective of providing women entrepreneurs with the capital and information necessary to access the money economy of their own countries and build viable businesses. [4]
In 1991, Nancy Barry became WWB's second president. She led the expansion of the WWB network to include major banks, recognizing their potential to be innovative in bringing financial services to poor populations. During her tenure, the WWB network grew to reach nearly 20 million low-income entrepreneurs.
Mary Ellen Iskenderian became WWB's third president in 2006 and she has held the post for over 15 years.
WWB is governed by a Board of Trustees, made up of representatives from the sectors of banking, finance, business, law, and community organizing. "Friends of WWB/USA, Inc." is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization which raises donations from U.S. foundations, corporations and individuals in support of Women's World Banking's global mission, and maintains a separate Board of Directors made up of U.S.-based leaders in law, finance and academia.
At the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in September 2009, President Barack Obama recalled his mother working at WWB, where "She championed the cause of women's welfare and helped pioneer the micro loans that have helped lift millions out of poverty." [5] The former President's mother, Ann Dunham-Soetoro, was WWB's policy coordinator in the mid-1990s, and her work was pivotal in informing the policy platform of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.
Players in the financial ecosystem (policymakers, financial services providers, etc.) are largely gender neutral in their strategies.
Research began to show that granting women microloans had an enduring, more profound impact on the broader well-being of the population. Access to credit gave women not just more control over household assets, but also more autonomy and decision-making power and greater participation in public life. Empowering women economically had a multiplier effect as well. Evidence showed that poor women reinvested much more of their income in their families and communities than men did—financing such items as health care, education for their children, and home improvement. The woman entrepreneur as the gateway to household and community stability became a fundamental basis for the microfinance business model and a guiding principle behind the value of microfinance as a tool for poverty alleviation. [6]
In view of the multiplier effect of empowering women, and in keeping with its founders' intent, WWB has since its inception concentrated specifically on enhancing the opportunities and well-being of women through economic independence. WWB conducted gender research on household dynamics and women's roles in financial decisions in low-income families. This research, led to changes such as: simplified loan paperwork and borrowing requirements, which take into account women's lower literacy rates in many countries; changes in the design of MFI branches to accommodate women with small children; and housing loans for which women must be placed on the property title for the household to receive the loan.
As the financial inclusion cause grew, WWB has created new products, including; savings, remittances, housing/home improvement loans, pensions, insurance and worked with countless central banks and regulatory bodies to advocate for a gender lens in their national frameworks and public infrastructure systems. WWB also offers its network members advisory and technical assistance, including; research, branding and leadership.
As a network, WWB does not issue loans directly to microentrepreneurs. Rather, it serves as a partner to its members, in their respective markets across five regions: Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa. As of 2009, the network represented an outstanding loan portfolio of more than US$5.5 billion and an average loan size per borrower of $1,200.
In 2007, ten WWB network members were named on Forbes magazine's first-ever list of the world's top 50 MFIs. [7]
In 2009, thirteen network members were named on the Global 100 Composite Ranking [8] by the Microfinance Information Exchange (the MIX), a nonprofit organization that provides business information and data services for the microfinance industry. This list highlights institutions that achieve high outreach and low transaction costs while being both profitable and transparent.
Women's leadership has been a core element of women's financial inclusion progress. Many of the industry's pioneers were women, and a solid female managerial contingent held steady as MFIs grew. [9]
The business case for gender diversity in microfinance maintains that organizations that successfully hire, retain and promote women will achieve not just social benefits, but also financial returns. According to a 2007 report, Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women board directors attained significantly higher financial performance on average than those with the lowest representation. [10] A 2007 study of 226 MFIs in 57 countries demonstrated that when the CEO of an MFI was a woman, the MFI showed a higher return on assets and lower operational costs. [11] [12] A 2008 leadership survey conducted by WWB showed that female loan officers and women authority figures make powerful role models for their female customers.
The microfinance industry saw a compound annual growth rate of 43% between 2004 and 2008 [13] Research shows that within Women's World Banking member institutions between 2003 and 2007, the percentage of women in board positions declined from 66% to 58% and in senior management from 66% to 51%. [14]
In 2009, WWB began supporting financial inclusion leaders and the next generation of diverse talent to close the gender gap in leadership across the sector. They offer programs and strategic diversity consulting to enhance individual and team effectiveness, create inclusive workplaces, and promote more inclusive policy environments.
