Emilio Hernandez

Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Emilio Hernandez explores digital financial solutions for last-mile customers. He leads work on innovations that make digital financial systems more impactful in achieving top development goals, especially food security; implementation of foundational building blocks for inclusive finance, like Digital Public Infrastructure and inclusive agent networks; and on new methods to measure the impact financial inclusion has on poor people’s lives to inform more effective policies.

Before joining CGAP, Emilio led technical cooperation programs focused on inclusive rural and agricultural finance at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations overseeing field interventions in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. He also oversaw business operations for a large international agricultural technology company throughout Central and South America. 

He has a Doctorate degree in Agricultural Economics and Development Finance from The Ohio State University.

By Emilio Hernandez

Blog

Can Agro-Dealers Be the Last-Mile Rails for Digital Finance?

New CGAP partnerships test large agribusinesses' potential to bring financial services to millions of rural farmers.
Blog

Building Rural Digital Ecosystems: A New Role for Agribusinesses?

Bringing digital finance to the rural poor will require financial services providers to work more creatively with agribusinesses that have extensive experience serving last-mile clients.
Blog

Digital Innovations in Smallholder Agricultural Insurance

Fewer than 1 percent of smallholder farmers in Africa have agricultural insurance. Digital technologies, such as satellite imaging, could greatly expand access to insurance in Africa and around the world.
Blog

Cultivating Opportunities for Women in Agriculture

National surveys in Mozambique and Tanzania show that women in agriculture do not diversify their incomes as much as men do. Equal access to financial services could help women to generate new sources of income.