Past and present leaders of FinMark Trust discuss our beginnings, our impact and our plans to continue encouraging financial markets to work for the poor
Twenty years ago, smartphones did not exist. Neither did mobile money – Facebook – cryptocurrency, peer-to-peer lending, or many other initiatives that form an inherent part of our retail financial services landscape today. Twenty years is a long time – and at FinMark Trust, we have had the privilege of making financial markets work for the poor since 2002. During this time, we launched the first FinScope, our nationally representative demand-side survey – now present in over 36 countries worldwide. We completed financial inclusion diagnostics in over 20 countries – with more on the way.
We have also driven grassroots inclusion by supporting governments and regulators in over 10 countries as they implement their strategies on the ground. Now, we are tying some of this hard work together across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states as we work closely with SADC to implement their Support to the Investment and Business Environment programme.
Throughout this year, we will be documenting our journey to date – and making this public for others to learn from. Which will include:
- A series of interviews with our stakeholders around our journey;
- Webinars and events to share some of the knowledge we have built up over the past two decades;
- To share what our pro-poor market development journey may look like in the next decade and;
- A fresh new look to brand our journey.
None of this would have been possible without you – our stakeholders. Watch this space, and please join in for the discussion. #FMTturns20