Whether it is digital payments, resilience for MSMEs or financial integrity, much of our work is underpinned by the desire to create more inclusive financial systems and services. Cenfri has successfully implemented several multi-year financial inclusion programmes:
Our view is that while financial inclusion targets (such as the percentage of adults with a bank account) are valid, they don’t tell you much when tracked in isolation. It is important to understand whether people use their financial services, and if so, whether this enables them to meet their needs. We have developed six financial inclusion measurement frameworks that outline this expanded understanding of financial inclusion.
We are aware of the importance of women’s financial inclusion and apply a gender lens to much of our work.
Financial inclusion has evolved from a grass-root microfinance movement in the 1980s to a mainstream item on the development agenda. Its increasing prominence is attested, amongst others, by the formation of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), the recognition of financial inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals and
Will CBDC solve your financial inclusion woes or further exclude the vulnerable? Central bank-backed digital currency (CBDC) may alleviate financial exclusion barriers, but it comes with risks. Given some of the shortcomings of digital financial services in reaching financially excluded populations, central banks in developing and emerging markets have increasingly
The shortage of data science skills is a major challenge for Africa. With relatively few local educational institutions offering dedicated data science degrees, the small contingent of existing Africa-based data scientists tend to have varied backgrounds – and they often acquire their data science skills by piecing together a range
It’s not easy delivering data-driven financial services to the financially excluded in Africa’s emerging economies. That’s why technical assistance (TA) can be essential to the success of the region’s financial service providers (FSPs). Comprised of various forms of non-financial assistance provided by outside specialists, TA can take the form of
Despite the increasing availability of data and a growing appreciation for the importance of data-driven product design, there is a practical disconnect between the decisions being made for financial inclusion in Africa and the available data. This gap hinders the extent to which financial products and services meet the needs
Transactional data can potentially augment the more traditional demand-and-supply data used to monitor use-based financial inclusion indicators. We recently worked with Nigeria’s central switch, the Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS), to explore customer-level transactional data. NIBSS processes all inter-bank credit and debit transactions as well as all point-of-sale (POS) transactions in
Exploring Africa’s digital-platform economy and financial services The digital-platform economy and its potentially disruptive qualities have been a source of excitement and anxiety globally. In the African context, this debate has taken place largely in the absence of information on the size and nature of platform players. This focus note
DataHack4FI country winner discovering the prospect of using financial management and accounting systems to generate credit scores Almost half the micro-, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Zambia – comprising approximately 80% [1] of Zambia’s private-sector businesses – perceive the lack of access to credit as a significant hurdle to their
Targeting small businesses with personalised business advice and predicting successful loan applications Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play a key role in economic development, but they face challenges in accessing finance. This case study explores a Tanzanian initiative that aims to support MSMEs – particularly those owned by women and youth –
Against the backdrop of the financial sector playing a key role in mobilising resources to achieve economic growth, Zimbabwe has in recent times seen severe macroeconomic constraints and hardship. Over the past two decades, the country’s financial sector has learnt (or not learnt) a number of lessons – lessons that
A case study on DataHack4FI Innovation Award winner for Tanzania A-trader seeks to assist fellow Tanzanians in reaching their financial and investment goals. It seeks to do this by breaking down the barriers faced by these individuals in accessing investment opportunities. Its flagship product, the A-trader Digital Platform, allows beginner
