Tag: FinancialInclusion

The narrative about Africa’s technological future often relies on the narrow assumption that the continent must “catch up” with global innovation. However, this framing misses a critical point: Africa has never simply consumed technology. We adapt it, reshape it, and increasingly originate it. This is the essence of Africanisation: designing and deploying technology to respond directly to the continent’s cultural nuances, economic realities, and local challenges.

For decades, the conversation about inequality has centred on income, employment and access to capital. Those issues remain fundamental. However, another divide is becoming increasingly important: the gap between people who can navigate an increasingly complex financial world and those who cannot

South Africa places considerable weight on Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as engines of employment and growth. However, their access to capital still falls short of the role we expect them to play. Consequently, development finance has become an important part of efforts to close this gap. Every Rand channelled into development finance carries an expectation of tangible economic outcomes.

South Africa's payments ecosystem has evolved rapidly over the past few years. At the point of sale, a consumer can tap or insert a card, open a banking app and make a PayShap transfer, scan a QR code, or split the purchase across three interest-free instalments using PayJustNow or Payfex. They can also tap their phone to pay via digital wallet.

Small and Media Enterprises (SMEs) are regularly rejected for funding, even when their businesses are profitable, because the system was not designed with their business reality in mind. SMEs contribute around 40% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and 60% of employment. Yet they face the SME funding gap, which is estimated at R350 billion. There is no shortage of funding in the system.

South Africa should carefully assess how short-term instalment products are interpreted before Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) data shapes access to mainstream credit. The country could risk turning BNPL into a product that shuts people out of mainstream credit rather than helping them into it. This could happen if BNPL data enters credit-scoring systems that were never designed to interpret this type of product fairly.

For most of the past decade, African fintech was a land grab. Valuations rewarded user numbers. Interfaces became flashier. “Disruption” became the pitch that attracted capital investment. From the outside, it was clear that the model was running hotter than it could sustain. However, that era is over.

A few months into the year, financial pressure begins to feel different. School fees become due, winter expenses approach and transport costs continue to rise. Meanwhile, January’s financial resolutions begin competing with everyday survival. Rarely does one major expense disrupt financial discipline. Instead, the steady friction of small, unavoidable costs slowly chips away at our best intentions.

We have released our new findings from the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Opportunity Leads Umbrella Program. The findings identify five critical and interconnected domains that drive women’s income growth among low-income micro-entrepreneurs. The insights emerged from a two-year collaboration with 11 enterprises in Kenya through the WEE Program.

April’s Financial Literacy Month provides an opportunity to reflect on progress. It also highlights where the next phase of financial inclusion must focus. While access remains foundational, the real challenge lies in outcomes. Specifically, credit must deliver sustainable and positive results for consumers. Over the past decade, South Africa has expanded access to financial services. This progress has strengthened financial inclusion across the country.