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Technology Analysis & Strategic Management
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Can technology bridge the gap between rural
development and financial inclusions?
M. E. Agwu
To cite this article: M. E. Agwu (2020): Can technology bridge the gap between rural
development and financial inclusions?, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, DOI:
10.1080/09537325.2020.1795111
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09537325.2020.1795111
Published online: 20 Jul 2020.
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2. Can technology bridge the gap between rural development and
financial inclusions?
M. E. Agwu
Faculty of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Ajah, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
Poverty reduction and income inequality have remained major challenges
in all economies especially in developing countries. It is evident that digital
financial service, as a platform, enhances great opportunities to access
finances in various areas. Unfortunately, the markets in developing
economies are fragmented and the use of digital financial services has
not yet gained popularity. The often-cited barriers to mobile money
adoption in these economies include but not limited to illiteracy, limited
knowledge about mobile money and very low levels of trusts and above
all poor infrastructures. The high-level disparity between the rural and
urban dwellers is another very big issue based on their inability to
benefit from the services. And these financially excluded are those who
do not use any financial services or products to manage their finances. It
is on record that technology interventions assist financial institutions to
reduce costs and affords them increased customer reachability; however,
most of the rural dwellers are not on their radar. This paper sets out to
determine the extent to which the visible and ever increasing gap of
financial exclusions can be bridged with the application of technology.
Findings however revealed that most financially excluded individuals
and businesses find solace in the informal sectors due to the traditional
human touch involved. And the informal sector offers them the benefits
of deeper customer relationships as opposed to endless forms that need
to be filled in the formal financial institutions. The paper recommends a
rethink on the part of the financial institution managers and the
inclusion of some aspects of the activities of the informal sector in order
to woo the unbanked and the under-banked.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Received 6 September 2019
Revised 5 March 2020
Accepted 3 July 2020
KEYWORDS
Technology; financial
inclusion; rural areas; under-
banked and unbanked
It is estimated that more than two billion people across the globe lack access to formal financial ser-
vices. These include zero access to financial services such as credits, savings, insurance, money trans-
fers, etc. In developing economies, it is often very challenging for the unlettered to open a bank
account due to stringent regulations and financial institutional requirements (World Bank 2017). It
is even more difficult for those in the rural areas, which warehouses the bulk of a nation’s population,
as they face more barriers than urban dwellers to access financial services, and these barriers cuts
across technology, policy, legal, education and cultural issues. Access to finance, however, has
great potential to act as the catalyst for access to other productive resources for national economic
growth as well as the achievement of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Mobile tech-
nologies, especially in the developed economies have served as a viable platform in facilitating access
to financial services which in turn has brought about sound economic developments in these devel-
oped economies; this has however, not been the case in the developing economies. Accordingly, the
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
CONTACT M. E. Agwu edwinagwu@yahoo.co.uk Faculty of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Lagos Business School, Pan-
Atlantic University, Km 22, Lekki-Epe Expressway, Ajah, Lagos State, Nigeria
TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS & STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
https://doi.org/10.1080/09537325.2020.1795111

3. use of financial inclusion to empower businesses through the application of mobile technologies can
have positive outcomes for poverty and hunger reduction on a global scale. Financial inclusion is
viewed by some policymakers and practitioners as a panacea to rural development within the devel-
oping economy contexts. This has led to the development of various policies and projects by govern-
ments of different countries in order to facilitate inclusive growth within these economies (Ajide
2013; Bansal 2014). The influxes of technology into the rural regions have significantly increased
this drive and belief that it is a well thought out project with a profitable future. Unfortunately,
most rural communities, especially in developing economies, are still financially excluded, and are
faced with a greater level of financial constraints. In a bid to understand how to ameliorate these
growing and ever-present challenges, researchers, practitioners and policymakers within and
outside the government circles have called for studies that are aimed at finding moderating
factors to improve on financial inclusivity for rural development that will usher in diverse economic
developments. To have an efficient financial system, it is imperative that the underserved and under-
privileged population in the rural part of the countries are included during financial allocation and
activities (Asongu 2013; Kasseeah, Ancharaz, and Tandrayen-Ragoobur 2013). For instance, activities
by financial institutions such as commercial banks are tailored towards ensuring that rural dwellers
are included in the organised financial system, but the rural development lags behind when com-
pared with their urban counterparts during financial inclusivity (Potnis 2015). One major explanation
attributed to the exclusion of rural areas during financial inclusion is the lack of financial literacy,
which is associated positively with technological advancement obtainable in the urban regions
(Rakhi and Mala 2013). Technology, according to Agwu (2018) act as a pathway through which
financial services are accessed in a formal setting, hence, to have an effective and efficient
financial inclusion framework, it is expedient to test whether technology can act as a tool for
financial inclusivity for rural dwellers in order to bridge the ever glaring gap. This study adopts the
term technology as a substitute term for any devices that can help rural dwellers carry out
financial transactions, which is aimed at ensuring that the activities the technologies are used for
are in line with liberating the rural users from financial hardships. Evidence available on rural
financial inclusivity has shown that there is significant progress, but the larger population of rural
dwellers are still excluded from financial activities (Mbutor and Ibrahim 2013) and a high percentage
of the Nigerian rural populations are unbanked and under-banked (World Bank report 2006).
