Greta Bull

Director of Women's Economic Empowerment, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Greta Bull is Director, Women’s Economic Empowerment at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she oversees a portfolio of investments in gender data and evidence, women’s economic collectives, and livelihoods development for poor women. Greta has more than 20 years of experience in development finance, focusing on small and medium enterprise finance, microfinance, digital financial services, payments, and livelihoods, and has previously served as CEO of CGAP (through July 2021), manager of the Financial Institutions Advisory Services at IFC, and as Director of Banking and Finance at DAI Europe.

Greta has a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and an undergraduate degree in International Studies from the University of Washington.

By Greta Bull

Blog

Small but Mighty: CGAP and the Future of Financial Inclusion

In her final leadership essay as CGAP’s CEO, Greta Bull shares her perspective on the impact COVID-19 has had on global development and some lessons she’s learned about financial inclusion.
Blog

Is Financial Inclusion a Reason to Push Central Bank Digital Currencies?

Advocates of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) often cite financial inclusion as a reason to introduce them. CGAP examines their three main arguments: improved access to digital financial services, enhanced efficiency of payments and lower cost.
Blog

Women and Finance: Enabling Women’s Economic Empowerment

Reducing the gender gap requires that we put a gender lens on everything we do. CGAP CEO Greta Bull writes that without fully including women, we won’t solve financial inclusion or, for that matter, end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity.
Blog

Beyond Access and Usage: Financial Services for Livelihoods

Not only have financial services have changed dramatically over the last 30 years, so have the ways people earn a living.
Blog

Finding Opportunity in “Interesting Times”

What did 2020 teach us about financial inclusion? Greta Bull reflects on what was, for most people, an especially difficult year and offers her perspective on the year ahead.