NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Deena Burjorjee is an independent consultant with over 20 years of experience working on access to finance issues, with a specific focus on women’s financial inclusion, responsible finance and market systems facilitation. She has built up considerable expertise advising on policy reform to promote inclusive financial sector development in the Arab States facilitating national consultative processes in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Palestine and Tunisia. Burjorjee is a financial inclusion specialist and co-facilitator of CGAP’s Women’s Financial Inclusion Community of Practice. She has authored numerous papers on access to finance topics related to gender, refugees and market systems development, and produced technical guides to support the capacity development of member-based microfinance associations. She earned a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University, where she has also taught courses and workshops on microfinance at the Graduate School for International and Public Affairs, and has held positions as technical advisor and programme manager at UNDP and UNCDF between 1997-2006.