Gautam Ivatury

From 2003 to 2008, Gautam led CGAP's efforts in microfinance and technology, including establishing and managing the CGAP Technology Program, which was co-funded with a $24 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He was also responsible for CGAP's work in South Asia. Gautam continues to write about microfinance and technology for CGAP's website and has authored a number of CGAP Focus Notes on foreign investment in microfinance.

Before joining CGAP in 2003, Gautam helped manage SKS Microfinance, India's largest microfinance institution, and founded a company to connect U.S. universities and foreign students through the Internet. He has worked in the investment and commercial banking industry at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette (now Credit Suisse) and the International Finance Corporation. Gautam is a founder of Signal Point Partners, an investment and advisory firm that promotes mobile phone-enabled services in emerging markets, and is on the Board of the Society for International Development (Washington). He holds a master of arts and a bachelor of arts in international affairs from Johns Hopkins University.

By Gautam Ivatury

Research

Mobile Phones for Microfinance

This Brief addresses new research on the use of mobile phone banking.
Research

Mobile-Phone Banking and Low-Income Customers

This paper presents the first public findings on how low-income people view and use m-banking, using results of a survey of 515 low-income individuals in South Africa. Three hundred of those surveyed do not use m-banking, while 215 are customers of WIZZIT, a startup mobile banking provider. WIZZIT targets the 16 million South Africans who lack or have difficulty accessing formal banking services.
Research

The Market for Foreign Investment in Microfinance

Many microfinance institutions (MFIs) in developing and transition economies have received foreign funding, especially the larger MFIs. Most of that funding has consisted of grants or highly subsidized loans from donor agencies, including such bilateral donors as Agence Française de Développement or the US Agency for International Development, and multilateral agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme or the World Bank.
Research

Funding Microfinance Technology

This Donor Brief offers guidance on how to ensure microfinance providers follow good investment and management principles when choosing and implementing new technologies.
Research

Foreign Investment in Microfinance

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) will be able to serve massive numbers of the poor with high-quality financial services only when these MFIs have tapped commercial sources of funding and deposits.