Boulder Institute of Microfinance

Short Biography

William F. Steel retired in 2005 as Senior Adviser in the Africa Region Private Sector Group of the World Bank, where he worked since 1983, specializing in small enterprise development and microfinance.  He is currently based in Accra, Ghana, teaching Economics of Microfinance at the University of Ghana and consulting for the World Bank, GTZ, and others. He was one of the leaders of the World Bank’s Rural and Micro Finance/Small Enterprise Thematic Group, and co-author of the “Framework for World Bank Group Support for the Development of Micro, Small Enterprise and Rural Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa” and “Rural Financial Services: Implementing the Bank’s Strategy to Reach the Rural Poor.”  He co-authored studies of microfinance regulation in four African countries, and he remains active in micro and rural finance policy and projects in Ghana and Uganda.   

As Co-Chair of the Committee of Donor Agencies for Small Enterprise Development (1991-2004), he led the development of Guiding Principles for donor support both for microfinance (1995) and for business development services (2001).  He is one of the founders and a member of the Steering Committee of the international network on Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO). He has published numerous studies, articles and books on small enterprise development, informal financial markets, microfinance regulation, employment of women, and industrial adjustment.  He previously taught economics at Vanderbilt University and the University of Ghana, and he has served as an Advisor in the African Development Bank and the Indonesia National Planning Agency.