742 million women still remain excluded from the formal financial system, hindering their economic potential. Women's World Banking is dedicated to reach 100 million women between 2017-2027 to transform their lives and uplift entire communities.
Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to impoverished borrowers who typically lack collateral, steady employment, and a verifiable credit history. It is designed to support entrepreneurship and alleviate poverty. Many recipients are illiterate, and therefore unable to complete paperwork required to get conventional loans. As of 2009 an estimated 74 million people held microloans that totaled US$38 billion. Grameen Bank reports that repayment success rates are between 95 and 98 percent. The first economist who had invented the idea of micro loans was Jonathan Swift in the 1720’s. Microcredit is part of microfinance, which provides a wider range of financial services, especially savings accounts, to the poor. Modern microcredit is generally considered to have originated with the Grameen Bank founded in Bangladesh in 1983. Many traditional banks subsequently introduced microcredit despite initial misgivings. The United Nations declared 2005 the International Year of Microcredit. As of 2012, microcredit is widely used in developing countries and is presented as having "enormous potential as a tool for poverty alleviation." Microcredit is a tool that can possibly be helpful to reduce feminization of poverty in developing countries.
Microfinance consists of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings and checking accounts; microinsurance; and payment systems, among other services. Microfinance services are designed to reach excluded customers, usually poorer population segments, possibly socially marginalized, or geographically more isolated, and to help them become self-sufficient. ID Ghana is an example of a microfinance institution.
Accion is an international nonprofit. Founded as a community development initiative serving the poor in Venezuela, it works with local partners in different countries to develop and scale digital financial solutions for underserved people globally.
A micro-enterprise is generally defined as a small business employing nine people or fewer, and having a balance sheet or turnover less than a certain amount. The terms microenterprise and microbusiness have the same meaning, though traditionally when referring to a small business financed by microcredit the term microenterprise is often used. Similarly, when referring to a small, usually legal business that is not financed by microcredit, the term microbusiness is often used. Internationally, most microenterprises are family businesses employing one or two persons. Most microenterprise owners are primarily interested in earning a living to support themselves and their families. They only grow the business when something in their lives changes and they need to generate a larger income. According to information found on the Census.gov website, microenterprises make up 95% of the 28 million US companies tracked by the census.
Opportunity International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization chartered in the United States. Through a network of 47 program and support partners, Opportunity International provides small business loans, savings, insurance and training to more than 14 million people in the developing world. It has clients in more than 20 countries and works with fundraising partners in the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Opportunity International has 501(c)(3) status as a tax-exempt charitable organization in the United States under the US Internal Revenue Code.
Vikram Akula is an American banker and the founder of SKS Microfinance, a micro finance company and former chairperson of Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd. SKS was an organization that offered microloans and insurance to poor women in India. He stepped down as SKS Chairperson in November 2011 and became Chairperson Emeritus.
Micro financing in Tanzania started in 1995 with SACCOS and NGOs. It has since then contributed to the increasing success of international micro financing. Microfinance stills remains a relatively new in Tanzania since it has not penetrated yet. Since 1995, microfinance has been linked to poverty alleviation programs and women. The government made efforts to ensure commercial banks have continued to provide financial support to the small entrepreneurial business. However a microfinance National Policy was implemented in 2002 to encourage and support microfinances in the country. Since the implementation, micro financing was officially launched and recognized as a poverty alleviation tool. Due to its increase exposure and use in the nation, commercial banks have developed interests in to offer microfinance. There are various microfinance banks that functions as supporting institutions in the country that usually provide microfinance services. These may include the CRDB, National Microfinance Bank, and AKIBA. However there are also other few banks that are concerned with micro financing in Tanzania such as the PRIDE and SEDA, Tanzania Postal Bank and FINCA. Community and small banks have also expressed interest in the same including the NGOs and other non-profit organizations.
Village banking is a microcredit and saving methodology whereby financial services are administered locally in a community bank rather than in a centralized commercial bank. Village banking has its roots in ancient cultures and was most recently adopted for use by micro-finance institutions (MFIs) as a way to control costs. Early village banking methods were innovated by Grameen Bank and then later developed by groups such as FINCA International founder John Hatch. Among US-based non-profit agencies there are at least 31 microfinance institutions (MFIs) that have collectively created over 800 village banking programs in at least 90 countries. And in many of these countries there are host-country MFIs—sometimes dozens—that are village banking practitioners as well. The latest developments globally can be seen in South East Asia, where digitization is pacing fast to reach rural areas with hybrid on- and offline solutions.
