The African Development Bank and the AFRICA Fintech Network have signed a partnership agreement for a grant of $525,000 to set up the Africa Fintech Hub (www.AfricaFintechNetwork.com).
This online portal will be a one-stop shop for all fintech activities in Africa.
The Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI) will provide the Africa Fintech Network with funding and technical assistance to enable it to host and operate the African Fintech Hub. The Hub is a digital platform that will allow fintech associations across Africa to share resources and information, improve relationships and partnerships, and showcase fintech work on the continent, including companies led or owned by women.
The African Fintech Hub will be run by a strategic partnership between AFN and the Center for Financial Regulation and Inclusion (Cenfri). Cenfri will provide technical support for the hub’s growth and promote research, knowledge creation and other innovative projects.
Director-General of Nigeria’s Land Division of the African Development Bank, Lamin Barrow, emphasized how important it was for the bank to support the project. He said it would help strengthen the fintech ecosystem in Africa, make the continent more competitive in the digital world and build partnerships.
At the African Development Bank, we know we have a big role to play in making the continent’s fintech environment strong, efficient and long-lasting. We are accelerating the delivery of our top five strategic goals using several new ideas.
These have helped make it easier for people to use digital infrastructure, such as ICT connections to remote countries and broadband internet services. Even more important is the need to jump over barriers and scale up digital financial solutions that everyone can use. This will help Africa’s economy become more resilient.
The African Development Bank and its partners created the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility to support innovative ideas such as the Africa Fintech Hub Project, which aims to enable more Africans to access and use digital financial solutions to meet their needs.
The President of Africa Fintech Network, Dr. Segun Aina, commended the bank for supporting the project.
“We are delighted to be working with the African Development Bank and Cenfri on several fintech projects across Africa to advance our shared goals of “driving Africa-led fintech solutions; encourage the exchange of information, ideas and support; and promote innovative technologies in the financial sector in Africa and beyond.”
ADFI coordinator Sheila Okiro said the bank is happy to work with the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility to “support this project to strengthen the fintech sector.” This is part of the bank’s efforts to use technology to help close the financial inclusion gap and create jobs across Africa.
Projects supported by ADFI are currently building payment systems and infrastructure in Ethiopia and the ECOWAS region to improve digital financial infrastructure and regional interoperability. In other projects, financial sector officials in Ghana, Rwanda and Zambia are getting new technology to protect consumers.
The facility is also helping projects to make it easier for smallholder farmers in Nigeria, Zambia and Kenya to get digital microinsurance. It also helps build cyber resilience and remove barriers that make it difficult for people in the area to use fintech services.
Although fintechs hold a lot of promise in helping people in Africa access digital financial services, the African fintech sector lags far behind those in Latin America and Southeast Asia.
In 2019, AFN and Cenfri did a poll that showed the need to set up and coordinate local fintech departments, recruit new members, highlight members’ successes, connect them to market access and investment opportunities, and advocate for members to local and regional regulators.
According to the poll, women own less than 15% of fintech companies. AFN will design and use gender indicators and lenses as an important component in project implementation based on the survey results.
Source
