Now reading: Shaping ethical and inclusive digital economies

Data and Analytics


The smarter use of data plays a role in all aspects of economic inclusion. Innovative and cost-effective ways to collect, store and analyse data can improve strategic decision-making and enable more client-centric and inclusive product design.

Increasing access and lowering the cost of up-to-date, high-quality traditional and alternative data and can unlock a range of insights to solve challenges.

  • Geospatial data can provide insights on a particular area, such as  financial access points.
  • Analysis of existing transaction data allows tailored financial solutions and new insights on people’s financial behaviour.
  • Machine learning can better assess creditworthiness for clients with no official credit history, and shared client data can open the door to additional services that improve client value.

These developments can enable financial service providers, policymakers and impact investors to optimise the impact of their work through the use of data.

Our work connects decision-makers with the data they need by building on, and showcasing, the existing knowledge base of financial inclusion data and collaborating with a wide range of partners.

The Latest in Data and Analytics

Shaping ethical and inclusive digital economies
Marissa Dean of Caribou Digital (and i2i Advisory Panel member) talks to us about data and digital development in the financial sector.  Your [...]
Predictive analytics presents opportunities for risk-taking in Africa
Prof Bitange Ndemo, renowned ICT champion, shares some thoughts on data, blockchain, innovation and entrepreneurship. You have written about the [...]
Regulating for change: Five important considerations
I recently participated in a panel at the IAIS Global Seminar in Moscow where a regulator from the audience asked a very relevant question: [...]
Exuus: Using data to demystify savings groups’ black boxes
DataHack4FI Innovation Award Season 2: Winner of the Women and Youth focus prize for Rwanda In Rwanda, as elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, rotating [...]
InvestXD: Putting women’s investment needs at the centre
InvestXD created a digital investment platform for women and youth Understanding drivers of usage for financial products and services is important [...]
ZedCredit: Sentiment analysis in the design of womens savings solution
ZedCredit from Zambia provides access to savings, loans and a credit score via their mobile app. ZedCredit is a fintech based in Zambia [...]
Inclusive: Identification that removes barriers to financial inclusion
DataHack4FI in-country winners from Ghana offer a multiple-database-verification API solution to identity verification. A lack of verifiable [...]
Network analysis to identify and segment farmers
Exploring how transactional-data-driven network analysis can allow financial service providers increase the value they provide to [...]
Aggregation of data for consumer empowerment
We spoke to Billy Owino, CEO of TransUnion Kenya, about the organisation’s strategy of analysing multiple sources of data to better understand [...]
Data in financial service provider (FSP) decision-making: Findings from six countries
Do FSPs in Africa use data to drive their decisions?  While several global surveys have been conducted to determine the extent to which business [...]