Accion is an international nonprofit. Founded as a community development initiative serving the poor in Venezuela, Accion is known as a pioneer in the fields of microfinance and fintech impact investing. In order to meet the needs of those who are left out of – or poorly served by – the global financial sector, Accion leverages the power of the capital markets to help financial institutions reach scale and sustainability. Its three-pronged approach involves investing in financial service providers to maximize social impact and financial returns, supporting partners with advisory and governance services, and influencing the industry to focus on the obstacles and solutions on the path to financial inclusion. To-date, it has more than 110 partners in 50 countries. Accion is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also has offices in Washington, D.C.; Bogota, Colombia; Mumbai, India; and Beijing, China. Accion works across Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. In the U.S., Accion operates a nationwide nonprofit lending network. Accion's strategy Accion's 2016 strategy update identified three primary areas of focus for the organization: 1. Accion finds and grows seed-stage startups that meet the needs of the underserved: Accion's seed-stage impact investment initiative, Accion Venture Lab, provides capital and support to startups that harness innovation to drive financial inclusion. Accion Venture Lab focuses on disruptive early companies. Its more than 30 portfolio companies use alternative data, business model innovation, blockchain, digital identification, social media, machine learning, and other emerging technologies to provide people and businesses with financial services. 2. Accion helps innovative yet established financial service providers maximize their impact: Through Accion Global Investments, and Accion Frontier Investments – managed by Quona Capital, Accion works to catalyze innovations and leverage technology to support financially underserved microentrepreneurs, families, and individuals in emerging markets. Accion Global Advisory Solutions, the organization's advisory team, provides experienced operational and management support to strengthen and maximize financial services providers’ impact on financial inclusion. 3. Accion protects and empowers clients as well as challenges and engages the financial inclusion industry: The Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) at Accion uses advocacy, research, and insights to push industry stakeholders to overcome obstacles to financial inclusion. CFI examines key financial inclusion questions, including financial health, the efficacy of government-to-person transfers, and the technologies enabling digital financial services. The Smart Campaign, a global financial consumer protection standard, was one of CFI's signature initiatives and helped protect