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:
Making Access to Financial Services Possible or MAP (in partnership with UNCDF and FinMark Trust)
insight2impact or i2i (in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Mastercard Foundation)
Risk, Remittances and Integrity or RRI (with FSD Africa)
Remittance Access Initiative (with IFAD’s Financing Facility for Remittances)
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.
Whereas financial inclusion has seen a steady increase over the past few years, this positive trend has not necessarily taken women along. A gender gap in financial access and usage persists, and has not decreased over the years. Our efforts at understanding and closing the gender gap are hampered by
Mary is the owner of a small business in Blantyre, Malawi, and the main breadwinner for her family. To support her family in the event that something happens to her, she has a funeral policy that she contributes to monthly in cash at the local insurance branch. The process is
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are the lifeblood of most economies globally. They are recognised as one of the primary engines for growth and employment, making up at least 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide. Policy-makers and donors are increasingly pushing MSME development, and global
For regulators, the dual implications of innovation make it a critically important but challenging topic to address. Regulators with a mandate to encourage market development and sectoral growth are obliged to encourage innovative providers and products that help to drive this market development and enhance consumer value. However, regulators are
Ridwaan Boda and Era Gunning of ENSafrica answer questions about data privacy, data sharing and what related regulations mean for financial service providers in Africa. Do you think it is likely that the commencement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union (EU) will: Result in any African countries
From 2009 to 2015 the proportion of adults, financially excluded from any financial service, decreased from 63% to 41% in Zambia, which exceeded the Zambian Government‘s national target of 50%. More than 14% of these adults now use mobile money services, whilst the largest growth has been in the use
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play a key role in economic development, but they face challenges in accessing finance. In Uganda alone (as in most other sub-Saharan African countries), MSMEs account for approximately 90% of private-sector production, over 80% of manufactured output and 18% of GDP contribution (National Small Business Survey of Uganda, 2015; Ministry of Trade,
Johan Bosini, Quona Capital Venture Partner (Cape Town) shares his excitement about fintech developments and the associated data revolution in Africa. Which sources of data and analytics methods hold the most promise in extending financial services to the underserved in Africa? I think there are two broad opportunities – one
A better way to measure financial inclusion – see why we believe financial needs and usage matter. insight2impact (i2ifacility) was funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with Mastercard Foundation. The programme was established and driven by Cenfri and Finmark Trust.
The five-year RRI programme is a partnership between FSD Africa and Cenfri. Its aim is to improve welfare and boost investment growth in sub-Saharan Africa. To achieve this, it works to strengthen the integrity and risk management role of the financial sector and to facilitate remittance flows within and into
