Adadzewa Otoo Kottoh has been appointed Project Director of Retail Finance Distribution (ReFinD), a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded research initiative that focuses on deepening digital financial inclusion for women, poor households, SMEs, and other retail businesses in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Implemented by the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER), at the University of Ghana, in collaboration with international partners, the ReFinD research initiative will provide sub-grants to research institutions in Sub-Sahara Africa, South East Asia, and South Asia to undertake groundbreaking research in retail finance distribution. ReFinD was launched in June 2022 with a first call for proposals.
“I am pleased to welcome Adadzewa to ISSER and the ReFinD family. Her years of experience working at the intersection of multi-country program management, international partnerships engagement, research, and financial inclusion will support the ReFinD research initiative to deliver its aims,” said Prof. Peter Quartey, Executive Director of ReFinD.
Over the next four years, Adadzewa will lead ReFinD's international efforts with partners in multiple global regions to help expand the reach of agent networks through public policy and commercial solutions that can plausibly be scaled up, while advancing public knowledge about the structural constraints limiting agent networks globally.
Prior to joining ReFinD, she worked at the Alliance for Financial Inclusion's global headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she was a Policy Specialist providing technical support to central banks and financial sector regulators to make financial systems more inclusive.
She has over 15 years of experience in the development sector in Africa, Asia, and the UK – in diverse multi-country program management, international partnerships engagement, policy advisory, strategy consulting, research, and team leadership roles.
“I am truly excited to be part of this research initiative, in particular, because of its commitment to deepening digital finance and to empowering vulnerable people in LMICs,” Adadzewa said.