Although previous studies (Jalilian and Kirkpatrick 2001; Chitokwindo, Mago, and Hofisi 2014;
Nwankwo and Nwankwo 2014) investigated how financial inclusion is related to national develop-
ment, this study however, takes a different view to find answers to whether technology with its
attendant costs and maintenance can actually bridge the gap between rural development and
financial inclusion in developing economies. In addition, it will further explore whether individual-
level or institutional-level factors singularly or collectively lead to non-inclusivity among the rural
dwellers; and also determine the economic impacts of these on the rural dwellers and the developing
economies. This study contributes to literature by focusing on how technology can be used to
heighten financial inclusivity for rural development in developing economies.
Literature review
Financial inclusion
Financial inclusion has garnered increased stride among academics and practitioners, and it has been
cited as a significant factor for inclusive growth and rural development (Shiimi 2010; Agwu and Carter
2014). This paper adopts the definition of financial inclusion postulated by Muzigiti and Schmidt
(2013) and World Bank (2017), as a delivery of useful and affordable financial services at affordable
costs to disadvantaged and low-income people in a sustainable way. This definition encapsulates the
fact that financial inclusion is tailored towards the population at the bottom of the pyramid which
may or may not have access to financial activities due to constraints within or beyond their
2 M. E. AGWU

4. control. Potnis (2015) stressed that financial inclusions have been found to have significant positive
influence on households, firms and countries, and there have been indications that income of poor
and underprivileged households has increased during financial inclusivity, in developed economies.
This gives rise to more access to credits which in turn drives new investments by local investors for
inclusive growth (Klapper, Laeven, and Rajan 2004; DFID 2004). The growth of various local invest-
ments resulting from financial inclusivity contributes extensively to national economic generation
and integration. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) activities for instance are well enhanced as
new firms tend to spring up as a result of being included in financial activities, therefore reducing
poverty and paving way for rural developments (Morduch and Haley 2002; Rakhi and Mala 2013).
On the cross-country level analysis, World Bank (2012; 2017) reported that there are differences
between countries as regards their financial activities. Developed economies have a higher level of
financial inclusivity programmes that ensures that every citizens have access to financial services
when compared with their counterpart from the developing or emerging economies. SantaMaria
(2016) indicated that those with low or average income in developed nations like the United
Kingdom, USA, Canada, etc., have access to financial services, which is the reverse in with those in
developing economies where financial services are limited to only a few in the urban centers and
city dwellers, and the larger poor population are highly restricted due to deficiency in infrastructure,
language barriers, educational deficiencies and poor economic conditions. Access to financial activi-
ties among rural and poor households in different countries has been put to as low as 13% by World
Bank report (2006; 2017), and about 3.5 billion of the world’s population are without access to
financial services (Chaia et al. 2009; World Bank 2017). This implies that poor households, (Asongu
2013) are susceptible to high loans of about 100% interest rate in their rural communities. Since
there are no formal banking systems in rural areas, people are constrained to borrow from money
lenders with very high interest rates and this helps to heighten poverty rates. Financial Access
(2010) survey shows that out of 142 countries that participated in their study, 60% of the participating
country experience lower real per Capita income resulting from global financial crisis in 2008–2009
(CGPA 2010). Due to exclusivity of the rural areas from development measures, different countries of
the world are aiming at developing strategies to encourage financial inclusion in their financial
systems (World Bank, 2008; 2017). Asongu (2013) argued that financial inclusion in developed econ-
omies has been on a significant increase with about 3% reported to be financially excluded when
compared to developing economy like Nigeria with about 88% reported to be financially excluded.
