Welcome to Series 2!

Happy New Year and welcome back to Financial Inclusion Unlocked! We're thrilled to kick off Series 2 with 10 powerful episodes releasing every Monday through the end of March. This season, we're diving deep into conversations with innovators, practitioners, and thought leaders who are working to unlock the potential of financial inclusion for all.

In this opening episode, we tackle a topic that's often overlooked but desperately needs attention: disability inclusion in financial services. With 16% of the global population, that's 1 in 7 people, living with some form of disability, and 80% of them residing in low-and middle-income countries, the opportunity and imperative for action is clear.

Meet Our Guests

Paul Surreaux is a financial inclusion specialist, disability advocate, and co-founder of the Barrier-Free Finance Initiative (BFFI), an organization advancing access to financial services for persons with disabilities worldwide. Since 2009, Paul has led multiple projects in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa, combining capacity building with tailored financial products for vulnerable populations. A former investment officer who became a quadriplegic after a surfing accident, Paul brings both professional expertise and lived experience to his work.

Luis Fernando Sanabria is the Chief Operating Officer of Fundación Paraguaya, where he has worked for over 30 years. Luis oversees all programs including microfinance, poverty elimination, entrepreneurial education, and self-sustainable schools. He is an architect behind Fundación Paraguaya's groundbreaking disability inclusion program and co-creator of the Poverty Stoplight methodology.

Key Topics Discussed

• Understanding Disability Inclusion
• Barriers to Financial Inclusion for People with Disabilities
• Fundación Paraguaya's Success Story
• The Business Case for Disability Inclusion
• Practical Steps for FSPs

About Our Sponsor

Series 2 of Financial Inclusion Unlocked is proudly sponsored by CGAP.

CGAP is a global partnership of more than 40 development organizations working to advance the lives of people living in poverty through financial inclusion. Housed at the World Bank, it works at the frontier of inclusive finance to test solutions, spark innovation, generate evidence, and share insights. As a global public good, its independent research and analysis is available to all.

Learn more at www.cgap.org. Follow CGAP on LinkedIn or subscribe to its newsletter.

Connect With Us

Don't miss the remaining nine episodes of Series 2! Subscribe to Financial Inclusion Unlocked on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Join the conversation on LinkedIn at Financial Inclusion Unlocked for video highlights, insights, and updates from the world of financial inclusion.

Financial Inclusion Unlocked is produced by SIJ Media and hosted by Jack Farren.

Episode Sponsored by the Microinsurance Network

In November 2025, we travelled to Luxembourg for the European Microfinance Award. The award is a prestigious prize that recognises outstanding initiatives advancing financial inclusion; in its 2025 edition, the theme focused on building resilience through inclusive insurance.

The award is organised by InFiNe, the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP), and the Luxembourg Government, with this year’s edition also supported by the Microinsurance Network.

After a competitive global selection process, three MiN members were selected as finalists: Radiant Yacu – Rwanda, Dhan Foundation – India, and Britam Insurance – Kenya.

In this bonus episode, we sat down with the winner of the 2025 Award: Radiant Yacu. Representing the organisation in Luxembourg was Emmanuel Nzanana, Operations Manager. Emmanuel joined us for an energising and insightful conversation about Radiant Yacu’s mission to protect low-income households from financial shocks, the innovative design behind their products, how they build trust in rural communities, and what the €100,000 award will enable them to achieve next.

This episode is supported by the Microinsurance Network – a non-profit association of organisations and individuals who are committed to building a world where people of all income levels are more resilient and less vulnerable to daily and catastrophic risks through improved access to effective risk management tools, including insurance services.

MiN brings together insurers, regulators, innovators, development partners, researchers, and practitioners across 70+ countries. Through research, advocacy, facilitation of best practices, and global knowledge-sharing, MiN plays a vital role in strengthening the inclusive insurance ecosystem.

