The Women Impact Investing Network (WIIN) invites you to join a lively discussion with Brigit Helms, author of Access for All, and Elizabeth Littlefield, global impact investment guru, to talk about two market-based pathways out of poverty – access to services and jobs – and what they mean for the impact investing community.

Every day we hear of another investor talking about social and environmental impact, another breakthrough in social entrepreneurship, another business incubator aimed at supporting startups and change-makers. New players, like millennials, corporates, and institutional investors are joining governments, international donor agencies, and philanthropists to press for more inclusive economic development. None of these actors, traditional or new, can achieve truly inclusive economic systems on their own. Success will demand collaboration, often among uneasy bedfellows. It cannot be business as usual.

Inclusive economic systems offer pathways out of poverty, primarily through access to services and jobs. Access for All: Building Inclusive Economic Systems traces these two pathways to demonstrate how the most compelling, innovative, and scalable solutions come together to drive inclusive economic growth.

The evening will kick-off with networking while enjoying complimentary appetizers and wine, followed by the key speaker discussion which will commence at 6:30 pm. We look forward to seeing you there for what promises to be a great event!

About Brigit Helms

Brigit Helms has nearly 30 years of experience pioneering innovative approaches to financial inclusion and seeking enterprise and market-based solutions to poverty. She came to DAI after leading the Multilateral Investment Fund, an innovation lab of the Inter-American Development Bank making investments equaling $85 million a year. Prior to this, she was Chief of Party of the SPEED program in Mozambique, leading DAI’s work to improve the business environment and competitiveness of the economy there. Brigit originally came to DAI from McKinsey & Company in Seattle. Drawing on her deep expertise in market-based solutions to global development problems, Brigit has supported and helped lead projects focused on expanding private sector involvement in extending financial services to poor households and small businesses that are underbanked.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Brigit was Chief Executive Officer of Unitus, a nonprofit with offices in Seattle, Bangalore, and Nairobi. Before that she spent four years with the International Finance Corporation in East Asia, most recently as the Head of Advisory Services for Indonesia. Brigit was a founding management team member of CGAP, the global center of excellence for financial inclusion.

About Elizabeth Littlefield

Elizabeth L. Littlefield is the former President and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the US Government’s Development Finance Institution, appointed by President Obama in 2009. OPIC manages a $24 billion portfolio of financing for private investment in developing nations. Under her leadership, OPIC’s commitments to renewable resources investments witnessed a ten-fold increase, African investments, a five-fold increase and she undertook far reaching institutional strengthening. Littlefield has also instituted major reforms of the agency’s policies, systems, and processes, and has introduced new financial innovations to augment the agency’s development impact. 

Currently, Ms. Littlefield is a Senior Counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group, where she draws on decades of experience in private sector investment in developing markets to help ASG clients navigate the global marketplace.

From 2000 until 2010 Ms. Littlefield was CEO of CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), a policy and research center housed at the World Bank dedicated to advancing poor people’s access to financial services. Prior to joining CGAP in 1999, Littlefield was JP Morgan’s Managing Director in charge of capital markets and financing in emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa, among other positions. Littlefield spent 1989-1990 in West and Central Africa consulting several start-up microfinance institutions. She is a graduate of Brown University and also attended Ecole Nationale de Sciences Politiques in Paris.

About WIIN

The Women Impact Investing Network (WIIN) is a DC based network that builds community, leadership, and knowledge in the impact investing sector for women impact investing professionals and for men who support women in this space.  

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Parking:

The closest Metro stop to our office is Farragut North on the Red Line. There is a close parking option on 2021 K Street for $6 through Parking Panda; they're open until 11pm: 

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