Digital Transformation & Data


Cenfri contributes to building the fundamentals of welfare-enhancing digital economies. We prioritise digital transformation that is inclusive, sustainable, opportunity-creating and has appropriate safeguards. Digital transformation underpins much of our work and ranges from payments digitalisation to digital economy diagnostics, and digital skills assessments to direct digitalisation support.

Cenfri also collaborates with policymakers and other public and private sector stakeholders in data-driven decision-making that is calibrated to the data available and is designed to strengthen the existing skills and data governance processes within these organisations. The Rwanda Economy Digitalisation Programme is our flagship evidence-informed policymaking and data-for-decisions intervention, but we have considerable experience in using evidence to generate insights and inform policymaking and business decision-making with a view to improved economic development outcomes. Our expertise in data, payments and digital identity enables us to contribute to current DPI (digital public infrastructure) conversations.

Exploring the impact of COVID-19 on livelihoods in Africa
Digital Transformation & Data

Exploring the impact of COVID-19 on livelihoods in Africa

The slowdown in economic activity brought about by the spread of Covid-19 has already been felt in the Northern Hemisphere where restrictions to the movement of people and goods are having significant adverse impact on economic growth and individual livelihoods. But what will the impact be on the Global South

Egyptian market
Digital Transformation & Data

Insur;Hack Report

Egypt’s first hackathon focused on creating an inclusive and tech-enabled insurance sector The Insur;Hack (focusing specifically on insurtech) was a collaborative effort with Promotion of Access to Financial Services for Small and Medium Enterprises (PAFSMA), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Egypt, Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) of Egypt, Insurance Federation

Openi2i conversations – a mentor’s experience on DataHack4FI and the Microsoft Professional Program in Data Science
Digital Transformation & Data

Openi2i conversations – a mentor’s experience on DataHack4FI and the Microsoft Professional Program in Data Science

Have you had a look at insight2impact’s Openi2i series yet? Openi2i is an initiative of Cenfri and Finmark Trust focused on sharing some of the programmatic learnings we’ve discovered from the last five years of jointly implementing the insight2impact programme. For Openi2i, we’ve partnered with NextBillion to document and explore

Digital platforms: unlocking economic inclusion in the rising era of smart mobility in Africa
Digital Transformation & Data

Digital platforms: unlocking economic inclusion in the rising era of smart mobility in Africa

The movement of Africa’s rapidly growing urban population will be shaped by digital technologies in the era of smart mobility. Smart mobility is the coming together of various key elements, technology, infrastructure and people, that offers flexible first-to-last mile mobility that is integrated, safe, on-demand, and cost-effective. In twenty years,

Digital Transformation & Data

The financial needs of Mexicans

How do Mexicans solve their financial needs? This report outlines the findings from a study carried out by insight2impact in collaboration with Comision Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV) of Mexico to gauge how Mexicans meet their financial needs, especially when it comes to send and receive money, manage liquidity,

Digital Transformation & Data

An analysis of ID proxy initiatives across the globe

BankservAfrica and Cenfri investigate the role of ID proxy initiatives in transforming payment ecosystems in Africa and beyond.   Real-time instant payments have become a hallmark of the digital economy and financial system. As part of our growing work in payment ecosystems, this report clarifies and investigates proxy and addressing

Digital Transformation & Data

Scenarios for Africa’s digital future

The scenarios for Africa’s digital future aim to stimulate a discussion around the choices that decision-makers in Africa have to make in responding to forces and uncertainties that shape the continent’s digital economy.

The digital revolution is gaining ground across Africa.

Will data and technology be governed in a manner