Daniel Waldron

Daniel Waldron is head of insights at Acumen. Previously, Daniel Waldron led CGAP's work on access to energy and safe water. Daniel has seven years of experience in financial inclusion and development, primarily focused on energy access and agricultural finance. He has worked with financial services providers and government stakeholders in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. He has collaborated closely with numerous firms in the off-grid energy space, helping them to optimize their consumer finance and digital collection operations.

Before joining CGAP, Daniel worked as a research analyst for Petrides & Co., an energy investment bank. Other career highlights include serving as a research and data analyst for Better Than Cash Alliance and ongoing work for BFA and Mastercard Foundation on the Financial Inclusion on Business Runways initiative. He also served for two years as an environmental volunteer for Peace Corps Tanzania.

Daniel has a Master’s in International Affairs from The New School and an undergraduate degree from New York University. He resides in New York City. He is fluent in Swahili and proficient in Spanish.

By Daniel Waldron

Blog

Off-Grid Solar Company Helping Customers Pay School Fees

In Africa, some of the most innovative ideas in education financing are coming from an unlikely source - an off-grid solar company.
Blog

Remote Lockouts: The Dark Side of Pay-as-You-Go Solar?

Lockout technology has enabled creditors to help poor people finance solar systems and light their homes, but it’s not very popular with consumers.
Blog

An Innovator’s Dilemma: Teaching Mobile Payments

The hard work of educating customers about mobile payments is increasingly falling to start ups offering services like water and solar. In Ghana, Safe Water Network is showing how this can be done in partnership with providers.
Blog

Pay-as-You-Drink: Digital Finance and Smart Water Service

A pilot in Ghana is showing that the pay-as-you-go solar model can be adapted to change how water is delivered to poor customers.
Research

Digital Finance for the Real Economy: Energy

This slidedeck describes how digital finance can help achieve universal access to clean, affordable energy (SDG 7) in three major ways.