On her first trip to India, philanthropist Melinda Gates met a woman who held a secret in her sari. It was a razor blade. She bought it with a few rupees, and kept it from her husband so that he would not use it to shave. She wanted it sharp and clean to cut the umbilical cord of the child she was carrying.
“For every marginal dollar a woman gets in her hands, she’s twice as likely to plow it back into her family, and it’s absolutely transformative,” Gates said at an event Wednesday co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the McKinsey Global Institute, which released a report on the impact of digital finance in the developing world.
“Digital Finance for All” puts a “size on the prize” of financial inclusion, says Susan Lund, a partner at McKinsey Global Institute, and an author of the report. Over the next decade, delivering financial access via mobile phones could reach 1.6 billion unbanked people, more than half of them women, and raise the gross domestic product of emerging market economies by $3.7 trillion.
About the author
Catherine Cheneycatherinecheney
Catherine Cheney is the Senior Editor for Special Coverage at Devex. She leads the editorial vision of Devex’s news events and editorial coverage of key moments on the global development calendar. Catherine joined Devex as a reporter, focusing on technology and innovation in making progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to joining Devex, Catherine earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yale University, and worked as a web producer for POLITICO, a reporter for World Politics Review, and special projects editor at NationSwell. She has reported domestically and internationally for outlets including The Atlantic and the Washington Post. Catherine also works for the Solutions Journalism Network, a non profit organization that supports journalists and news organizations to report on responses to problems.
