Staff Directory

Olga Tomilova

Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Olga Tomilova has been a consultant and adviser to CGAP since 2007. She works on CGAP’s Global Forum Project, engaging with standard-setting and other global bodies on financial consumer protection, and on the Sector Support Project, where she manages CGAP’s Cross-Border Funders Survey.

Olga has more than 20 years of experience in financial inclusion, microfinance, financial consumer protection, and responsible finance. She has extensive international work experience, particularly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Before joining CGAP, Olga managed the Central Asia Microfinance Center, a joint project of the Microfinance Centre for Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States (MFC) and CGAP in Kazakhstan. She was MFC’s manager of training and consulting. In addition, she was a researcher for Harvard University in Russia, the executive director for the Russian Women’s Microfinance Network in Moscow, and a finance management assistant for Opportunity International in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

Olga has a degree in History, Social Sciences, and Applied Sociology from Nizhny Novgorod State University in Russia, and a professional certificate in accounting. She is based in Moscow, Russia.

By Olga Tomilova

Blog

How do Industry Associations Promote Responsible Digital Finance?

CGAP undertook qualitative research on how industry associations can promote responsible digital finance. We identified 10 activities that support customer-centricity, capability, and collaboration – the building blocks of responsible digital financial services ecosystems.
Blog

Africa Is Top Recipient of Financial Inclusion Funding

For the first time since CGAP began its funder survey, Sub-Saharan Africa in 2019 received more financial inclusion funding than any other region, with $7.6 billion in commitments. But new pressures on development budgets could impact the region.
Research

2018 Trends in International Funding for Financial Inclusion

International funding increased by 12 percent in 2018 to approximately US$47 billion, a trend that has been consistent over the past five years. A third of international funders have been purposefully aligning their financial inclusion efforts to the achievement of SDGs.
Blog

The 10-Year Challenge: How Has Financial Inclusion Funding Changed?

Funding for financial inclusion quadrupled between 2007 and 2017. However, greater coordination is needed to ensure funders focus on filling gaps in the sector without duplicating efforts and they build interventions based on their comparative advantage.
Research

2017 Trends in International Funding for Financial Inclusion

One of the key takeaways from the latest CGAP Funder Survey is that international funders committed US$42 billion to financial inclusion in 2017—a double-digit percentage increase from the prior year. For the first time in five years, public funding has grown faster than private funding.