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Portrait of Stephen Gelb

Stephen Gelb

Researcher and consultant
EducationPhD, University of Manitoba
LinkedIn  (external link, opens in new window) 

Visiting Toronto Metropolitan University

Fall 2026

Research focus while a Global Migration Institute Scholar - Diaspora finance

Stephen will focus on diaspora finance – remittances and investment – sent by migrants to their countries of origin, and their impact on financial inclusion of households and of small enterprises. He will use the fellowship to work further on his book, which presents country/financial product case studies of diaspora finance and knowledge flows. Countries include Mexico, Morocco, Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, Moldova and the Philippines, and financial products include individual remittances, collective remittances, SME debt/equity finance, and returnee investment. He will also look at fintech innovations like mobile phone money transfer apps and crowdfunding. 

Career Achievements

Stephen Gelb is a researcher and consultant. He was previously Principal Research Fellow and Lead, Private Sector Development, at ODI Global in London, working across a range of issues and countries in Africa and Asia. Before that, he spent 30 years working on macroeconomic, growth and industrial policy for the South African anti-apartheid movement and then the democratic government, from bases in universities, research institutes and parastatals, also advising multilateral organisations and foreign governments. He has worked on remittances/diaspora finance only in recent years.

Relevant Publications

Diaspora finance and climate change in Africa, Policy paper, African Climate Foundation: Cape Town, 2026

Guidelines for engaging diasporas to leverage economic capital, Working Paper, International Organisation for Migration: Geneva, 2024

Diaspora finance as a vehicle for productive knowledge, in N Piper & K Datta (ed.), Handbook on Migration and the Sustainable Development Goals, Edward Elgar, 2024

Migrant resources and development in the Global South, in H Crawley and J Teye (ed.), Handbook of South-South Migration and Inequality, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023

Diaspora finance for development: from remittances to investment, EUR 30742 EN, Publications Office of the European Union: Luxemburg, 2021, JRC125341  

Migration, technology and the SDGs, ODI for Swiss Development Corporation: Bern, 2018