Fintech & Sustainability

Opportunities for Fintech Development in Southern & Eastern Africa

With the rapid state of global technological advancements, opportunities are emerging, which can benefit indigent populations in low/middle income countries. Financial technologies (Fintech) can act as poverty reduction catalyst by empowering communities in need through increased saving, formalised businesses and greater access to microfinance.

The project “Banking on Africa – Opportunities for Fintech Development in Southern and Eastern Africa” is a research initiative that aims to investigate how fintech and other digital services can be applied to successfully implement eBanking and eCommerce in the Eastern and Southern African region. The project seeks to determine what enabling conditions are required to allow such technologies to gain traction and offer communities in need such benefits. Building on China’s success in using such technologies to combat poverty, the project will draw from that experience to benefit policy makers in Southern/Eastern Africa.

The „Banking on Africa“ project was developed and is to be carried out by the main project partner, Human Science Research Council (HSRC) – BRICS Research Center in South Africa; the Zhejiang University’s Academy of Internet Finance (AIF) and the payments company LianLian Pay of China. The project is one of four selected projects supported by the first round of the Emerging Market Sustainability Dialogues (EMSD) Challenge Fund. The aim of the Challenge Fund is to promote cross-regional projects with relevant actors from sustainability-driven policy, business, finance groups in order to best scale innovative ideas. The project kicked off in May 2018 and will run until May 2019.

 

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Supported by
EMDF | Emerging Markets Dialogue on Finance