Tara Kenney, Senior Vice President of Boston Common Asset Management and Accion Board Member
When asked about why financial inclusion matters, Tara Kenney describes living in Lima, Peru, in the early 1980s. She was there to study Economics as a graduate student, but, she says, just being in Lima at this time “provided more than a textbook could in why financial inclusion matters, and more importantly, why access for women, in particular, is key to improving economic prospects for the poor.” She describes living standards during this “lost decade” as unbearable for Peruvians dealing with hyperinflation, devaluation of the local currency, skyrocketing unemployment, and mass migration to the cities from the countryside. And she saw that women often bore the brunt of these pressures. “A majority of women were forced to be the economic heads of households, as their partners could not find employment, or had not joined the families in the cities,” she says. “These women had little to no formal education or business training, no financial cushion, and no access to the formal banking system. Yet they had many mouths to feed.”
During this turbulent time, Tara observed a silver lining: Â microloans and business training provided by organizations such as Accion Comunitario del Peru (which eventually transformed into Accion partner Mibanco) became a lifeline for the working poor â especially women. In time, inclusive insurance products and savings accounts were also made available for these populations. Tara says, “The countless stories of women who were able to generate a living through these financial products, to enable their children to stay in school, to buy building materials to construct better homes, and to put food on the plate is proof positive that women are the economic backbone of developing economies, are creditworthy, and are a better bet to help solve poverty.”
Nearly 40 years later, Tara is still focused on financial inclusion and access for women, even as technology has changed what’s possible: “As a long-time board member of Accion, I have been privileged to see the industry evolve, to see new technologies provide better tools for the poor to manage their economic prospects, and to see women as the standard-bearers for a better way of life for the bottom of the pyramid,” she says. As we build on this progress to make sure everyone has the tools they need to thrive, Tara advises that women will continue to play a critical role: “While there is much to be done to solve the growing income inequality, in both developed and developing economies, my money is on women to show us the way.”