Learn more at www.microinsurancenetwork.org, and explore insights from their flagship global study, The Landscape of Microinsurance 2024:
👉 https://microinsurancenetwork.org/resources/the-landscape-of-microinsurance-2024

A warm thank you also goes to InFiNe Luxembourg for supporting logistics of this episode. InFiNe (Inclusive Finance Network Luxembourg) brings together 44 stakeholders from Luxembourg's public, private, and civil society sectors to promote financial inclusion globally. Learn more at www.infine.lu

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Financial Inclusion Unlocked is a podcast on a journey to learn how we can unlock the potential of financial inclusion as an enabler for the 17 UN SDGs. The show is produced by SIJ Media.

Join our community and access exclusive content for this episode on LinkedIn at SIJ Media.

Connect with host Jack Farren on LinkedIn or at jack@sijmedia.com

Series 2 of Financial Inclusion Unlocked launches in January 2026.

Following a fantastic and successful Series 1 of show, we're excited to bring you a special bonus episode, before the launch of Series 2 in January 2026.

In May 2025, Jack travelled to Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands—a stunning nation in the Pacific made up of nearly 1,000 islands. With a population of just over 800,000, the country faces unique geographic and infrastructure challenges, especially when it comes to delivering financial services to its many remote communities.

While there, we had the unique opportunity of sitting down with Governor Luke Forau, Governor of the Central Bank of the Solomon Islands, for an honest and refreshing conversation exploring the country's digital transformation, including the launch of M-SELEN, a mobile money platform, innovations in climate insurance, the role of regulatory sandboxes, and why trust and community engagement are key to expanding financial inclusion.

A huge thank you to Governor Forau for his time, and to the entire Central Bank team for so warmly hosting us in their offices.

Financial Inclusion Unlocked is a podcast on a journey to learn how we can unlock the potential of financial inclusion as an enabler for the 17 UN SDGs. This show is produced by SIJ Media.

Join our community and access exclusive content for this episode on Linkedin at SIJ Media.

Connect with host Jack Farren on Linkedin or jack@sijmedia.com

In this season finale, we take you to Uganda to explore how innovative fintech and agribusiness partnerships are driving a new era of agricultural finance for coffee growers.

Emata is a Ugandan fintech (and licensed MFI) working in agriculture. They partner with agri companies to give smallholder farmers affordable, AI-powered digital loans. In this episode, Lilian Nassanga Musoke and Maren Hald Bjørgum walk us through the journey of the company since 2020 and how they partner with cooperatives and agribusinesses to invest in farmers.

We’re also joined by Kifula Collins, Field Co-ordinator at Agri Evolve, a profit for purpose business working with over 15,000 coffee farmers in the Rwenzori Mountains. Collins shares insights into how their partnership with Emata works, and the impact for farmers in his community.

Financial Inclusion Unlocked is a podcast on a journey to learn how we can unlock the potential of financial inclusion as an enabler for the 17 UN SDGs. This show is produced by SIJ Media, and Series 1 is sponsored by SCBF.

Join our community and access exclusive content for this episode on Linkedin at SIJ Media.

Connect with host Jack Farren on Linkedin or jack@sijmedia.com

What happens when one of the world’s biggest insurers decides to design products for the population that’s too poor to be rich — and too rich to be poor?

In this deeply insightful conversation, Garance Wattez-Richard shares the story behind the creation of AXA EssentiALL. From her first pitch to launching operations in 22 markets, Garance walks us through the business model, the value proposition, and the mindset shift required to make insurance truly inclusive.

Guest:

Garance Wattez-Richard, Founder & CEO of AXA EssentiALL

The episode covered:

• The founding story of AXA EssentiALL, the profitable inclusive insurance business now serving over 17 million customers
• Launching a new vision inside one of the world’s biggest insurers
• The challenges with social intrapreneurship
• Lessons on how to scale inclusive insurance products and expand into new markets
• Insights from her new book Middle Classes cannot be left behind: A call to action

This is more than a discussion on insurance — it’s a masterclass in designing for trust, understanding the mass market, and building for dignity.

