Driving Systemic Change to Close the Financing Gap for Women Entrepreneurs

Wendy Teleki is Head of the We-Fi Secretariat at the World Bank Group. Wendy is responsible for supporting the We-Fi Governing Committee in the allocation and supervision of We-Fi funding as well as communications, advocacy, and learning focused on strengthening opportunities for women entrepreneurs in collaboration with the GC, Implementing Partners and other stakeholders.  Ms. Teleki joined We-Fi in May 2019.  Prior to that, Ms. Teleki worked with the International Finance Corporation leading numerous activities and initiatives focused on small and medium enterprise development in emerging markets around the world.   This included several blended finance, investment and advisory programs, including IFC’s We-Fi program and the Global SME Finance Initiative.  Wendy has an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business and an MA in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Tatiana Alonso is Senior Financial Sector Specialist at CGAP. Tatiana has over 15 years of experience in the fields of public policy and financial regulation, with a focus on assessing and developing policy frameworks that enable stable, efficient, and inclusive financial systems. A member of CGAPs Fostering Responsible Enabling Ecosystems Pillar, she currently leads work on gender disaggregated data and participates to CGAPS work on climate change, crisis response, and regulatory architecture.

A Senior Economist from Bank of Spain by profession, Tatiana worked as a Senior Financial Sector Specialist in the World Bank from 2018 to 2022, where she supported the IMF-WB joint FSAP program, the Bank’s representation in the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and, more broadly, the Bank’s global engagement advocating for EMDEs in financial policy matters. She also worked for over a decade in the private sector (BBVA, NERA).Tatiana holds a MSc degree in Economics and Finance from CEMFI, a Master’s Degree in Economics of Energy from Universidad Carlos III, and a B.A in Economics from Pompeu Fabra University.

Inez Murray is the CEO of Financial Alliance for Women (FAW). As CEO, Inez, who had previously served the Alliance as Vice Chair of the board, is responsible for setting the strategic direction, implementing the board’s vision, and overseeing the Alliance’s day-to-day operations. She is a globally recognized expert in women’s economic empowerment, speaking and publishing widely on that topic, and is also a seasoned executive with nearly 20 years’ experience running complex global projects, incubating new initiatives, and raising more than $20 million in funding from public and private sources. Inez came to the Financial Alliance for Women following a 17-year career with Women’s World Banking. As WWB’s Executive Vice President, Inez was responsible for all aspects of WWB’s technical assistance practice group. Her division served WWB’s global network of 39 financial institutions with research and development, marketing strategies, and roll out of innovative microfinance products while integrating financial education and mobile technology.

Nisha is FinEquity's Gender Transformative Solutions Technical Lead. She has over 17 years of experience promoting access to finance and financial market systems development, with a focus on women’s economic empowerment and inclusion. Nisha worked at The SEEP Network from 2008 and 2016 to promote inclusive market systems development by building partnerships across the 120+ SEEP member organizations and associated stakeholders.

Esselina Macome is currently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the Financial Sector Deepening Program in Mozambique (FSDMoç). She is also a Professor at Eduardo Mondlane University.  She was Executive Director and Member of the Board at the Central Bank of Mozambique (BM) from 2005 to 2015. During that period she worked with the payments systems field and was engaged in different initiatives in the area of financial inclusion, such as drafting the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, establishing a national payment system to assure interoperability within the banking system, writing of regulations concerning payments cards, mobile Money (trust account), and agent banking.  Her areas of interest include the use of ICT for development with a focus on gender and green issues.  She holds a PhD in Information Technology and a Masters in Analysis, Design and Management of Information System by LSE – University of London.