Economic Inclusion for All: Access, Poverty and Income Inequality in Asia
VIEW EVENT DETAILSMetLife Foundation-Asia Society Economic Inclusion Series
Evening Dialogue
Drinks reception: 6:00pm
Dialogue: 7:00pm
Close: 8:15pm
The breakneck speed of economic progress in Asia over the last few decades has lifted millions of people out of poverty. Many more, still, have been left behind. Asia remains home to two-thirds of the world's poor, with about 700 million people in Asia-Pacific living on less than US$1 a day. The rise in the “vulnerable class” - those not wealthy enough to be out of danger of falling below the poverty line, but cannot be considered middle class - also creates an opportunity for economic inclusion. Eliminating - indeed alleviating - poverty requires governments to work together with not-for-profit organizations and the private sector to find solutions. How can these different sectors be brought together to alleviate poverty? With many households lacking access to institutional finance, is microfinance an effective tool for promoting poverty reduction for households? This session will examine how stakeholders can collaborate on a shared action agenda to do more to counter income inequality and eradicate poverty, working together to make economic inclusion a reality.
Christophe Bahuet is Country Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Indonesia, a post he has held since August 2015. He has worked for more than 20 years at UNDP, previously serving as China Country Director and Deputy Country Director in Vietnam. His earlier assignments took him to Ghana, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Mr. Bahuet has also worked at UNDP headquarters in New York. Prior to joining UNDP, he worked at the Embassy of France in Yugoslavia. Mr. Bahuet holds a master’s degree from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, a diploma in Southeast Asian studies from the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilisations in Paris, a law degree and a degree in Russian from the University of Bordeaux.
A. Ramesh Kumar is Founding Chairman and Managing Director of Swarna Pragati Housing Microfinance Pvt. Ltd., an India-based for-profit organization that pioneered a unique approach to provide access to housing finance to low-income households in India and the 2016 winner of the MetLife Foundation-Wall Street Journal Financial Inclusion Challenge. Mr. Kumar is a banker with more than three decades of experience. A former Chief General Manager of the State Bank of India, he was instrumental in mainstreaming microfinance in the banking industry in Western India and the model was later embraced by the entire banking sector. Mr. Kumar was recently elected an Ashoka Fellow for his social entrepreneurship and its impact on society. He has a master’s degree in physics from the University of Delhi and a postgraduate education in management.