Financial inclusion: Empowering people and businesses for sustainable growth

Why it matters?

At Swisscontact, financial inclusion is often one of the critical levers we address to drive economic development. In many of our programmes – whether focused on sustainable agriculture, skills development, SME growth, or climate resilience – access to finance enables people and businesses to participate in markets and build lasting prosperity. Farmers need credit and insurance to adopt improved practices, workers and entrepreneurs need safe and affordable ways to manage their income, and SMEs require financial acumen and financing to invest and expand. By embedding financial inclusion, we ensure that people and businesses are not only linked to markets but are able to take part in them on sustainable terms.

Our success factors for financial inclusion

• Strengthening financial ecosystems: We convene and support banks, cooperatives, MFIs, fintechs, public stakeholders, and business support organisations to improve coordination, service quality, and reach across the financial system.
• Facilitating inclusive product and market innovation: We help partners design, test, and scale appropriate savings, credit, insurance, and leasing solutions, complemented by instruments such as challenge funds and guarantees.
• Expanding digital finance and payment systems: We support wage digitisation, agent networks, interoperable payment solutions, and provider process digitalisation to reduce transaction costs and expand safe, convenient access.
• Building investment readiness through technical assistance: We provide technical assistance and advisory services to enterprises – strengthening financial management, governance, and business planning – so they can access bank finance and attract investment.
• Promoting responsible and gender-responsive inclusion: We work with providers to improve consumer protection, adapt collateral and underwriting practices, and use sex‑disaggregated data to reach women, youth, migrants, and rural clients; where relevant, we integrate climate‑smart and green‑finance considerations.