The Center for Financial Inclusion is expanding the reach and impact of Financial Inclusion Week (FIW) with the introduction of regional partnerships across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This effort marks an expansion of Financial Inclusion Week, offering opportunities for deeper collaboration and knowledge sharing across regions. AI-powered live translation and a dynamic agenda, shaped in collaboration with our regional partners, will prioritize context-specific voices and solutions. Click here to learn how to contribute to this agenda by submitting a session proposal before August 1.

We live in an increasingly interconnected world, where the unexpected has become the norm. Geopolitical pressures, climate shocks, societal disparities, economic challenges, and digital vulnerabilities, alongside key demographic shifts, are shaping people’s life choices. Countries are grappling with how to increase or maintain economic growth in the face of changing populations. For many people, their futures are constrained by poverty, their country of birth, and access to relevant skills.  

Extreme weather is likely to worsen these societal inequalities, leading to forced migration, or leaving those who are unable to migrate in an even more precarious position.  

Financial services, more specifically, can play a key contributing role in addressing emerging risks and promoting more resilient futures. However, this requires us to once again look beyond just access numbers, to design and deliver financial services that truly deliver for the world’s most vulnerable people. No single actor or nation can solve these problems alone. Locally driven partnerships have become more crucial than ever before to ensuring well-being and resilience.  

Expanding Financial Inclusion Week in 2025 

Financial Inclusion Week (FIW), a four-day global virtual event convened by the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion, is approaching its 11th edition at a moment of widespread global change. In response, this year’s FIW 2025 focuses on the theme of “Building resilience and well-being during rising uncertainties.” As we pondered how to channel innovation to promote inclusive growth and achieve well-being and resilient futures, we asked ourselves a key ‘what if’ question: 

FIW has always been an event that is shaped by the global inclusive finance community, but our what-if question led us to explore new ideas to expand our reach and impact. For example, at FIW 2025, we will be piloting AI-powered live translation and welcoming several regional partners. We hope this will help build a stronger global network, share solutions that are working in local contexts, and further enrich the learning experience.   

To reflect this wider partnership element, we have expanded Financial Inclusion Week with the addition of Financial Inclusion Week +, emphasizing broader collaboration and deeper regional engagement through partnerships. The world we envision, where every individual, has access to financial tools, knowledge, and services that enable dignity, opportunity, and economic resilience requires local insights. Financial Inclusion Week + strives to be a platform and a catalyst for collaborative action across borders.  

The + means: 

+ global voices: that reflect the lived experiences and innovations of partners who are close to the communities they serve 

+ local solutions: so innovations that stem from grassroots and are developed for a local context can be shared as inspiration across the world 

+ collaboration: because no one institution or individual can solve these problems alone 

The Center for Financial Inclusion is thrilled to announce new Financial Inclusion Week + partnerships across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In Asia, we are partnering with Kaihatsu Management Consulting and Pakistan Microfinance Network . Our partners in Africa include African Financial Agent, Alliance of Digital Finance Associations, Amarante Consulting, Busara, and Jumo. In Latin America, our partners include AAvance, ANIF Colombia, and Superintendencia de Bancos de la República Dominicana.  

Together, our regional partners will: 

  • Help promote Financial Inclusion Week 2025 to encourage wider participation 
  • Contribute to Financial Inclusion Week content 
  • Bring out regional perspectives to highlight relevant topics from the regions they work in 

We believe that in these uncertain times, our collaboration will carry us forward. Join us at Financial Inclusion Week 2025!  


Authors

Jayshree Venkatesan

Vice President, Consumer Protection & Strategic Industry Engagement

As Vice President of Consumer Protection and Strategic Industry Engagement, Jayshree leads CFI’s consumer protection research agenda and partnership strategy, contributing to a diverse global portfolio. Her work focuses on emerging risks at the intersection of technology and financial services, with a particular emphasis on human–technology interactions and their implications for consumer protection.

In her role, Jayshree oversees two flagship convenings: Financial Inclusion Week (FIW) and the Responsible Finance Forum (RFF). FIW is the sector’s largest virtual event, which drew more than 3,500 participants from over 140 countries in 2025. RFF is a global platform advancing responsible finance and addressing consumer protection challenges, held annually alongside the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) meetings.

With over two decades of experience spanning structured finance, innovative business models, consumer research, and policy engagement, Jayshree is deeply committed to advancing financial inclusion and economic development worldwide. Prior to joining CFI, she spent nearly a decade as an independent consultant, advising leading global institutions including CGAP, the World Bank, JICA, and ITAD on customer-centric approaches and barriers faced by low-income populations in accessing and using formal financial services. Earlier in her career, Jayshree was part of the founding team at IFMR (now Dvara Trust) in India, where she led the country’s first mezzanine fund for microfinance, which later evolved into an alternative investment fund. She began her professional journey at ICICI Bank, building a strong foundation in finance.

In addition to her work at CFI, Jayshree is a Senior Policy Fellow at the Leir Institute at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where she focuses on financial inclusion challenges affecting vulnerable populations, including migrants and refugees. She has also served as adjunct faculty at the Fletcher School, teaching decision analysis for business. Jayshree is a recipient of the Chevening Fellowship for Leadership from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, completed at King’s College, London.

She earned an MA in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, an MBA from the Management Development Institute in Gurgaon, and an undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Mumbai University.

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