Guest Bio

Garance Wattez-Richard began her career at the European Commission in Brussels in 1997 before working in the Office of the Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London until 1999. From 2000 to 2005, she worked as a strategy consultant for London Economics and Arthur D. Little.

She joined AXA Investment Managers in Paris in 2005 and became Head of External Communications for the AXA Group in 2012. In 2016, she founded AXA's inclusive insurance business, AXA Emerging Consumers, which distributes insurance products to low-income populations in emerging markets. The business became AXA EssentiALL in 2024 when it expanded to European markets.

She has been awarded the Intrapreneur of the Year prize by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, and the first Women in Insurance Award by the Geneva Association.

For listeners interested in reading Garance's new book Middle Classes cannot be left behind: A call to action, you can purchase a copy here:

• Amazon US (EN)
• Amazon France (EN)

Financial Inclusion Unlocked is a podcast on a journey to learn how we can unlock the potential of financial inclusion as an enabler for the 17 UN SDGs. This show is produced by SIJ Media, and Series 1 is sponsored by SCBF.

Join our community and access exclusive content for this episode on Linkedin at SIJ Media.

Connect with host Jack Farren on Linkedin or jack@sijmedia.com

Smallholder farmers are the backbone of Africa's agricultural sector, producing 80% of the region's food supply. In this episode, we met with Tim Strong, Head of Agricultural Finance for Opportunity International to discuss how financial inclusion can be a vehicle for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve their goals.

Guest:

Timothy Strong, Head of Agricultural Finance at Opportunity International USA

The episode covered:

• The $170 billion annual financing gap facing smallholder farmers
• The role of smallholders in producing 80% of food supply in low-and middle-income nations
• How Opportunity International's network of 1,347 Farmer Support Agents (FSAs) has connected over 280,000 smallholder farmers with vital support
• The GROW Strategy for empowering women in agriculture, who make up 80% of the agricultural workforce in low-income countries
• Innovation through UlangiziAI chatbot - providing instant agricultural advice in English and Chichewa
• Climate resilience and economic challenges facing smallholder farmers
• Blended finance models to de-risk agricultural investments

Tim Strong

Timothy Strong serves as the Head of Agriculture Finance for Opportunity International. In addition to managing a diverse portfolio of agriculture finance products and services throughout Africa, he has spearheaded Opportunity’s efforts to implement and mainstream gender-inclusive services to empower women in farming. Tim is originally from Northern California and has worked in Southern and Eastern Africa since 2005.

Before joining Opportunity, Tim worked with a Silicon Valley start-up coordinating Lean and Kaizen project management, the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Services, the U.S. Peace Corps, the Clinton Foundation, and several commercial farms. He received a Bachelor in Science in biochemistry and plant physiology from the University of California at Davis, and he holds a master’s degree in environmental policy and an MBA in operations management from Middlebury College. He lives with his family in Lilongwe, Malawi.

For further information on the initiatives discussed in the episode, visit the following links:

• Opportunity International Agricultural Finance - Website
• Ulangizi AI Chatbot - NVIDIA Developer Blog
• AI is helping the worlds poorest farmers improve yields - Bloomberg Article

Financial Inclusion Unlocked is a podcast on a journey to learn how we can unlock the potential of financial inclusion as an enabler for the 17 UN SDGs. This show is produced by SIJ Media, and Series 1 is sponsored by SCBF.

Join our community and access exclusive content for this episode on Linkedin at SIJ Media.

Connect with host Jack Farren on Linkedin or jack@sijmedia.com

The adoption of digital financial services, or DFS has created significant impact for underserved communities across the world. The United Nations states that inclusive digital financial services have allowed individuals to store and increase savings, cope with unexpected economic shocks, access social benefits more cheaply, and make investments in economic opportunities that can lead them out of poverty.