According to (World Bank 2017), the United States of America (USA) developed different initiatives
programmes to engender financial inclusion; for example, the enactment of the civil right laws,
the act that prohibits bank from discriminating against low and moderate income earners, as well
as encourage low-income earners to have access to financial credits. In the United Kingdom (UK),
the government ensures that virtually all citizens have access to financial services throughout the
country. In addition, the programmes are not limited simply to access free financial advisory services
but also setting up of financial inclusion task force to ensure that the financial inclusion funds are well
utilised. The French government ensures that holding a financial account is a legal right of every
citizen of their country. These varying measures encourage a better financial inclusion strategy
that encourages financial inclusivity to every citizen, and these have given rise to high financial
inclusion in most of the developed nations. However, there are gaps in financial inclusion activities
among emerging economies, such as Nigeria, Ghana, China, Brazil, etc. (Chaia et al. 2009).
Overview of Kenyan experience
Findings from empirical studies revealed that there have been various forms of savings among
families with low incomes in developing economies. Dupas and Robinson (2013) in revealing their
means of savings; reported that poor families engage in precautionary and commitment savings
and therefore are excluded from the mainstream financial services. However, the adoption of tech-
nology and usage has been further enhanced beyond simply making calls and sending messages as
TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS & STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT 3

5. reported in the study of Shem, Misati, and Njoroge (2012), Honohan and King (2012), Jack and Suri
(2011). Results from Jack and Suri (2011) study in Kenya on how transaction cost of mobile money
impacts risk-sharing indicated that those who adopt technology were likely to absorb negative
income shocks (e.g. business failures, job losses and illnesses) when compared to their counterparts
that did not adopt technology (e.g. M-PESA) who fell at an average of 7% when there are shocks. Fin-
scope Survey dataset was analysed by Honohan and King (2012), their findings revealed that sophis-
tication of individuality is a key determinant of whether they will be banked or not. They finally
submitted that income and education also affects perception of trust which also leads to individual
acceptance of being banked or not. Cultural factors such as language were found to act as either a
facilitator or disruptor to technology adoption and usage which are used mainly for financial inclu-
sivity. Takieddine and Sun (2015) reported that language plays the role of a barrier when technology
is introduced to people who do not read nor write other languages aside from their native languages.
This inhibits the chances of such population being included financially, especially due to their
location (rural), which most experts may not want to visit. The findings of Mbithi and Weil (2011)
was in consonance with the report of Jack and Suri (2011) that technology-enhanced financial
inclusion and rural development, in that participants from their balanced panel of 190 sub-locations
in Kenya had improved outcomes and are likely to use formal savings mechanism when compared
with those who did not adopt technology (Figure 1).
Financial inclusion, technology and rural development model
Theoretical underpinning
Technological Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by Davis (1989) was adopted in this study to
evaluate how technology can influence financial inclusion for rural development. The TAM model
was adapted from the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975) that is aimed at
evaluating the correlation between individual attitude, behavioural intentions and technological
usage (Perceived Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness). TAM focuses essentially on technological
usage and Perceived ease of use (PEOU) and Perceived Usefulness (PU) which are considered its indis-
pensable variables. Various studies have considered TAM as a significant predictor of technological
acceptance (Purnomo and Lee 2013; Park, Kim, and Kim 2014) and the statistical validation shows
that TAM is a key indicator of technological adoption (Purnomo and Lee 2013). Nonetheless, there
has been inconsistency in the results of studies that have adopted TAM’s constructs in their investi-
gations such as Brown (2002); Rose and Fogarty (2006); Sabrina (2007); JebaKumar and Govindaraju
(2009). Most of these studies though were carried out in developed nations such as USA, Germany
and the United Kingdom, these studies hinged on the fact that there was a need for exploration
Figure 1. Financial inclusion, technology and rural development model Source: Author.
