LightCastle Delivers Keynote on Gender Lens Investment in Financial Services

Tasnim Mustaque, a Business Consultant at LightCastle, delivered the keynote presentation to a panel titled “Importance of Gender Lens Investment in Financial Services”. The panel was a part of a day-long workshop called “Closing the Gender Gap in Financial Inclusion: Creating Female Friendly Entrepreneurial Ecosystems,” organized by the a2i Programme of the ICT Division.

The workshop focused on the opportunities and challenges women face in financial inclusion, the social and economic impact of the gender financial inclusion gap, and the importance of gender lens investments in financial services.

Alongside Tasnim Mustaque, the panel comprised esteemed guest speakers including:
1. Dr. Sayema Haque Bidisha, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka
2. Mahia Juned, Deputy Managing Director, City Bank
3. Gazi Yar Mohammed, Chief Executive Officer, Dana Fintech

The panel brought forth discussions around experiences with and performance of female-focused financial products, the prospect of win-win collaboration between financial institutions and fintech companies, the white space around the deployment of new fintech products backed by investments as opposed to customer deposits, the need for process simplification and digitization for full inclusivity, and the high potential of nano loans to chip away at the gender financial inclusion gap. Moreover, the panel emphasized that the ultimate objective of financial inclusion is financial empowerment, which should inform all interventions.

The panelists unanimously emphasized the need for collaboration between fintech players and traditional financial institutions as well as the need to lean into digital strategies for conversion, service delivery, and further implementation of advanced technologies.