Mariana Lopez
Senior Advocacy Manager,
Mariana is Senior Advocacy Manager for the GSMA Connected Women Programme. In this capacity, she develops evidence-based research and policy positions related to the advancement of women’s digital and financial inclusion. She also leads the GSMA’s engagement with key partners, such as the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, the World Bank Group, and various UN agencies. Prior to joining the GSMA she worked in financial consulting and as a researcher on the root causes of gender-based violence in conflict situations.
Mariana holds a Masters in Global Governance and Diplomacy from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Development Policy and Management from the University of Manchester. She has also spent time studying in Harvard, Stanford, George Washington University and LSE.
Posts by Mariana Lopez
Bank Asia’s top agent and the lessons from her success
Friday 20 August, 2021 | Bangladesh | Blog | Connected Women | Financial inclusion for women | Gender | Mobile internet for women | South Asia
Alsin is a young mother and wife, and the top performing agent among Bank Asia’s over 4,800 active agents (of which only about 10% are female). In recent months, her average monthly commission has grown to over 40 times the average commission of all other active agents. In ...
Mobile money driving formalisation and building the resilience of MSMEs
Thursday 25 June, 2020 | Blog | Building the financial ecosystem | English | Global | Global | Mobile Money
The critical contribution of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to broader socio-economic objectives makes them a key priority area for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. MSMEs account for the majority of businesses worldwide and have the potential to ...
Leveraging digital solutions to seize the potential of informal cross-border trade
Tuesday 28 April, 2020 | Blog | Building the financial ecosystem | English | Financial inclusion for women | Gender | Malawi | Mobile for Development | Mobile Money | Sub-Saharan Africa | Tanzania | Uncategorized | Zambia
This blog builds on UNCTAD’s recent research on female informal cross-border traders in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia to explore how mobile money can provide solutions for some of the challenges that these traders face. This blog was written by Mariana Lopez from the GSMA and ...
Making the connection between mobile money and climate change
Wednesday 18 December, 2019 | Blog | Building the financial ecosystem | Digital Utilities | English | Global | Global | Mobile Money
Climate change has rapidly become a concern for central banks, financial regulators, and ministries of finance. In September 2017, AFI member institutions formulated the Sharm El Sheikh Accord on Financial Inclusion, Climate Change and Green Finance, which sets commitments ...
Financial Inclusion Week 2019: Unleashing the power of mobile money to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
Thursday 31 October, 2019 | Blog | Building the financial ecosystem | English | Financial inclusion for women | Gender | Global | Global | Mobile access and use | Mobile Money | Water
Each year Financial Inclusion Week convenes organisations from around the world into a global conversation exploring the progress made and the remaining challenges to building a more inclusive financial ecosystem. This year we explored the theme of “Financial Inclusion: For ...
How do mobile money-enabled remittances contribute to achieving the SDGs?
Friday 14 June, 2019 | Blog | Building the financial ecosystem | English | Financial inclusion for women | Gender | Global | Mobile Money | Policy and regulation | Uncategorized
With over 866 million registered accounts across 90 countries globally, mobile money is ideally placed to accelerate the formalisation, accessibility and affordability of international remittances. Today mobile money has evolved into a sophisticated value proposition that is ...