4 M. E. AGWU

6. of TAM as construct from the developing economy context (Sabrina 2007), this is in a bid to find the
significant relationship of TAM in congruence with previous studies (JebaKumar and Govindaraju
2009). Therefore, this paper fills the vacuum by investigating the relationship between technology
(using TAM), financial inclusion and rural development.
Financial inclusion in Nigeria
The Nigerian economy is still a predominantly a cash-based economy despite the introduction of
financial inclusion by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2013, which implied that most of the
cash available within the nation’s economy is not revolving within the formal banking system
(Kama and Adigun 2013; Taiwo and Agwu 2016). There has been an increase in the number of
banked adults over the years, especially after the banking consolidation in 2006 in which deposit
base was increased from 2 billion to 25 billion Nigerian nairas; with each of the 774 local governments
in Nigeria having at least one branch of a bank to cater for the financial needs of the rural dwellers
(CBN 2017). Mostly, the financial needs of these rural populations have always been money savings
and transfers which are meant for payment of goods and services, especially on designated market
days. According to CBN (2017), about 41.6% (40.9 million) of Nigerian adults are financially served and
69.5% (96.4 million) are financially excluded. The CBN data indicated that Nigeria is ranked low in
financial inclusion measures when compared to their counterparts in other emerging economies
(Isern et al. 2009; Ousmane, Ismaeel, and Aliyu 2017). The country’s population is on the increase
of about 200 million, (Nwankwo and Nwankwo 2014), and her rural population has been ranked
as one of the financially excluded among others. On the geo-political differences on financial exclu-
sion, Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA 2017) – see Tables 1–4 – categorised factors
that militate against financial inclusion under five categories namely, income, physical access,
financial literacy, affordability and eligibility. This paper therefore concurs with the above assertion
and posits that within the Nigeria context, financial illiteracy; which may be due to misunderstanding
of financial concepts in terms of language proficiency, and physical access are major factors nega-
tively affecting financial inclusion.
Infrastructural developments in rural areas
Increase in technological usage, such as mobile phones, is reported virtually in every nooks and cran-
nies of Africa (Asongu and De Moor 2015), and it has been found to yield higher rate of considerable
advantages among rural dwellers who now use it more as a means of financial transaction especially
Table 1. Showing the money lending rate in Nigeria across five years.
Source: CBN (Money Market Indicators in Percentage).
TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS & STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT 5

7. in the SADC regions of Southern and Eastern Africa (Jack and Suri 2011; Asongu 2013). The three
strands of technology and inclusive growth proposed by Asongu and Nwachukwu (2018) is
adopted as an explanation for the infrastructural developments in rural areas considered in this
study. For the purpose of this study, only the second strand will be used in relation to the constructs
investigated in this study. The second aspect of financial inclusivity proposed by Asongu and Nwa-
chukwu (2018) focused on bridging the rural-urban gap through three main currents: support of
SMEs and cooperatives, production and distribution of food in rural communities on the other,
and mitigation of demand and supply-side constraints in agricultural productivity and concerns
about unemployment. Mobile technology is used in this strand to ensure considerable financially sus-
tainable activities (Asongu and De Moor 2015) which has led to a reduction in the challenges fre-
quently faced during demand and supply chains of rural farmers (Aker and Fafchamps 2010;
Taiwo and Agwu 2016). The implications of this financial inclusivity driven by technology in rural
areas are visible in the study of Warren (2007). Warren’s study concluded that rural communities
are confronted with more challenges than their urban counterparts, and technology (mobile
phones) is visible as a mitigating factor to ameliorate these challenges. Technology has provided sig-
nificant opportunities for inclusive growth among rural dwellers in India (Singh 2012) and it has
created far more financial inclusivity (Chan and Jia 2011; Mishra and Bisht 2013). This study therefore
proposes that, although financial inclusivity is enhanced by technology (mobile phones), there may
be challenges arising from language barriers in the technology usage by these rural dwellers that may
not be able to use the mobile technology for specific activities due to illiteracy and inability to read
the instructions in the technology being used. It can therefore be deduced that the financial
Table 2. Financial access cross-country comparisons (2016).
