CGAP, a specialized think tank within the World Bank Group that focuses on financial inclusion, ranks the top-10 blog each year. In 2019, pi STRATEGY’s article on Women’s Financial Inclusion was ranked among the top-10. The article leverages the Firm’s HCD-based research on how social commerce might unlock a new avenue for financial inclusion for women and contribute to closing the gender gap.
An overwhelming majority of online sellers and shoppers in Bangladesh are women. Yet CGAP’s research shows that barriers to participating in formal e-commerce, such as the need for a bank account, drive many women into buying and selling on social networks and messaging apps. pi STRATEGY’s Pial Islam and CGAP’s Yasmin Bin-Humam argue that linking mobile money to this informal type of e-commerce could advance women’s financial inclusion.
Detailed findings from this study, as well as early insights from newer research on this topic, were shared in an event in Washington DC that was organized by CGAP and attended by industry experts. In his keynote, Mr. Pial Islam delved deeper into this expanding phenomenon, flagged both critical challenges and emerging opportunities, and underscored the indisputable link between informal e-commerce and women’s financial inclusion. IFC’s SME Finance Forum published a piece building on the insights shared by pi STRATEGY at the event.
Read the full article on CGAP’s website here.
pi STRATEGY