Technology and innovation is changing the nature of financial markets. Innovation can create opportunities, enhance efficiencies, increase competition, drive scale, and improve the reach and value of financial products and services to consumers. However, with innovation also comes risk.
Much attention is currently placed on the development of new technologies, business models and on creating the regulatory space for these models to encourage and facilitate innovation whilst protecting consumers to support both market development and consumer protection.
Our work explores the benefits and risks of technology and innovation across Africa and Latin America. We work to understand, map and support the various drivers for inclusive innovation, including the development of sustainable and welfare-enhancing products.
At the beginning of this year, we set out to understand what makes innovation ecosystems tick. We wanted to uncover the factors that might turn a city into an engine room for tech innovation and commercialisation, by using a systems mapping approach to make sense of Africa’s top innovation cities:
What enables tech innovation ecosystems to flourish? Innovations of all kinds contribute to greater economic growth, and tech innovations, in particular, can increase digital inclusion for individuals. But this doesn’t happen in a vacuum. For an innovation ecosystem to flourish, you need tech-savvy entrepreneurs, access to finance and a balanced
A qualitative case study on the level of youth digital skills in Kenya – Are Kenyans tech savvy? Known as “Silicon Savannah,” Kenya’s ICT sector has grown by an average of 10.8% annually since 2016 according to the World Bank. The sector is becoming a significant source of economic development
The Africa Fintech Network (AFN) and Cenfri are pleased to announce the signing of their new Memorandum of Understanding. This MoU underlines the shared interest of AFN and Cenfri in developing and strengthening fintech across the continent and describes the practical support that we will give each other. AFN is the continent-wide platform that
Findexable and Cenfri are excited to announce the signing of their new partnership agreement. This partnership is designed to contribute to an increasingly thriving fintech ecosystem in emerging markets, with a particular focus on Africa. The African continent is home to some of the world’s fastest-growing fintech hubs. Its supportive business ecosystems are having an effect: four
Many discussions around retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) today revolve around ambitious policy-focused use cases. Most recently, in the face of potential competition from a growing assortment of innovative private crypto-assets like Bitcoin and stablecoins such as Facebook’s Libra, central bankers around the world have been consumed with the
Africa is experiencing a wave of digital platform businesses emerging and few economic sectors are untouched by their influence. Relying predominantly on mobile-app-based technology, digital platforms have an impact on livelihoods through matching supply and demand of goods and services, opening up new channels for employment and distributing additional value-added
In our previous article, we reflected on the different ways that stakeholders can ensure the Cape Town tech ecosystem produces valuable innovation that is as inclusive as possible. While writing that article, the world changed. With many countries now applying varying degrees of social distancing, and with South Africa having
“The idea is that tensions and challenges in the city region also point to opportunities for innovation and that effectively harnessing the city’s diversity could provide Cape Town’s innovation ecosystem with a competitive advantage and distinguishing identity.” Last year, Cape Town made the top 30 global tech cities in the
Digital technologies are reshaping economic opportunities in Africa The spread of mobile phones has boosted access to digital financial services, information and networks. Increasing smartphone penetration has also created new income opportunities via digital platforms, social media and other apps where young Africans can connect, sell goods and services, or
At the beginning of this year, we set out to understand what makes innovation ecosystems tick. We wanted to uncover the factors that might turn a city into an engine room for tech innovation and commercialisation, by using a systems mapping approach to make sense of Africa’s top innovation cities:
What enables tech innovation ecosystems to flourish? Innovations of all kinds contribute to greater economic growth, and tech innovations, in particular, can increase digital inclusion for individuals. But this doesn’t happen in a vacuum. For an innovation ecosystem to flourish, you need tech-savvy entrepreneurs, access to finance and a balanced
A qualitative case study on the level of youth digital skills in Kenya – Are Kenyans tech savvy? Known as “Silicon Savannah,” Kenya’s ICT sector has grown by an average of 10.8% annually since 2016 according to the World Bank. The sector is becoming a significant source of economic development
The Africa Fintech Network (AFN) and Cenfri are pleased to announce the signing of their new Memorandum of Understanding. This MoU underlines the shared interest of AFN and Cenfri in developing and strengthening fintech across the continent and describes the practical support that we will give each other. AFN is the continent-wide platform that
Findexable and Cenfri are excited to announce the signing of their new partnership agreement. This partnership is designed to contribute to an increasingly thriving fintech ecosystem in emerging markets, with a particular focus on Africa. The African continent is home to some of the world’s fastest-growing fintech hubs. Its supportive business ecosystems are having an effect: four
Many discussions around retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) today revolve around ambitious policy-focused use cases. Most recently, in the face of potential competition from a growing assortment of innovative private crypto-assets like Bitcoin and stablecoins such as Facebook’s Libra, central bankers around the world have been consumed with the
Africa is experiencing a wave of digital platform businesses emerging and few economic sectors are untouched by their influence. Relying predominantly on mobile-app-based technology, digital platforms have an impact on livelihoods through matching supply and demand of goods and services, opening up new channels for employment and distributing additional value-added
In our previous article, we reflected on the different ways that stakeholders can ensure the Cape Town tech ecosystem produces valuable innovation that is as inclusive as possible. While writing that article, the world changed. With many countries now applying varying degrees of social distancing, and with South Africa having
“The idea is that tensions and challenges in the city region also point to opportunities for innovation and that effectively harnessing the city’s diversity could provide Cape Town’s innovation ecosystem with a competitive advantage and distinguishing identity.” Last year, Cape Town made the top 30 global tech cities in the
Digital technologies are reshaping economic opportunities in Africa The spread of mobile phones has boosted access to digital financial services, information and networks. Increasing smartphone penetration has also created new income opportunities via digital platforms, social media and other apps where young Africans can connect, sell goods and services, or
