Access for All: Building Inclusive Economic Systems

Despite declining global poverty levels in recent decades, persistent extreme poverty in certain regions and glaring inequality between and within countries means that inclusive economic development remains a critical priority worldwide. Traditionally, this task has been the domain of governments, international donor agencies, philanthropists, and the development community, but the landscape is changing rapidly. Today, a wider range of players—millennials, institutional investors, corporates, and others—are seeking to promote more inclusive economic growth, in part by pursuing profit with purpose. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a focal point and an ambitious timeline—eradicating extreme poverty by 2030—for these new actors to get involved and for existing donors to revise their frameworks. For more about the book, check out this short video:

Brigit Helms has nearly 30 years of experience pioneering innovative approaches to financial inclusion and seeking enterprise and market-based solutions to poverty. She came to DAI after leading the Multilateral Investment Fund, an innovation lab of the Inter-American Development Bank making investments equaling $85 million a year. Prior to this, she was Chief of Party of the SPEED program in Mozambique, leading DAI’s work to improve the business environment and competitiveness of the economy there. Brigit originally came to DAI from McKinsey & Company in Seattle. Drawing on her deep expertise in market-based solutions to global development problems, Brigit has supported and helped lead projects focused on expanding private sector involvement in extending financial services to poor households and small businesses that are underbanked.
Photo: Jeff Hutchens/Getty Images
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