Ester Agasha

My interest in social development began when I started living with my grandfather at an early age of four. This introduced me to local way of life through grazing livestock, dealing in barter trade, saving through “merry go rounds” where women share development ideas at village meetings in my community in Uganda. Through these engagements, I have seen firsthand the several challenges that these local communities face including, limited access to finance, limited financial knowledge, little or no financial numeracy skills, lack of financial competence, skills, exploitation by loan sharks, a poor saving culture, and no guaranteed financial sustainability, all leading to a vicious cycle of poverty. I engage in solution solution-oriented research that will improve the existing policy agenda. I am particularly, interested in:

-Examining unregulated domains like the loan sharks that currently exploit the poor,

-Engaging in research that examines how incentives can drive savings culture and create new mindsets in rural communities,

-The impact of gender gaps in financial domains and their impact on business through financial access, financial services utilization, financial security and financial independence to achieve financial wellbeing.

February 2023