According to African Development Bank Director General for East Africa Nnenna Nwabufo, the continent's digital economy will be driven by the continent's young, hence it is important to invest in their skill development.
On July 19, she stated that young people are aspirational, innovative, and ready for change when speaking at the 9th World Financial Innovation Series in Nairobi, Kenya. Young people in Africa are the biggest users of ICTs and digital solutions.
According to recent data, 60 percent of Africans are under the age of 25. In terms of creativity, entrepreneurship, and the development of jobs and income, "we predict a future that will be considerably different from today," Nwabufo stated. Around 1,500 technology and business leaders from banks, insurance companies, and microfinance organisations attended the two-day conference to debate how to speed up financial innovation for a digital and future Africa.
Nwabufo urged an expansion of startup investments throughout the continent in order to support the development of tech entrepreneurs and improve financial inclusion. She observed that there were now much more tech centres, with the majority of them concentrated in South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Ghana.
These facilities give business owners from all industries a place to develop and incorporate digital ideas into established industries, she added.
She referenced Kenya's M-Pesa as an example of how its services promote financial inclusion in Africa. M-Pesa is a mobile phone-based money transfer and financial service provider that serves almost 30 million disadvantaged people across 10 countries. Others include Hello Tractor in Nigeria, which enables farmers to rent tractor services at reasonable prices, Airtel money in East Africa, Orange money in West Africa, and AgroCenta in Ghana, which is assisting smallholder farmers in Ghana to access markets and funding using mobile apps.
Technology adoption has advanced quickly, especially in the first two years of the Covid-19 outbreak, according to Moses Okundi, Chief Information Officer of ABSA Bank in Kenya. However, Okundi noted that in preparation for next pandemics, tech tactics must be modified to incorporate "the new wave."
Participants emphasised the importance of establishing relationships in promoting inclusivity. "Partnerships result in innovative solutions that can tackle many of the difficulties facing the continent, generating technology that may alter people's lives," said Kiiru Muhoya, CEO of Fingo Africa, a Kenyan fintech that offers young people digital banking services. Strategic alliances, he continued, open up a wealth of digital opportunities and link marginalised populations to vital services.
The African Development Bank assists its member nations in creating national plans to expand the markets for digital financial services. The Bank is also working with decision-makers to collect data on market prospects for digital financial services and investment funds that concentrate on mobile solutions.
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