Open Webinar: Making Digital Financial Services Work for Women 2021 | SME Finance Forum | 1 September 2021 | Online

In 2019, Women’s World Banking conducted research in India and Indonesia on an emerging business model known as social commerce entrepreneurship with enterprises blending social media, e-commerce, payments and delivery platforms. One of the findings of the study is that, despite adopting digital platforms, women are not yet fully utilizing them. “Digital adoption means achieving a state in which users gain the ability to use digital tools as they are intended and to the fullest extent.”

The topic of digital adoption is especially relevant as the world moves towards a digital future with the economy driven by digital commerce and enabled by digital finance. We aim to raise awareness on what prevents the adoption of DFS; and, what FSPs can do to drive adoption, especially as they actively leverage digital finance for women’s financial inclusion. On September 1st, 2021 at 8:00 AM EDT, Women’s World Banking (WWB) and its project partners, will share learnings from their work in wage digitization and digital account activation highlighting digital adoption insights from Wing Bank (Cambodia) Plc, Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) Bangladesh and DANA Indonesia, as well as from WWB’s research in a joint effort with the ILO, published in March 2021 .

What you will learn:
• What trends are we seeing in the ecosystem that hinder or facilitate digital adoption.
• What the challenges and barriers are both Financial Service Providers (FSPs) and their women customers face with digital adoption.
• What the solution components in digital financial services (DFS) are that drive adoption and usage among women customers.
• What role MSMEs can play in supporting adoption of digital financial services, e.g., digital payments.

2021 Speakers

Manu Rajan
Division CEO, Wing Businesses (Cambodia) Plc.

Md. Abedur Rahman Sikder
Deputy Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) Bangladesh

Agustina Samara
Chief People and Corporate Strategy Officer, DANA in Indonesia

Elwyn Panggabean
Director for Advisory Services, Women’s World Banking

Nithyasri Sharma
Manager for Strategy, Women’s World Banking.