Mayada El-Zoghbi

Mayada El-Zoghbi is the managing director of the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion. Until September 2019, Ms. El-Zoghbi was a senior financial sector specialist and led CGAP’s strategy, research and development unit. Her work focused on leading CGAP’s research on women’s financial inclusion, financial services in crisis environments and other emerging topics.

Before joining CGAP, she founded and managed a development consulting firm working with funding agencies such as the IFC and USAID. She led numerous technical assistance, evaluation, and research assignments and also served as a research director for a USAID knowledge management initiative on microfinance and conflict, where she authored numerous papers and facilitated many industry learning events. She holds a master’s degree in international affairs from SIPA at Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Minnesota. She is bilingual in Arabic and English.

By Mayada El-Zoghbi

Blog

Measuring Women’s Financial Inclusion: The 2017 Findex Story

Despite global progress toward universal access to financial services, the gender gap remains at 9 percentage points in developing countries. Here's a look at what the 2017 Global Findex tells us about women's access to financial services.
Research

Social Norms Change for Women’s Financial Inclusion

Social norms can have a profound impact on financial inclusion for women because they can limit women’s ability to work outside the home, engage with male agents, or even own a phone. Knowing exactly how norms apply is critical for closing the gender financial inclusion gap.
Blog

Bridging the Humanitarian and Development Divide

Building financial inclusion goals into humanitarian programs could have long-term benefits for aid recipients.
Research

The Role of Financial Services in Humanitarian Crises

While the nature and incidences of humanitarian crises vary significantly, they affect millions of people, particularly the most vulnerable. Based on a literature review, this paper shows how financial services can be an entry point to support FDPs.
Blog

The SDGs and CGAP’s Future Direction

The approval of the SDGs in September 2015 coincided with CGAP’s organizational strategy refresh. While this strategic thinking process is still ongoing, here are three clear directions for CGAP's future work that build on the themes in the SDGs.