Wednesday, July 30, 2025 | 9-10am EST | Webex
Co-organized by:
Description: Around the world, governments and financial institutions increasingly recognize the vital role women-owned and led SMEs (WSMEs) play in driving business growth, job creation, and economic development. However, many interventions still take a one-size-fits-all approach, failing to reflect the diverse motivations, business models, and support needs of WSMEs. Treating WSMEs as a single segment limits the effectiveness of programs and the potential for meaningful investment outcomes.
To address this gap, the Argidius Foundation (on behalf of the Growth Firms Alliance), the Dutch Good Growth Fund, ConsumerCentriX and We-Fi developed a new framework for WSME segmentation that is both practical and easy to implement. The new report “What Enables Her Business to – A New Segmentation Framework to Unlock the Opportunity of Serving Women-Owned/Led Businesses in Emerging Markets”, along with the accompanying toolkit, is intended for financial and non-financial intermediaries, investors, program designers, and donors. These practitioners can use the framework and tools provided to define distinct segments and profiles of WSMEs in emerging markets and design products and services that meet their unique financial and non-financial needs.
Objective: The goal of this webinar was to discuss key insights from the report and introduce participants to the practitioner toolkit and its components. The event also brought together different practitioners who will share their experiences and learnings from WSME segmentation to illustrate the value and use cases of specific components of the toolkit.
- Wendy Teleki, Head of the We-Fi Secretariat
- Anna Gincherman, Partner at ConsumerCentriX
- Sarah Nansikombi, Lead, Women Banking at Stanbic Bank Uganda
- Serena Cavicchi, Senior Social Development Specialist at the World Bank and Head of the World Bank GROW Program in Uganda
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Zainab Saeed, Financial Inclusion & Gender Consultant
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Moderator: Julia Kho, Knowledge Manager at Triple Jump
- Felicia Siegrist, Research and Knowledge Lead, We-Fi
Sarah Lubega Nansikombi is the Lead of Women’s Banking at Stanbic Bank Uganda, the biggest commercial bank in Uganda by assets, profitability and branch network. Sarah is a seasoned and accomplished service practitioner with over 20 years of experience in banking. She’s a Certified Financial Literacy Trainer and a member of the Board of Trustees, Stanbic Holdings Uganda and has been a member of the Board of Trustees for the Uganda Bankers’ SACCO.
Serena Cavicchi is a Senior Social Development Specialist and works for the World Bank Group in Uganda. She leads the Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) Project and has worked for over 15 years in Africa. Prior to re- joining the World Bank Country Office in Nigeria, Serena was the Senior Development Officer at UNHCR Niger, working on the operationalization of the Humanitarian-Development Nexus, including on issues of stabilization in the Lake Chad Basin. Following the Arab Spring, Serena worked for the IFC focusing on private sector development and access to finance in the Middle East and Northern Africa. ering mostly in West and Central Africa and the Middle East. Serena holds a Master’s Degree in International Development Economics and International Relations from Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) and a Master in Communication and Media from the University of Bologna, Italy including an oversee scholarship at Indiana University in the US. She speaks English, French, and Spanish.
Zainab Saeed is a gender and financial inclusion specialist with over 17 years of experience in shaping inclusive finance ecosystems. She currently serves as a Consultant with the Asian Development Bank, where she leads technical assistance and gender-focused financial sector reforms in Pakistan and Uzbekistan. Previously, she was Chief Strategy Officer at Kashf Foundation and Director of Research, Marketing, and Communications at Karandaaz Pakistan. Zainab’s work spans across strategic planning, product innovation, market segmentation, and enabling policy frameworks that enhance access to finance for women entrepreneurs. A strong advocate for women’s economic empowerment, she has played a pivotal role in mainstreaming gender at institutional and policy levels and is currently also leading WE-FI implementation in Pakistan.
Julia Kho is Knowledge Manager at Triple Jump – ESG, Impact and Knowledge Department. Prior to joining Triple Jump, Julia acquired eight years experience in the business incubation industry. She worked as a project manager for the European Business and Innovation Center Network (EBN) before joining the World Bank Group where she spent five years strengthening infoDev’s experience in private sector development, including through the design and implementation of innovative business incubation and early-stage financing services. Since 2015, Julia is the Knowledge Manager at Triple Jump where she is responsible for the development and transfer of knowledge and know-how in the fields of MSME finance and entrepreneurial ecosystem development. In addition, she co-manages the ESG, Impact and Knowledge Department of Triple Jump.
Anna Gincherman is a partner at ConsumerCentriX. Anna is a development finance executive with expertise in developing innovative and scalable solutions for reaching the unbanked. Anna has 25+years of program management and advisory experience helping large, complex organizations in over 45 countries works closely with senior financial sector regulators on the development and implementation of national fintech and financial inclusion strategies and improving the collection and usage of sex-disaggregated data. She has been leading CCX’s work in supporting the implementation of the WE Finance Code in 15 countries.
Wendy Teleki is Head of the We-Fi Secretariat, which is housed in the World Bank Group. The Secretariat 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. Wendy joined We-Fi in May 2019. Prior to that, she 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.
