In episode 31 of the Investing in Impact podcast, I speak with Andrée Simon, President and CEO of FINCA Impact Finance, on empowering low income women and men to take control of their financial future through an innovative global network of microfinance banks.
Andrée Simon is the President and Chief Executive Officer of FINCA Impact Finance, a global network of microfinance banks and institutions. The FINCA Impact Finance network of 20 community-based banks offer responsible and affordable loan and saving products to more than two million people across the world, empowering low income women and men to take control of their financial future.
Previously, Andrée served as VP and COO, returning to FINCA Impact Finance after serving for several years as President and COO of Women for Women International, a humanitarian organization dedicated to financial, educational, and interpersonal support of women survivors of war, poverty and injustice.
Prior to this, she was Deputy to the President & CEO of FINCA Impact Finance for more than seven years, where she was pivotal in redesigning the organization’s business model from donor-based non-profit to a for-profit operating structure.
Andrée has significant experience in corporate strategy and she has held various business and advisory roles in other organizations, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Andrée has been a board member of Women Advancing Microfinance International and is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the FINCA Microfinance Holding Company.
As the head a financial institution with more than 9,000 employees in 20 countries –including Tanzania, Uganda, Pakistan, Haiti, Afghanistan and more– Andrée spends half the year in these remote locations, learning from her customers on how they could best access financial products, whether it is as simple as a loan, and savings account or a mobile money application.
Andrée has been named one of the Top 100 Fintech for SDG Influencers by LATTICE80 and has written extensively on responsible financial services in numerous publications including International Banker, Euromoney and The Financial Times.
She is fluent in French and Spanish. She earned an undergraduate degree in international relations from the University of Virginia, an M.A. from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and an M.B.A. in finance from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
About FINCA Impact Finance
FINCA Impact Finance delivers the tools needed for low-income entrepreneurs and small businesses to achieve financial health. Our 9,000+ staff, 2,000 proprietary agents, and 55,000 third-party agents live and work in the communities we serve. For more than 30 years, our microfinance banks and institutions have delivered a double bottom line of social impact and financial sustainability.
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