About the Center

The Center for Microfinance Leadership brings the best of leadership development and organizational diversity initiatives to the microfinance sector through workshops, coaching and support for organizational change.

The Center helps CEOs and senior managers hone the skills needed to steer their institutions through this period of rapid change and commercialization.

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Mission

The mission of the WWB Center for Microfinance Leadership is to support the development of a diverse set of principled, visionary leaders and high performing, meritocratic organizations for the microfinance industry.

Background

WWB’s commitment to supporting principled leaders at the helm of gender diverse microfinance providers (MFPs) dates to its establishment as a global network in 1979. Today the WWB network includes some of the most celebrated leaders in the industry, representing a global commitment to responsive, sustainable microfinance. Read more >>

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Download the Center for Mircofinance Leadership brochure. Also available in Spanish.

Why Gender Diversity Matters

Gender diversity matters in microfinance. WWB champions gender diversity because we believe that diverse perspectives lead to stronger decisions and healthier, more vibrant organizations. Incorporating women’s voices when designing and delivering microfinance products is particularly important when a majority of clients are women. Equally as important, microfinance clients often speak of the inspiration they derive from seeing powerful women leaders in the organizations that serve them. How best to achieve diversity? The answer lies in leadership and technical skill development of individual, high-potential leaders as well as in organizational transformations to ensure that all women and men work in environments where they can perform, excel and lead.

Featured Publication

“Transforming the Landscape of Leadership in Microfinance: Maintaining the Focus on Women” introduces WWB’s new methodology for helping MFIs support gender diversity at all levels of their institution. WWB has expanded its Women’s Leadership Development Program, which works with individuals, to include a tool that focuses on the challenges and opportunities microfinance institutions face in the attraction, retention, and promotion of qualified women staff members - the Organizational Gender Assessment. Now available in English and Spanish.

Women Microfinance Leaders Meet in Morocco- Women’s World Banking Women in Leadership Exchange

Over four days in Morocco in late February, women microfinance leaders from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Sub-Saharan African regions met to further develop their leadership skills while learning about the local microfinance sector. Led by the Center for Microfinance Leadership, WWB's Women in Leadership Exchange hosted nine participants from seven institutions in seven countries for the four-day exchange in Rabat and Casablanca. Association Al Amana, a leading Moroccan microfinance institution (MFI) and member of the WWB network, acted as local co-host and opened their doors to the group. Click here to read the full story.
To view more photos from the exchange:

Latest Headlines

  • Crain's New York Business: Corporate Ladder; Leadership expert joins nonprofit
    Sun, March 28, 2010

    Kathryn C. Mayer, 49, was appointed director of the Center for Microfinance Leadership at Women's World Banking. She was previously the president and founder of KC Mayer Consulting Inc. Read full article

  • Financial Times: A mission for social change
    Sun, March 28, 2010

    The Financial Times Business Education Feature of the Week highlights Women’s World Banking’s first annual Advanced Leadership Workshop, held in partnership with Wharton’s Aresty Institute for Executive Education from March 1-5, 2010. The article profiles two WWB network leaders, Mercedes Canalda de Beras-Goico of ADOPEM, Dominican Republic, and Karim Fanous of LEAD Foundation, Egypt. Read full article

  • Microfinance Monitor: Wharton School, WWB examine Microfinance industry’s future
    Fri, March 26, 2010

    Microfinance Monitor, March 26, 2010: Women’s World Banking (WWB) Center for Microfinance Leadership, in partnership with the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, brought together 22 microfinance leaders from 14 countries early this month to examine the state of the microfinance industry and plan for its future. Read full article

  • Video: Women’s Leadership Exchange
    Fri, March 12, 2010

    WWB’s second annual Women’s Leadership Exchange for Microfinance was held from December 1 to 5, 2008 in Nairobi, Kenya and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Participants, all of whom are graduates of WWB’s Women in Leadership Workshop, included a group of 8 senior and mid level managers from WWB’s African network member institutions.

  • Advanced Leadership Workshop, Philadelphia, USA March 1 to 5, 2010
    Fri, March 12, 2010

    The Advanced Leadership Workshop, aimed at senior executives from the top 200 MFIs worldwide, was the first of the senior leadership programs designed and delivered by the Center for Microfinance Leadership at Women’s World Banking. The program brought together 22 microfinance leaders from 14 countries and leading faculty from Wharton Business School and other graduate programs of the University of Pennsylvania to address critical leadership development and industry issues including strategic thinking, decision making, scenario planning, and organizational change.

  • The Inner Circle: Irene Dorner, HSBC's New CEO, On Not Playing by the Rules
    Thu, March 11, 2010

    In an article published on March 10th in The Inner Circle (membership required) web site, titled Irene Dorner, HSBC's New CEO, On Not Playing by the Rules, Elizabeth Lynch, Manager for WWB's Center for Microfinance Leadership responds:

    I was encouraged by Irene Dorner’s remarks on International Women’s Day, and her support for the elimination of barriers for women to reinforce rather than erode an organization’s meritocratic foundation. Women's World Banking (WWB), a leading global microfinance network, works with microfinance institutions on precisely this issue: how can organizations invest the extra effort and attention to hiring, retaining and advancing qualified women without sacrificing the quality of its human talent.

  • Building Institutional Support for Gender Diversity, Ujjivan Financial Services, February 2010
    Sun, February 28, 2010

    WWB is proud to announce that Ujjivan Financial Services is partnering with the Center for Microfinance Leadership to increase the gender diversity of its staff and management. Ujjivan Financial Services is a leading non-banking financial company serving the financial needs of the urban and semi-urban poor in India. In 2005, Ujjivan’s founder, Samit Ghosh, identified significant need for financial services in India’s rapidly growing urban areas, markets that traditionally have been underserved by India’s microfinance sector.

  • Women in Leadership Workshop, Bangalore, India, January 11 to 15, 2010
    Wed, January 13, 2010

    The Center for Microfinance Leadership hosted its Women in Leadership Workshop for South and East Asian women leaders in Bangalore in January 2010. The five-day program carries forward WWB’s overarching commitment to develop the female leadership and management capacity of the microfinance industry worldwide.  The workshop, co-hosted by Friends of Women’s World Banking India and sponsored by Accenture India, brought together 15 women managers from 10 leading MFIs across South and East Asia.

  • Management Development Training of Trainers, Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 16 to 21, 2009
    Sat, November 21, 2009

    The Management Development Training of Trainers (MDP TOT), held in Sri Lanka in November, was the inaugural program for the Center for Microfinance Leadership. This highly interactive management training program brought together 18 managers from 11 leading MFIs across South Asia. 

  • BBC News: Small loans making a big difference in South Asia
    Thu, September 10, 2009

    Leaders from South Asian microfinance institutions (MFIs) recently took part in a week-long workshop in Sri Lanka in an attempt to ensure the rapidly growing sector is as well run as possible. Read full article at BBC News

See full headline list