As part of the Inclusive Fintech Forum (IFF) agenda, Women’s World Banking and the National Bank of Rwanda will highlight the role inclusive finance plays in unlocking global economic growth—particularly for the 700 million women still excluded from the formal financial system.
Designed for Governors, CEOs, and senior decision-makers alongside technical leaders, this session focuses on the strategic choices that determine whether inclusion efforts scale or stall. Through a hands-on workshop, participants will engage with real-world tradeoffs across policy, regulation, incentives, and institutional leadership—connecting global evidence to locally grounded action shaped by senior-level decision-making.
Anchored in IFF 2026’s themes of Innovation, Impact, and Connection, the session is intentionally participatory and designed to translate big-stage conversations into practical, context-specific solutions.
The session opens with a quick cross-sectoral panel discussion leading into an award ceremony hosted by the National Bank of Rwanda, recognizing a financial services leader advancing inclusive finance across Africa. Their work will be positioned within IFF’s broader agenda, highlighting leadership in areas such as cross-border digital payments, AI-enabled access models, and climate-resilient financial solutions. This sets the tone for the workshop: one individual’s innovation today can influence the trajectory of millions tomorrow.
Following a lightning panel discussion, the workshop will examine the barriers financial service providers and policymakers face in advancing inclusion. Through participatory ideation and real-world case studies from markets that have successfully navigated these challenges, delegates will develop practical strategies they can apply within their own institutions and policy environments.
The session concludes with a reflection exercise in which participants write financial inclusion commitments to their future selves—postcards that Women’s World Banking will mail at a later date—alongside the distribution of practical guides on women-centered design. This methodology has helped Women’s World Banking reach 117 million women and 76 million men across 22 countries over the past eight years.
