The Global Credit Union Podcast

Chimgee Nergui, Partnership Specialist at the Mongolian National Confederation of Credit Unions, and Violet Ndungu, CEO of Muki SACCO in Kenya, are the Global Women’s Leadership Network’s (GWLN) 2023 Empowerment Grant recipients. Both women join the program this month to discuss being awarded $10,000 each to implement projects aimed at helping rural farmers and agricultural producers earn more inc...

Eleonora Zgonjanin Petrovikj, CEO of FULM Savings House (North Macedonia) and Patrick Rico, External Affairs Manager at ACDI Multipurpose Cooperative (Philippines), join the podcast to discuss being recipients of the inaugural 2023 WOCCU Fellowship. WOCCU in April launched the first Fellowship nominations to encourage credit union leaders under the age of 40 and women of any age to apply to serve...

Herpin Jateng, Acting Chief of Party for the USAID Cooperative Development Program (CDP)/World Council of Credit Unions' Technology and Innovation for Financial Inclusion (TIFI) Project, is the featured guest on Episode 27. He discusses how the TIFI Project has worked to grow small-and-medium enterprise (SME) lending efforts at credit unions in three African countries: Kenya, Burkina Faso and...

Brian Harris, President and CEO of Interior Savings Credit Union in Vancouver, Canada—home to next month’s 2023 World Credit Union Conference —joins the podcast to talk about the vibrant city and all it has to offer the more than 3,000 credit union professionals who will be converging on it from July 23-26. Plus, with Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions and its Global Women’s Leadership Network...

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in May 2023 extended the flagship project of its Venezuela Regional Response Program through May 2026, awarding $14 million to  World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU)  to continue implementation of the  Economic Inclusion Project (EIP)  in Peru and Ecuador on a much larger scale. Abby Cohen , WOCCU Program Manager for Latin America, an...

We take a deep dive into World Council of Credit Unions’ strategic focus on climate resilience and sustainable finance this month. We start at Sicredi Pioneira, a credit union based in Nova Petropolis, Brazil that is leading the way on solar energy. You’ll hear all about how they are helping members access financing for solar projects, and how they are leading by example as well—powering many of t...

World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) joined the rest of the world in celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8. And since this is also Women’s History Month, WOCCU is focusing this episode on the ways our organization helps women in the global credit union community through our programs and projects, and how we’re doing in terms of gender equality within our own organization. We’ll hear f...

With February 2023 marking the somber one-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we look back on how several projects and entities have worked with Ukrainian credit unions to keep them resilient and open to members.  That includes the World Council of Credit Unions/USAID Credit for Agriculture Producers' (CAP) Project, which works with partner credit unions to ensure the...

2023 nominations are now open for a pair of World Council of Credit Unions’ annual awards. The Digital Growth Award recognizes one or more member credit union associations or member credit unions for implementing digital solutions that promote financial inclusion, innovation and scalability. Diana Cazacu, a financial inclusion and digitalization expert who will serve as a Digital Growth Award judg...

After an optimistic start to the year, the global credit union movement was hit with multiple crises, including Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and soaring inflation worldwide. In this final episode of 2022, we look back at how World Council of Credit Unions helped its members navigate those pressures, while still offering education and networking events and managing to boost the livelihoo...

We’re focusing on Canada this month through interviews with: · Jeff Guthrie , President and CEO of the Canadian Credit Union Association (CCUA) and the newest member of World Council of Credit Unions’ (WOCCU) Board of Directors. · Mani Sheppard-Luangkhot, Manager, Financial Access Programs, Assiniboine Credit Union (ACU) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Jeff Guthrie joins the podcast to discuss both of his...

Despite year-to-year growth in overall membership and total assets for the global credit union movement, World Council of Credit Unions’ (WOCCU) 2021 Statistical Report shows major gaps in key product and service offerings have resulted in different priorities and risk concerns for credit unions in different parts of the world. As of December 31, 2021, there were a total of 393,871,631 members of...

