After Hours Seminar: Financial Inclusion for Youth: Reaching the Next Generation

Half of the world's 6 billion people are below the age of 25. Eighty-five per cent of these young people live in the developing world and face limited opportunities for education, asset building and employment. Making Cents International, along with a growing cadre of international and local organizations including BRAC and the SEEP Network, believes that providing young people with tailored financial services at the right times in their lives and with the right support services can help them improve their education and livelihoods in the short term, and position themselves for more sustainably productive lives in the long term.

This After Hours Seminar will highlight promising practices from BRAC's integrated approach towards empowering youth in Bangladesh and Sub-Saharan Africa, learning from SEEP's Practitioner Learning Program (PLP) on Reaching Scale in Youth Financial Services, and Making Cents' approach to creating practical tools and resources for developing quality financial services for the next generation. Panelists will use practical examples to address some of the driving questions in this nascent sector including:

• How are youth-inclusive financial services similar to or different from other financial services offered to low-income markets in the developing world?
• How does a holistic approach address the multiple needs of younger clients, what are the operational realities and challenges involved with taking such an approach?
• What are the key drivers, determinants and challenges for achieving scale in offering youth-inclusive financial services?