Bridging the gender gap

Gender inequality persists across the world, and post-COVID has been further reinforced. The UN predicts the pandemic will push more women into poverty globally than men. Today ~1 billion women globally lack access to financial services, and across emerging markets women continue to be underserved even by inclusive fintech products. 

The share of women in informal employment globally exceeds that of men, and the risks and vulnerabilities associated with informal work and entrepreneurship disproportionately affect women. Efforts to close the gender gap in areas such as e-commerce in Africa, which has the potential to benefit many such women business owners, can contribute significantly to the value of the e-commerce market. At BFA Global we weave a gender lens into much of our work – from thinking through solutions designed with women users in mind, to ensuring representation of women-owned startups in our accelerator programs. 

We aim to enable women’s economic empowerment by improving access to finance and income for women entrepreneurs, and designing solutions that better meet the needs of women consumers. We work with our partners to design products that women truly need and want through firsthand user research, human-centered design thinking, and by leveraging our AAA framework.

Featured projects

Featured insights

Building Inclusion Into the Investment Process: Four Steps for Addressing Bias Against Women Startup Founders
Inclusive Fintech |

Building Inclusion Into the Investment Process: Four Steps for Addressing Bias Against Women Startup Founders

Originally published in NextBillion  Contrary to pessimistic expectations at the outset of the COVID pandemic, global funding for startups grew...

By Akansha Kasera
Innovation in Finance: how Spoon Money is improving livelihoods for South African female informal traders
Inclusive Fintech |

Innovation in Finance: how Spoon Money is improving livelihoods for South African female informal traders

Catalyst Fund welcomes new cohort of inclusive fintech startups creating solutions to improve the financial health of underserved communities...

By Thea Sokolowski
The buck stops with women
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

The buck stops with women

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, April 30, 2020  How Kenyan mothers are keeping food on the table through...

By Anne Gachoka
Digital Savings Groups Can Help Women Finally Bridge the Financial Gender Gap
Digital Financial Services |

Digital Savings Groups Can Help Women Finally Bridge the Financial Gender Gap

Authored by Sushmita Meka; Sally Ross, AKF; Daryl Collins The rapid growth of mobile money in some countries has...

By BFA GLOBAL
A Buck Short: Financial Diaries Gender Insights

A Buck Short: Financial Diaries Gender Insights

This report draws on Financial Diaries data from India, Kenya, and Mexico to enhance the field’s understanding of women’s...

By BFA GLOBAL
Fixing Finance for Women
Digital Financial Services |

Fixing Finance for Women

Responsibilities and problems around money in most societies are gendered A recent study from Harvard Sociologist Alexandra Achen Killewald...

By Julie Zollmann

Expanding Women’s Mobile Money Use in Ghana

BFA Global designed and coordinated a case study, together with GSMA, to assesses the impact of MoMo Pay on female merchants and customers in Ghana.

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