The Mobile World Congress (MWC) always gives insights into how far Africa has come, and is going in shaping its digital future. Focus on the recently concluded MWC in Rwanda was on fintechs and how they are shaping Africa’s digital growth trajectory.
The growing immense interest in redefining Africa’s digital path is demonstrated by the level of discussions and particularly the number of influential business leaders and policymakers that congregated for the continents’ largest and most influential connectivity event in Rwanda.
The figures are staggering: over 4000 delegates, 109 countries and over 1400 companies represented. That’s good enough to shape the destiny of a continent eager to locate its space on the global digital platform.
Of late – Africa has experienced advancements in cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, new platform models leveraging APIs, and regulatory changes. Such developments have also witnessed fintech solutions that have rapidly found business and digital space to grow.
The MWC undoubtedly set the agenda for the continent in the next year, partly guiding state policy frameworks. Following the event online – the topics were not disappointing in their relevance to digital transformation and growth.
The most interesting to me were the SuperApps, AI, digital identity, Insurtech, and regulation. All these were connected to the rapid growth and impact of fintechs in the region and its business solutions.
Indisputably, fintechs are effectively part of the rise of mobile-driven commerce providing enormous opportunities for growth, employment and financial inclusivity.
Fintechs have generated a significant number of young African millionaires, also making significant global inroads and business synergies. In part, they have become part of Africa’s financial digital footprints.
Hence, it’s not difficult to understand why fintechs were topical. Of late, mobile wallet-based payment solutions have grown; creating unprecedented transactional convenience for previously excluded rural populations now integrated through SuperApps.
You get your money after official business hours. You don’t que in the bank. Payments are quick – without the erstwhile cumbersome analogue paperwork that took ages to complete deposits or withdrawal slips.
Money was counted by hand – and delivered to you cash. Fintechs across Africa have disrupted such onetime business approach, creating e-commerce frameworks that have rendered point-of-sale systems obsolete.
Such seamless experiences have reduced friction in local and cross-border payments, creating many African millionaires. Downstream micro businesses are expanding.
The MWC noted fintechs are entering “a new era of dynamic, data-driven, and globally influential innovation,” and “building on its reputation as a global leader in mobile money and digital payments” while “ the continent continues to redefine financial access, inclusion, and innovation through bold technology adoption and cross-sector collaboration.”
Statistics often don’t lie. There are over 400 million unbanked adults in Africa, and that represents an untapped opportunity.
Against this background, fintechs are poised for exponential growth, especially if they are to be integrated around mobile platforms, blockchain, forming part of burgeoning Africa’s financial ecosystem.
The MWC thus had to look at analysing fintech’s investment trends, and how they can be exploited in the digital revolution to address contemporary challenges.
ICT behemoth Huawei said it is seeking to bring digital devices to every African person and home, ensuring full connection.
James Zhang, vice president of Huawei Carrier Sales, noted: “Working together with telecom operators we seek to write a new chapter in the digital service and AI development of the African continent, creating a better tomorrow for the people of Africa.”
Ralph Mupita MTN Group CEO, said: “In an era marked by unprecedented challenges, the need for innovation, digital transformation, and financial inclusion has never been greater. … We do this in collaboration with stakeholders who share our vision of empowering communities, restoring dignity, and fostering shared prosperity.”
The positive reality is that Africans are using mobile Internet in Sub-Saharan Africa than ever before. The downside is that there is significant digital divide.
About 87% are not connected. Such financial inclusion, enabled by collaboration from all stakeholders will likely create inclusive networks that can bring the unconnected and excluded poorer rural population on board.
Regardless, statistics continue to demonstrate that mobile Internet gender gap in Sub-Saharan Africa is narrowing from 36% in 2022 to 32% in 2023, hence the urgent need to close the digital divide.
Hence – as the MWC concluded – the future of African fintech lies in achieving greater interoperability between fragmented payment systems, with talk of a unified payment trail system integrating different banking payment structures.
This is regarded as a "next frontier" for growth. Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame noted: “Africa has gone from limited connectivity to a mobile-driven economy. Broadband and smartphones have become tools of daily life, transforming commerce, education, finance, and other key sectors."
On a light note: Kagame read his speech from paper, while his minister of ICT read he opening speech from a digital device.
But smartphones are no longer a luxury but a lifeline to business breakthroughs, providing solutions and addressing existing challenges.
There is need for collaboration between mobile operators and fintech – creating platform synergies and powering new digital solutions that can transformed business driving rapid growth.
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