Banking on Women: The Next Emerging Market

As head of the Banking on Women program Jessica Schnabel is responsible for developing IFC's global portfolio of investment and advisory services for financial institutions in emerging markets in order to radically scale-up and improve financial services for women-led small and medium sized enterprises. She has led her team to invest in and provide advisory solutions to over 60 financial institutions in emerging markets to help them sustainably and profitably bank on women, with committed investments of roughly US$1.6 billion. Schnabel's prior experience in IFC’s Financial Institutions Group includes a range of debt, equity, and balance sheet risk-management investments in commercial banks, private equity funds, microfinance institutions and leasing companies. She also has extensive experience providing technical advisory services to commercial banks to improve their small business lending, and to companies and business associations to improve their commercial practices. Jessica Schnabel is based in Washington, DC, and was previously based in Bamako, Mali. She has a BA from Indiana University and a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). She served three years in the US Peace Corps in Guinea, an assignment that changed the course of her career