FINTECH AFRICA
Africa: The future of FinTech Africa’s mushrooming FinTech enterprises hold the power to bring meaningful change to the continent, writes FinTech Africa’s senior correspondent, Ebrahim Moolla
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ome 330 million adults, or 60 percent of the African population, lack access to the most basic financial services. Yet, Africa has the world’s youngest population and leads the globe in terms of mobile penetration. According to KPMG, “global investment in FinTech companies totaled $19.1 billion in 2015, with $13.8 billion invested into VC-backed FinTech companies.”
“The sheer size of the unserved market in Africa means FinTech can make a bigger difference than elsewhere in the world.” F I N T E CH . N L | 5 9
Against this backdrop, FinTech players in Africa have the opportunity to bring lasting change to this historically underserved market and raise millions out of poverty by providing financial education, access to financial services and assisting entrepreneurs from marginalised communities who are unable to meet the stringent loan criteria set by traditional financial institutions. These firms are able to play a development role in terms of increasing financial inclusion,