Dr. Marek Dubovec is the Director of Law Reform Programs at the International Law Institute, as well as Professor of Practice at the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law. Recognized for his international expertise in commercial law reform and especially secured transactions, Marek works with governments, policymakers and regulatory bodies to draft and implement laws and standards for countries around the world to help modernize commercial law frameworks in an effort to enable greater access to credit and financial inclusion. Women’s World Banking recently connected with Marek ..read more

Research from Women’s World Banking and our partners highlights the significant benefits of more women banking agents, both for the Financial Services Providers (FSPs) that employ them and for the women agents themselves. But in order to reap these benefits, FSPs need guidance and support from policymakers when it comes to updating outreach, hiring and training so that these processes appeal to more women, and support a positive work environment for all agents. This Brief offers recommendations for policymakers to advocate for more women agents, such as enacting industry hiring targets and ..read more

In Indonesia, five of every ten working-age women are engaged in the workforce compared to nine of every ten working-age men, the largest labor-force participation gap in Southeast Asia. This gap persists despite strong progress in education and health for women in Indonesia. Within leadership positions in the banking and fintech institutions, the gender gap is even greater than the average across the economy. Women’s empowerment in the workplace is a strategic objective for the Government of Indonesia, which has articulated goals such as the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises’ call for 25% o ..read more

6 Questions with 6 Female Fintech Founders By Marina Dimova (Director, Financial Industry & Network Advocacy) & Dan Truong (Marketing Specialist, Financial Industry & Network Advocacy) Although women make up nearly 30% of the fintech workforce, they continue to earn only 2% of all venture capital, despite evidence indicating that companies with more women in leadership positions tend to perform better financially. And so, to recognize the exceptional women in fintech who have overcome significant challenges to lead a digital financial services company, Women’s World Banking this ye ..read more

Women’s World Banking is pleased to announce the second call for applications from civil society organizations in the Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion Indonesia Coalition. The due date for the grant application is 30 April 2023.   Grants will be disbursed in amounts of USD $10,000-$20,000 and will be announced by June 2023. The grant must be used to support your advocacy efforts for women’s digital financial inclusion and used within six months of disbursement. It can be used to fund staff time and / or external resources required for your work.   Civil society organizations must ..read more

When Agnes Salyanty, Southeast Asia Research Lead for Women’s World Banking, interviewed Indonesian women e-commerce entrepreneurs on how they use online platforms, two respondents stuck out as representatives of the innovation, flexibility, and boldness of the sector. “What impressed me was their willingness to experiment with both their products and e-commerce platforms to reach their customers and expand their markets. At the same time, this spirit is very typical of the 1,104 women we surveyed in Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Bali.” Ela, a 41-year-old micro-entrepreneur in Bandu ..read more

Until early 2023, 64.2 million MSMEs in Indonesia representing 96% of the labour force. Of these businesses, about two-third are women-owned. While not all of these are e-commerce businesses, 24% of MSMEs (~17.5 million MSMEs) have used e-commerce in marketing their products in 2021. This growing sub-segment of Indonesian businesses represents an opportunity for financial services providers. However, there is limited data available in the Indonesian market incorporating gender intentionality which may limit women’s economic empowerment and create obstacles for greater inclusion of women e-comm ..read more

By Vitasari Anggraeni, Elwyn Panggabean, Freya Nadira Women’s World Banking’s Southeast Asia team and Pusat Investasi Pemerintah celebrating a meeting with other ministries and organizations discussing collective action to scale women’s economic empowerment and policy change. Women’s World Banking identifies regulations, mandates, or country level priorities such as presidential mandates or G20 recommendations that can be the driving force for women’s financial inclusion and engagement. During the 2022 G20 Presidency, held by Indonesia, women’s entrepreneurship served as one of the three key t ..read more

By Pallavi Madhok, Director, Advisory Services – South Asia, Women’s World Banking Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are the country’s economic growth engines. Many MSMEs have struggled to sustain themselves in the aftermath of the pandemic and require financial support to overcome the economic downturn. Women-led small businesses – which make up 20 percent of the market – are more vulnerable as women bear the burden of caregiving over and above the burden of business distress. As the Government and other stakeholders are exploring ways to revive small businesses after the impact of ..read more

Women’s World Banking is thrilled to announce the top four finalists of this year’s Fintech Innovation Challenge. The four finalists will compete for the Grand Prize in a live pitch event on May 25, 2023 in Mumbai, India, as part of the Making Finance Work for Women Summit. This year, the Fintech Innovation Challenge attracted a truly global set of applications – 98 applications from 34 countries! From these 98 applications, our Advisory Committee sat down with 10 semifinalists in individual interviews to better understand their pitches, vision, business model, scale potential, financial viabi ..read more