This month’s featured guest is Diana Dykstra, who was just named Chair of World Council of Credit Unions’ Board of Directors in July. A six-year veteran of the WOCCU Board, Dykstra has more than 40 years of experience in leading top organizations in the financial services industry. She is currently the President and CEO of the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues, and previously served as Pr...

The theme for International Credit Union Day 2022 is "Empower Your Financial Future with a Credit Union."  World Council of Credit Unions is looking forward to celebrating that theme on Thursday, October 20. World Council and Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions are leading the way in asking for credit unions to share their member empowerment stories on ICU Day, while Worldwide Foundation E...

Episode 15 of the Global Credit Union Podcast examines the global food security crisis caused by COVID-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and climate change and looks at whether credit unions can provide more solutions to help local food producers. Jacob Kirkegaard , nonresident senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) and resident senior fellow with the German Ma...

Oscar Guzman, Chief of Party for World Council of Credit Unions’ Economic Inclusion Project (EIP), discusses how the USAID-funded activity in Peru and Ecuador connects Venezuelan migrants and low-income local residents to financial services, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, and also works on the prevention of gender-based violence. At the two-year mark, the Economic Inclusion Project...

Robert Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of the Association of British Credit Unions Limited (ABCUL) is our guest for Episode 13 of the Global Credit Union Podcast. ABCUL, World Council’s direct member credit union association in the United Kingdom, is co-hosting the 2022 World Credit Union Conference in Glasgow, Scotland with WOCCU from July 17-20. Along with being an expert on the UK credit union m...

World Council of Credit Unions' (WOCCU) President and CEO Elissa McCarter LaBorde and members of the WOCCU Credit for Agriculture Producers (CAP) Project visited Rzeszow, Poland on April 19 and 20 to hold a series of meetings aimed at exploring ways they can help provide further assistance in Ukraine, where credit unions, their employees and members continue to deal with the tragic consequences of...

Our guest on this edition of the Global Credit Union Podcast is “Aleksandr.” A liaison to the Ukrainian credit union movement, Aleksandr talks about the dire circumstances facing both the people of Ukraine and its credit unions. Aleksandr is not his real name. We chose to hide his identity for his safety, but the stories he shares about the devastating impacts of the Russian invasion of his countr...

The World Credit Union Conference returns as an in-person event for 2022! We preview the conference set for July 17-20 in Glasgow, Scotland on Episode 10 of the Global Credit Union Podcast. Belinda Parmar, founder and CEO of The Empathy Business is the featured guest. She will address attendees at the conference on why it is important for credit unions to embrace an empathic style of leadership. H...

Sustainable finance is one of the fastest growing areas of concerns for regulators and credit unions, which is why it is the focus of World Council of Credit Unions’ 2022 Global Regulatory Update for Credit Unions and Financial Cooperatives . World Council Assistant General Counsel of International Advocacy Panya Monford and World Council Senior Vice President of International Advocacy and General...

Facundo Turconi, owner and CEO of Solven , a South American fintech, is featured on Episode Eight to discuss how his firm has helped credit unions in Peru offer digital credit options to their members in less than two months through World Council of Credit Unions’ Economic Inclusion Project . Funded by USAID, the Economic Inclusion Project seeks to expand financial inclusion to Venezuelan migrants...

Results of a first-time demographic survey of World Council of Credit Unions' member credit union associations showed women trail far behind men when it comes to credit union membership and leadership. The responses, from 34 credit union associations on five continents, also showed the average credit union member is far older than the average person in the general population.  But two World C...

New World Council of Credit Unions' (WOCCU) President and CEO Elissa McCarter LaBorde is the featured guest. Elissa took over her new leadership role in August 2021, bringing more than 20 years of experience leading organizations in delivering financial services to underserved communities across the globe. For the previous 12 years, Ms. LaBorde served as Chief Executive Officer of Vitas Group, a f...

Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions’ Executive Director Mike Reuter joins the program in Episode Five to discuss the global journey available to credit unions that take part in the Global Bridges program. As the charitable and engagement arm of World Council of Credit Unions, the Worldwide Foundation started Global Bridges to allow credit unions to select and customize thematic content that giv...