Country Banked (%) Formal other (%) Informal only (%) Financially excluded (%)
Madagascar 12.0 17.0 30.0 41.0
Kenya 42.3 33.0 7.2 17.4
Nigeria 38.3 10.3 9.8 41.6
Ghana 36.0 22.0 17.0 25.0
Rwanda 26.0 42.0 21.0 11.0
Zambia 21.4 16.8 21.1 40.7
South Africa 77.0 6.0 3.0 13.0
Togo 18.0 27.0 15.0 40.0
Source: EfinA (2017).
Table 3. Levels of technology adoption in rural area (Nigeria).
Region Total Adult Population (million) Banked (%) Formal other (%) Informal only (%) Financially excluded (%)
Urban 36.7 60.9 10.4 4.3 24.4
Rural 59.7 24.4 10.3 13.1 52.2
Total 96.4 38.3 10.3 9.8 41.6
Source: EFinA (2017).
Table 4. Financial access performance across Geo-Political Zones (2014/2016).
Zone
Total Population
(millions)
Formally included
(%) Informal only(%)
Financial Excluded
(%)
2014 2016 2014 2016 2014 2016 2014 2016
North West 21 22 35 24 9 6 56 70
North central 14 14 49 48 19 14 33 39
North East 11 12 26 25 5 14 68 62
South South 15 16 52 55 15 14 33 31
South West 20 21 63 78 13 4 25 18
South East 12 12 63 59 11 13 25 28
Source: EFinA (2017).
6 M. E. AGWU

8. inclusiveness of the rural dwellers will surely be compromised due to so many other factors such as
education, language, costs and maintenance as well as infrastructural deficits within these areas.
However, these attendant issues can be ameliorated with the pull and push from government and
cooperate firms’ benevolences.
Technology, financial inclusion and rural developments
Ghosh (2016) study on how technology improved development in rural Middle East and North
African countries found that there was a significant increase of 1% in the household incomes; the
conclusion drawn from their study was that financial inclusion improves the standard of living and
contributes to the economic growth of rural population. Using technology was found to be signifi-
cantly related to higher profits among rural farmers in Kenya (Kikulwe, Fischer, and Qaim 2014).
It is also associated with women empowerment (Ojo, Janowski, and Awotwi 2012), promotion of
financial inclusion (Singh 2012; Asongu 2013). Technology influence on inclusive growth among
rural population has been found to be positively associated in both developed and developing
economy. To this end, this paper therefore proposes that technology can help drive financial
inclusion in Nigeria and other developing economies which in turn will aid inclusive growths
among rural populations. It is also of the belief that for these to be nursed and nurtured, the basic
infrastructures for its actualization must be in place in order to make its operations seamless.
Methodology
This paper relied heavily on secondary sources of information. This method was adopted because
Hopf (1944), cited in Gill and Johnson (1991), observed that secondary methods were beneficial
because the historical points of view will enhance the understanding and extend the horizon of
understandings. Hopf‟s (1944) statement was based on the belief that the changing events and
developments of the past provided understanding of the dynamics of ordered human enterprise
(Yin 2003). This type of methodology was regarded as one that does not fit into either quantitative
or qualitative research method. It utilises elements of both within the same study. This type of meth-
odology can also employ multiple variables for analysis (if needed); on the other hand, it is unlike
other methodology in that it requires only one variable, and in the present study the variable is
financial inclusion. The four main purposes of desk-top research are: to describe, to explain, to vali-
date findings and to infer from all the findings having been validated to be true (Yin 2003). Therefore,
secondary data were adopted in this study because the study focused on using a specific context as a
case for exploring the extent to which technology can be used to heighten financial inclusion in rural
areas in developing economies. Data were obtained from CBN, World Bank (WB), European Union
(EU), published articles and various other sources for detailed reviews and analysis. Country level
of financial inclusion was obtained from the data source, and country-level comparisons were deter-
mined in other to establish the level of differences in financial inclusions. The use of technology as a
tool for financial inclusivity data was derived from CBN and Enhancing Financial Inclusion and Access
(EfinA) – these were reviewed and analysed in detail. A cross-country level comparative analysis
between some selected middle-income countries was also carried out.
