Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO of Women’s World Banking, joins Kopi Time to talk about giving low-income women in the developing world access to the financial tools and resources. She begins by setting the ground for where we stand with respect to gender equity. She points out that financial inclusion means more than just having a bank account; increasingly, a better indicator is access to a smartphone, in which there remains a large gender gap. She shares her organisation’s rich insights into partnering with governments and entrepreneurs to come up with innovative, increasingly digital, gender-based solutions that lift up women and reduce inequality.  She explains that the research and experience of her organisation forms the basis for providing a wide range of companies with the tools and programs needed to build gender-diverse teams. Women’s World Banking has also been involved in successful gender-lens investments; Mary Ellen shares her experience with fund raising, successful exits, and the impact of the pandemic on such investments.