However, whilst the adoption of DFS has the potential for transformative impact, digital financial literacy is a critical topic that needs to be addressed to ensure that individuals can use these platforms and tools safely.

In Episode 7 of the Financial Inclusion Unlocked podcast, we met leading experts to discuss the topic in more detail and learn how GSMA and Visa are collaborating on a new Digital Financial Literacy (DFL) initiative in Kenya and Senegal.

Guests:

- Panos Loukos, Director - Financial Inclusion at GSMA

- Jenelle Harris, Head of Financial Education at Visa

The episode covered:

• Introduction to Digital Financial Services
• The Role of GSMA in expanding Digital Financial Literacy
• Visa's Commitment to Financial Education
• Collaboration in Kenya and Senegal
• Localization and Cultural Relevance in Content Delivery
• Gamification and Incentives

Panos Loukos:

Panos is Director, Financial Inclusion for the GSMA Mobile Money and AgriTech programmes. He leads GSMA’s partnership with Visa that has the objective to develop mobile-enabled financial education and drive scale among the unbanked and underserved in low- and middle-income countries. Panos also leads AgriTech’s insights function and is responsible for developing and delivering the programme’s learning agenda. Before joining the GSMA in 2015, Panos spent several years in leading analyst and consultancy firms with a special focus on mobile operators’ digital strategies. Panos holds a Master’s degree in Plant Science from Imperial College London and an MBA degree from the University of Manchester.

Jenelle Harris:

Jenelle is an Atlanta-based social impact strategist leading Visa’s Financial Education program. Prior to joining Visa, Jenelle led consulting teams as a Senior Manager with The Bridgespan Group, a social sector advisory firm. Driven by her commitment to contributing to a more just and equitable world, Jenelle began her career in education, including several years as a middle school teacher. She received her MBA from UC Berkeley Haas.

For further information on the initiatives discussed in the episode, visit:

GSMA Resources:

• Mobile Money Program
• Mobile for Development

Visa Financial Education Resources:

• Practical Money Skills:
• Practical Business Skills

Financial Inclusion Unlocked is a podcast on a journey to learn how we can unlock the potential of financial inclusion as an enabler for the 17 UN SDGs. This show is produced by SIJ Media, and Series 1 is sponsored by SCBF.

Join our community and access exclusive content for this episode on Linkedin.

Connect with host Jack Farren on Linkedin or jack@sijmedia.com

When climate disasters strike, the world's most vulnerable communities often face devastating financial losses. In an era of increasing climate risks, traditional disaster response isn't enough. Communities need financial solutions that put them in control of their recovery.

In Episode 6 of the Financial Inclusion Unlocked Podcast, we met with Nilesh Prakhash, Co-Director of the Global Shield against Climate Risks, to explore how locally led Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance solutions, or CDRFI, are increasing resilience.

Nilesh shares his extensive experience in climate finance, explains the concept of CDRFI, the importance of pre-arranged financing, and the inclusive in-country processes that the Global Shield deploys to engage various stakeholders in assessing financial protection gaps in climate-vulnerable countries.

Nilesh highlights successful examples, particularly the implementation of Ghana's tailored support package, including the recent payout of a drought insurance policy, and outlines the challenges and opportunities for local stakeholders within the Global Shield framework.

Disclaimer: This episode was recorded in February 2025. Therefore, some of the content from the episode may have changed at the time of release. For the most up-to-date information on the work of the Global Shield, visit the website and follow the Global Shield on LinkedIn. The initiative is no longer active on X.

Financial Inclusion Unlocked is a podcast on a journey to learn how we can unlock the potential of financial inclusion. This show is produced by SIJ Media, and Series 1 is sponsored by SCBF.

Join our community and access exclusive content for this episode on Linkedin.

Connect with host Jack Farren on Linkedin or jack@sijmedia.com