Inclusive Finance Frontiers

What are the frontiers of financial inclusion? Of course, there is a geographical frontier: people in rural areas are more often excluded from the financial system. There’s also a technological frontier: while digital technology has greatly expanded the reach of financial services, those on the other side of the digital divide are being left behind. But there’s also a social frontier, often in the form of social norms that dictate who can – and can’t – access and use financial services.  

In this episode, we hear from Women’s Micro Bank (also known as Mama Bank), a bank in Papua New Guinea that pushed geographical and technological boundaries in its attempts to expand rural women’s access to banking services but ran into its biggest challenges at the social frontier. 

Featured voices: 

Jill Pijui, Head Trainer, Center for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI) in Papua New Guinea  
Gunanidhi Das, CEO, Women’s Micro Bank (Mama Bank)  
Gina Gelena, Mama Bank agent  
Elle Pele, Mama Bank customer   
Katie Highet, CGAP Consultant 

Listen and subscribe for free on your favorite platform. To learn more, visit www.cgap.org. If you have any feedback, connect with us at [email protected]. 

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Background reading:

Digitizing Merchant Payments