Staff Directory

Emilio Hernandez

Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Emilio Hernandez explores digital financial solutions for last-mile clients. He leads work on inclusive digital distribution networks and the impact financial inclusion has on poor people’s lives. He provides technical guidance to better understand the financial behavior and needs of underserved client groups, like smallholder families, and to experiment with providers on innovative strategies and products that meet those needs.

Before joining CGAP, Emilio led technical cooperation programs focused on inclusive rural and agricultural finance at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations overseeing field interventions in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. He also oversaw business operations for a large international agricultural technology company throughout Central America. He has a Doctorate degree in Agricultural Economics and Development Finance from The Ohio State University.

By Emilio Hernandez

Research

A Research and Learning Agenda for the Impact of Financial Inclusion

The financial inclusion community is renewing its efforts to understand the role financial services play in the lives of poor people and how financial services can improve their well-being. This paper proposes a learning agenda based on extensive consultation with donors, researchers, and practitioners who support financial inclusion.
Blog

Ride-Hailing Drivers in Indonesia Discuss Livelihoods, COVID-19

You can learn a lot from the back of a ride-hailing motorcycle in Jakarta. We rode with several drivers and interviewed them about their platform-based income, use of digital financial services and the impact of COVID-19. Here’s what we learned.
Blog

How Is the Pandemic Affecting Agents? Here’s What Providers Tell Us

As customers, agents and digital financial services providers adjust to COVID-19, it’s becoming clearer what a resilient agent network looks like. Providers should take note to prepare for future crises.
Blog

Agent Networks: Vital to COVID-19 Response, in Need of Support

Digital payments are central to the global COVID-19 response, but the agent networks that distribute these funds are struggling to remain open. Here are three questions policy makers must answer to ensure agents reach as many people as possible.
Research

Assets Matter to Poor People

CGAP has undertaken a comprehensive review of the available evidence to understand (i) how asset ownership can lead to improvements in well-being for poor households and (ii) whether obtaining an asset through a loan or lease as opposed to a transfer, grant, or outright purchase affects the benefits associated with ownership.