Following a fantastic and successful Series 1 of show, we're excited to bring you a special bonus episode, before the launch of Series 2 in January 2026. In May 2025, Jack travelled to Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands—a stunning nation in the Pacific made up of nearly 1,000 islands. With a population of just over 800,000, the country faces unique geographic and infrastructure challenges, especially when it comes to delivering financial services to its many remote communities. While...
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Following a fantastic and successful Series 1 of show, we're excited to bring you a special bonus episode, before the launch of Series 2 in January 2026. In May 2025, Jack travelled to Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands—a stunning nation in the Pacific made up of nearly 1,000 islands. With a population of just over 800,000, the country faces unique geographic and infrastructure challenges, especially when it comes to delivering financial services to its many remote communities. While...
Following a fantastic and successful Series 1 of show, we're excited to bring you a special bonus episode, before the launch of Series 2 in January 2026. In May 2025, Jack travelled to Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands—a stunning nation in the Pacific made up of nearly 1,000 islands. With a population of just over 800,000, the country faces unique geographic and infrastructure challenges, especially when it comes to delivering financial services to its many remote communities. While...
In this season finale, we take you to Uganda to explore how innovative fintech and agribusiness partnerships are driving a new era of agricultural finance for coffee growers. Emata is a Ugandan fintech (and licensed MFI) working in agriculture. They partner with agri companies to give smallholder farmers affordable, AI-powered digital loans. In this episode, Lilian Nassanga Musoke and Maren Hald Bjørgum walk us through the journey of the company since 2020 and how they partner with cooperativ...
What happens when one of the world’s biggest insurers decides to design products for the population that’s too poor to be rich — and too rich to be poor? In this deeply insightful conversation, Garance Wattez-Richard shares the story behind the creation of AXA EssentiALL. From her first pitch to launching operations in 22 markets, Garance walks us through the business model, the value proposition, and the mindset shift required to make insurance truly inclusive. Guest: Garance Wattez-Ri...
Smallholder farmers are the backbone of Africa's agricultural sector, producing 80% of the region's food supply. In this episode, we met with Tim Strong, Head of Agricultural Finance for Opportunity International to discuss how financial inclusion can be a vehicle for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve their goals. Guest: Timothy Strong, Head of Agricultural Finance at Opportunity International USA The episode covered: The $170 billion annual financing gap faci...
The adoption of digital financial services, or DFS has created significant impact for underserved communities across the world. The United Nations states that inclusive digital financial services have allowed individuals to store and increase savings, cope with unexpected economic shocks, access social benefits more cheaply, and make investments in economic opportunities that can lead them out of poverty. However, whilst the adoption of DFS has the potential for transformative impact, d...
When climate disasters strike, the world's most vulnerable communities often face devastating financial losses. In an era of increasing climate risks, traditional disaster response isn't enough. Communities need financial solutions that put them in control of their recovery. In Episode 6 of the Financial Inclusion Unlocked Podcast, we met with Nilesh Prakhash, Co-Director of the Global Shield against Climate Risks, to explore how locally led Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance sol...
The way that we view and define financial inclusion continues to evolve. Not only is financial inclusion measured on purely “access” but on how it can be a vehicle to accelerate the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. In this episode, we meet with Sophie Sirtaine, the Chief Executive Officer of CGAP, to discuss what the future of financial inclusion looks like. CGAP is an international partnership housed in the World Bank Group, dedicated to promoting inclusive financial ecosystems that enab...
From Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) to ROSCAs and Cuchubales, community-based financial groups have a long history of empowering individuals. Whether it’s for personal development or economic resilience, saving groups have been a cornerstone of financial inclusion for centuries. In this episode, we met with Jeff Ashe, a financial inclusion expert, author and lecturer with over 45 years experience in the sector. Jeff was previously a Senior Associate Director at Accion Int...
With the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events increasing, Small Island Developing States (SIDs) are bearing the brunt of climate change, facing a growing number of threats including cyclones, floods, and rising sea levels. For instance, Fiji alone has seen devastating impacts from cyclones like Cyclone Winston in 2016, which the World Bank stated caused over $1.4 billion in damage—around 20% of the country’s GDP. As communities in Small Island Developing States experience these c...
Uganda is the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, with over 1.7 million refugees and asylum seekers in the country. For those arriving in Uganda, accessing basic financial services has been incredibly difficult due to a lack of legal documentation, collateral and inadequate banking infrastructure. In this episode, we met with two leading experts representing Opportunity Bank Uganda Limited (OBUL) and Opportunity International UK (OIUK). Guests: - Amos Bonna, Chief Relationship Of...
In the first episode of the new Financial Inclusion Unlocked podcast, Jack met with Thomas Yann Piveteau, Financial Sector Specialist at The World Bank to learn about Project FASTT. Thomas explained the objectives of the project, which aims to develop fast payment systems globally. The discussion covers the benefits of these systems, the role of central banks, challenges in implementation, and the comparison between fast payment systems and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Thoma...
Financial Inclusion Unlocked is launching on 24th March!! The new podcast series is on a journey to learn how we can unlock the potential of financial inclusion as an enabler for the 17 UN SDGs. From the heights of Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains to the islands of Fiji, we're uncovering stories of breakthrough solutions covering topics from parametric insurance protecting communities against cyclones to innovative solutions empowering refugee entrepreneurs and instant payments. Financial Inclusio...
Following a fantastic and successful Series 1 of show, we're excited to bring you a special bonus episode, before the launch of Series 2 in January 2026. In May 2025, Jack travelled to Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands—a stunning nation in the Pacific made up of nearly 1,000 islands. With a population of just over 800,000, the country faces unique geographic and infrastructure challenges, especially when it comes to delivering financial services to its many remote communities. While...