Friends of Women's World Banking, India, often shortened to Friends of WWB, India, or just FWWB, is an Indian APEX organization that assists microfinance and microenterprise organizations. Founded in 1982 by Ela Bhatt, it is located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
Financial inclusion is the availability and equality of opportunities to access financial services. It refers to processes by which individuals and businesses can access appropriate, affordable, and timely financial products and services - which include banking, loan, equity, and insurance products. It provides paths to enhance inclusiveness in economic growth by enabling the unbanked population to access the means for savings, investment, and insurance towards improving household income and reducing income inequality
Wizzit is a provider of basic banking services for the unbanked and underbanked in South Africa. Its services are based on the use of mobile phones for accessing bank accounts and conducting transactions, in addition to a Maestro debit card that is issued to all customers upon registration. Wizzit is a branchless banking business, meaning that its services are designed so that customers can generally conduct transactions without the need to visit bank branches.
Project Enterprise was an American microfinance nonprofit organization in New York City providing entrepreneurs from underserved areas with loans, business training and networking opportunities. Operating on the Grameen Bank model of microlending, as of 2008, Project Enterprise (PE) had served more than 2,500 entrepreneurs in New York City, and provides microloans from $1,500 to $12,000. The organizations web site was closed in 2017.
The SEEP Network, also known as SEEP, is a member-based, nonprofit organization with headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
Energy in Common (EIC) was a not-for-profit organization issuing microloans specifically and only for renewable energy technologies. It operated between 2009 and 2013 when it suspended its lending activity due to a lack of funds.
HOPE International is a Christian faith-based nonprofit organization based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania that equips individuals living in poverty with savings and microfinance services. HOPE International now operates in over 20 underserved countries and has assisted over 3 million people with small loans and savings services since it began operations in 1997.
The impact of microcredit is the study of microcredit and its impact on poverty reduction which is a subject of much controversy. Proponents state that it reduces poverty through higher employment and higher incomes. This is expected to lead to improved nutrition and improved education of the borrowers' children. Some argue that microcredit empowers women. In the US and Canada, it is argued that microcredit helps recipients to graduate from welfare programs. Critics say that microcredit has not increased incomes, but has driven poor households into a debt trap, in some cases even leading to suicide. They add that the money from loans is often used for durable consumer goods or consumption instead of being used for productive investments, that it fails to empower women, and that it has not improved health or education.
Microfinance in Kenya consists of microfinance facilities and regulations in Kenya which has been developing since the mid 1990s. Legislation was passed in 2006 with the Micro Finance Act which became active in 2008. By 2010 there were more than twenty large micro finance institutions in Kenya, which provided US $1.5 billion to approximately 1.5 million active borrowers. With over 100,000 clients, Equity Bank Kenya had the largest share of business loans representing market share of 73.50% followed by Kenya Women Microfinance Bank with 12.06%. Most microfinance firms as in other countries have eligibility criteria which may include gender, age, a valid Kenyan ID, a business, an ability to repay the loan and be a customer of the institution.
Roshaneh Zafar is a Pakistani development activist, working in the field of women's economic empowerment. She created the first specialised microfinance organisation in Pakistan, the Kashf Foundation, in 1996 which has served over 5 million women entrepreneurs across Pakistan and continues to pave the path for women's economic empowerment through its holistic financial services program.
Kashf Foundation is a non-profit organization, founded by Roshaneh Zafar in 1996. Kashf is regarded as the first microfinance institution (MFI) of Pakistan that uses village banking methodology in microcredit to alleviate poverty by providing affordable financial and non-financial services to low income households - particularly for women, to build their capacity and enhance their economic role. With headquarters in Lahore, Punjab, Kashf have regional offices in five major cities and over 200 branches across Pakistan.
Muthoot Microfin Limited is an Indian microfinance institution (MFI), headquartered in Kochi. It primarily provides unsecured microloans to women in rural areas. It is a part of Muthoot Pappachan Group.
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