Recording: Groundbreaking Webinar on Disability-Inclusive Finance

Despite progress in financial inclusion, persons with disabilities (PWDs) remain disproportionately excluded from financial services and financial inclusion strategies. This webinar introduced key disability inclusion concepts applicable to inclusive finance stakeholders and explored the systemic barriers PWDs face. The panellists representing different stakeholder groups presented their work and shared actionable strategies to advance disability inclusion as part of your financial inclusion objectives.

Featured Speakers:

• Roy Mersland (University of Agder) – Research insights on financial inclusion of PWD.

• Maame Saah Oduro-Frimpong (Bank of Ghana) – The role of central banks and regulators in shaping a inclusive financial environment.

• Céline Trublin (Humanity & Inclusion) – Best practice approaches in disability-inclusive financial services.

• Julia Corvalán (Fundación Paraguaya) – A financial service provider committed to disability inclusion.

• Moderated by Paul Surreaux & Alison Thornburn (BFFI).

Speakers' Bios:

Roy Mersland is Professor of International Business and Development at the School of Business and Law at the University of Agder. He has a PhD in International Business from the University of Agder, an MBA from Universidad Técnica Federico Santa Maria (Chile/Ecuador), and a Master’s degree in Business and Marketing from BI Norwegian Business School. Mersland has a wide international research network and is currently involved in several research projects. He is a member of the research group of the European Microfinance Platform and of the Centre for European Research in Microfinance (CERMi) in Belgium. He is also Director of the Center for Research on Social Enterprises and Microfinance (CERSEM) at the University of Agder (https://cersem.uia.no/). He is the most published researcher in the World on the topics of “microfinance”, “savings groups” and “financial inclusion for PWDs”.

Mrs. Maame Saah Oduro-Frimpong is a seasoned lawyer with over twenty years of experience, including a decade of regulatory experience in financial consumer protection. She is currently a Manager at the Financial Stability Department of the Bank of Ghana, where she leads a Market Conduct Supervision Unit. Maame Saah has played a pivotal role in shaping the Bank of Ghana's consumer protection and market conduct regulatory frameworks. Her experience lies in regulatory compliance, financial consumer rights, and ensuring market integrity. Through concerted efforts with her team at the Market Conduct Office of the Financial Stability Department, she has pioneered several consumer protection regulations that were novel in the West African sub-region, including the recently published Financial Inclusion for Persons with Disabilities Directive, 2025. She continues to play a crucial role in the Bank of Ghana’s efforts to strengthen Ghana’s consumer protection and market conduct regulatory framework and promote transparency in the banking sector.

Céline Trublin has worked for about 25 years in the field of international development with a focus on work, entrepreneurship and skill development. In 2018 she joined Handicap International - Humanity & Inclusion (HI), an international NGO working with people with disabilities and individuals in situations of poverty, exclusion, conflict, and disaster, as a Global Economic Inclusion Specialist. As part of her role, she supports projects to reach and include people with disabilities by building team capacity, designing guidelines and providing technical guidance to ensure the success of economic inclusion initiatives.

Dr. Julia Corvalan is an international development expert, academic, and researcher, working to support mission-oriented grassroots organizations and co-create solutions in highly vulnerable communities. She is the Global Operations Manager at the Poverty Stoplight, a multidimensional poverty measurement tool and coaching methodology implemented in 60 countries worldwide. Additionally, Julia is a Senior Fellow of the Global Innovators Group at the Aspen Institute, specializing in development finance, policy, and governance.

Having worked in the field since 2007, Julia’s expertise in the Global South blends knowledge-based work with practical, hands-on collaboration in diverse and dynamic team environments. She received her PhD from Strathclyde Business School and is a UK Higher Education Academy Fellow. She has experience teaching strategy across UG and PG levels at several universities in the UK, most recently at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, and was a member of the 2014 inaugural class of Global Emerging Leaders of the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. Julia has presented her work at international events such as the Aspen Ideas Festival, the Skoll World Forum, and the Moth Global Development Storytelling Workshop. She has been published in the World Economic Forum, Project Syndicate, IPS, and NPR.”

Paul Surreaux has for the past 15 years worked in financial inclusion as a project manager, investment officer and trainer for ADA Luxembourg until leading an impact investment department in a Cambodian microfinance institution. Since 2017, he has designed and implemented projects to foster Persons with Disabilities’ access to financial services, which led him to co-found, in 2024, the Barrier-Free Finance Initiative (BFFI), an NGO dedicated to promoting financial inclusion for people with disabilities. He holds a Master's degree from the European Microfinance Program of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, lives in El Salvador and speaks English, Spanish and French.

Alison Thornburn has ten years’ experience working in the disability and microfinance sectors in Cambodia, before co-founding Barrier-Free finance initiative in 2024. Her experience includes implementing a multi-year project to provide access to financial literacy coaching and business loans for people with disabilities; facilitating disability and gender self-assessments for microfinance institutions; and supporting the development of a gender-lens impact investing fund. She previously worked for 15+ years in consumer banking in UK and Australia, before transitioning her career to focus on social impact. She holds a Bachelors in Management Sciences and a Master in Development Studies.