CASE STUDY
FINANCIAL INCLUSION • HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN • EMERGING MARKETS
IFC: Designing financial services that actually work for women
RESULT
Women-focused insurance programs launched across five countries. Each partner insurer documented measurable results:
Philippines — Insular Life, InLife Sheroes — 6.5 million women reached; 57% increase in women policyholders; Insular earned EDGE gender equity certification
Nigeria — AXA Mansard, SHE Initiative — 65% average year-on-year women policyholder growth; female clients rose from 32% to 50% of portfolio; N3.4 billion increase in gross written premiums
Ghana — Activa / Activ’Lady — 6x growth in policies sold to women; 500+ solutions sold to women-owned MSMEs and market traders; 28,000+ women reached through workshops
Cameroon — Activa / Activ’Lady — 152% increase in female policyholders; 3 new insurance solutions launched; 21% increase in gross premiums from women
SITUATION
The International Finance Corporation’s She for Shield program set out to build insurance products that genuinely served women entrepreneurs across multiple emerging markets. The sector had a structural problem: women were underinsured not because they didn’t want coverage, but because products, distribution channels, and sales practices weren’t designed with them in mind. IFC needed a human centered design (HCD) approach to change that — working simultaneously across markets with very different cultural, economic, and regulatory contexts.
TASK
Serve as the lead HCD advisor — co-creating the research and design approach, building local research capacity, running design sprints with insurer partners, and guiding prototyping and testing with real users.
ACTIONS
Developed the Women & Insurance Research Framework — a structured guide for local research firms conducting focus groups, in-depth interviews, user shadowing, and mystery shopping
Contributed HCD analysis and recommendations to IFC’s gender diagnostic process, integrating findings into strategic briefs for insurer partners
Introduced the Design Sprint methodology to IFC and its partners — designing and facilitating sprints with insurers to develop new product concepts, value propositions, and go-to-market approaches
Guided prototyping and user testing — including business model canvases, low-res marketing materials, and pitch decks — reality-checked against existing systems and budgets
Recruited and mentored an HCD expert in the Philippines to expand capacity and sustain the approach beyond the initial engagement
Facilitated team retrospectives throughout — synthesizing insights, documenting the emerging She for Shield methodology, and refining the approach across successive market engagements
CLIENTS & PARTNERS
International Finance Corporation / World Bank Group • AXA Mansard (Nigeria) • Insular Life (Philippines) • Activa Ghana • Activa Cameroon
SKILLS
Human-Centered Design • Research Framework Development • Design Sprints • Facilitation & Training • Prototyping & Testing • Cross-Cultural Research • Capacity Building • Sensemaking • Gender & Financial Inclusion
