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.
The DataHack4FI competition seeks to advance financial inclusion through data innovation. It does this by encouraging and upskilling young finance, tech and data enthusiasts in Africa to use data and data analytics to collectively solve business challenges and to make appropriate financial services more affordable and readily accessible to unserved
We’ve been exploring how financial service providers can translate new insights from behavioural science into the design and delivery of financial services These systematic reviews conducted in 2017 and 2018 sought to identify behavioural interventions that have been proven to influence the credit, saving, insurance or payment decisions of customers. We’ve
As we explore how behavioural science can narrow the gap between customer intention and customer action, we have started to look at examples from specific financial services. Two sectors identified as playing a role in improving the lives of the financially excluded are insurance and formal remittances. Behavioural interventions and
What can CBDC do for emerging markets: a case for mobile money Central banks have started to actively explore central bank digital currency (CBDC) – a new digital form of legal tender that mimics cash. Our initial note “The benefits and potential risks of digital fiat currencies” highlighted that CBDC
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
Understanding the state of digital payments in sub-Saharan Africa. The Seamless Southern Africa conference took place in Cape Town, South Africa, from 11 to 13 March 2019. The conference offered a platform for discussions on an array of topics, including the digitisation of payments, cryptocurrencies and financial innovation, and the
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
Case study: Kenya The majority of mobile-money flows continue to be dominated by cash-in and cash-out (CICO) transactions. This has led to the increasing belief that widely distributed networks of agents are essential access points for consumers, especially in rural and remote regions, to facilitate CICO needs. It is accepted
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
Traditionally, actuaries find themselves poring over mortality tables and calculating complicated risks with limited data, particularly in emerging markets. With the advent of the fourth industrial revolution, this is changing. The world seems to be revolving around data. Data is making our lives more convenient. We have fridges that order
The DataHack4FI competition seeks to advance financial inclusion through data innovation. It does this by encouraging and upskilling young finance, tech and data enthusiasts in Africa to use data and data analytics to collectively solve business challenges and to make appropriate financial services more affordable and readily accessible to unserved
We’ve been exploring how financial service providers can translate new insights from behavioural science into the design and delivery of financial services These systematic reviews conducted in 2017 and 2018 sought to identify behavioural interventions that have been proven to influence the credit, saving, insurance or payment decisions of customers. We’ve
As we explore how behavioural science can narrow the gap between customer intention and customer action, we have started to look at examples from specific financial services. Two sectors identified as playing a role in improving the lives of the financially excluded are insurance and formal remittances. Behavioural interventions and
What can CBDC do for emerging markets: a case for mobile money Central banks have started to actively explore central bank digital currency (CBDC) – a new digital form of legal tender that mimics cash. Our initial note “The benefits and potential risks of digital fiat currencies” highlighted that CBDC
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
Understanding the state of digital payments in sub-Saharan Africa. The Seamless Southern Africa conference took place in Cape Town, South Africa, from 11 to 13 March 2019. The conference offered a platform for discussions on an array of topics, including the digitisation of payments, cryptocurrencies and financial innovation, and the
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
Case study: Kenya The majority of mobile-money flows continue to be dominated by cash-in and cash-out (CICO) transactions. This has led to the increasing belief that widely distributed networks of agents are essential access points for consumers, especially in rural and remote regions, to facilitate CICO needs. It is accepted
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
Traditionally, actuaries find themselves poring over mortality tables and calculating complicated risks with limited data, particularly in emerging markets. With the advent of the fourth industrial revolution, this is changing. The world seems to be revolving around data. Data is making our lives more convenient. We have fridges that order
