STORY HIGHLIGHTS A new World Bank diagnostic provides a snapshot of the state of Nigeria’s digital transformation, and provides recommendations for future growth The report notes that while Nigeria has made some progress, strategic investments and innovations are needed to reach its full digital potential The diagnostic is part of the World Bank Group’s Digital Economy for Africa Initiative in support of the African Union’s digital transformation agenda ABUJA, November […]

Organized by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the Singapore FinTech Festival and the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SFF x SWITCH) took place from 11-15 November 2019, which attracted more than 60,000 participants from 140 countries. The event also saw a record 569 speakers, close to 1,000 exhibitors and 41 international pavilions. The event featured the FinTech Conference with a new AI in Finance Summit and Global Investors’ Summit. There were also traditional […]

By Philippe Le Houérou, chief executive of International Finance Corporation (IFC) Revolution is possible in the next few years to develop products and business models that can replace privately operated back-up generators at scale You can hear—and smell—them everywhere you go in the world’s poorest countries. Diesel-burning back-up generators wail through neighborhoods at all hours, cough noxious pollutants into the air, and account for a disproportionate amount of consumers’ spending […]

By Gabriel Davel A loan from an agrifinance institution enabled this coffee co-op in Uganda to train its employees in business administration, logistics and computer skills. Photo: Wim Opmeer, 2018 CGAP Photo Contest With all the enthusiasm for fintech and the digital revolution, it’s easy to forget the importance of traditional credit market infrastructure, including “old-fashioned” institutions such as credit bureaus, collateral and company registration systems and the legal systems that enable […]

By Laura Caron Background & Opportunities for Digital Finance in Agriculture. Many rural and peri-urban smallholder farmers and agribusinesses struggle to access financial institutions, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Global Findex 2017, only 23% of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa were able to save in order to start, operate, or expand a farm or other business, and only 30% of adults living in rural areas had any account at […]

  By David Porteous BFA is about to conclude our FIBR (Financial Inclusion on Business Runways) Project, an innovative R&D initiative which sought to demonstrate how smartphones can accelerate and deepen financial inclusion in developing countries. When we launched the FIBR Project in 2015, we outlined a set of assumptions about how increased connectivity and digitization would create “business runways for financial inclusion” for small businesses in Africa, helping to accelerate […]