Enhancing financial inclusion in Nigeria as a developing economy
Financial inclusion offers various opportunities to improve financial services which include the
inclusion of the rural population who has been reported to have been excluded financially. Although
the opportunities abound if well tapped into, the major factor of interest is on curbing the likely chal-
lenges that may mitigate the factors or policies set in place to enhance financial inclusions. This study
has identified that technology can enhance the inclusivity of the financially excluded rural popu-
lations, but also proposed that various barriers resulting from language, infrastructures and
TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS & STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT 7

9. educational readiness (Honohan and King 2012) need to be improved by the government and private
sectors.
Conclusion and recommendations
Conclusively, this paper explored the possibility of using technology as a veritable tool to bridge the
glaring gaps between rural dwellers and financial institutions. The aim is to enable the rural dwellers
to be financially included in national economic development. The use of secondary data were
justified as it laid the solid foundation and created the platform for the innovative findings which
can be effective if properly implemented. Findings revealed that individual and institutional-level
factors collectively played strong roles leading to non-inclusivity of the rural dwellers. At the individ-
ual-level lies the powerful word-of-mouth syndrome occasioned by security concerns associated with
online banking, hackings and other forms of negative stories, thereby making most rural dwellers
keep their hard-earned cash at home. But worthy of note are the institutional level factors which
are based on banks insisting on collaterals and loads of paper works. The inability of these rural dwell-
ers to provide these materials dissuades most financial institutions from dealing with them. Despite
various government interventions to these effects, the financial institutions see the rural dwellers
with their small savings as cumbersome. Hence, the individual-level and institutional-level factors col-
lectively play strong roles in financial exclusion of rural dwellers. Findings further revealed that while
the cost of maintenance of these technologies may be an issue, financial institutions can use the tech-
nology in place as a platform to advance their inclusion strategies. Findings also revealed that within
the rural areas are those that are unbanked and under-banked. The unbanked groups have never had
any form of association with financial institutions, yet they use different forms of technologies such as
mobile phones, television, radio, etc. And the under-banked are the groups that have had some form
of association, but they are excluded due to lack of collaterals required and very poor relationship
marketing from these institutions. It is however, believed that for the rural areas and their dwellers
to develop, both groups need to be encouraged to get on the financial ladder. Findings further
revealed that more than 50% of the money in circulation is not in the bank vaults, this corroborates
the findings of Asongu and Nwachukwu (2018). The cash in circulation can be reduced by creating
the necessary awareness for the rural dwellers to embrace banking through technology. The
implementation of the recommendations below, which are based on the findings, will assist in ensur-
ing substantial financial inclusions of the rural dwellers, and by extension will lead to national econ-
omic development. Therefore, there are needs for more policies aimed at enhancing technological
education in rural areas to be enacted. In tandem with the study of Ojo, Janowski, and Awotwi
(2012), which indicated a negative correlation between rural development and mobile banking,
efforts aimed at increasing the technological knowledge of the rural population needs to be
improved. This is because most educational institutions in the rural areas are not in equilibrium
with their counterparts in the urban centers, in terms of learnings and teachings. Most populations
in the rural areas may not see the need to engage in educational pursuit, hence, policies centered on
financial inclusivity should put into context of both cultural and specifics. And the need for edu-
cational (technological) knowledge of the people the policies are targeted at; should be properly
developed and pursued. The language diversity in Nigeria and other developing economies also
brings into question the potentiality of having a significant number of the population being finan-
cially included as proposed by various financial agencies and the government. Drawing from the
works of Takieddine and Sun (2015) who opined that language act as a barrier to technology
usage, it is important to put into context the language diversity of the rural parts of the country
into consideration before trying to develop programmes that will aid their financial inclusivity. For
instance, the basic technological (phone) usage can be taught to pupils and students in rural
schools, where such knowledge is subsequently passed to their parents and guardians who may
not have any technological idea or know-how. Agwu and Murray (2014) stressed that technology
as a financial tool allows for the collection, transfer and transformation of data or information from
8 M. E. AGWU

10. one end to the other, and it can be a significant factor to enhance sustainable and inclusive economic
structure for rural development. Also, the mobile app of banks should be flexibly developed for those
who may want to use their smartphone for financial transactions. There is also a need for banks to
include at least the three major languages in Nigeria on their websites. The implication of this
study assumes a significant increase in the financial inclusivity of rural dwellers in Nigeria if the
factors of language and educational readiness of the bottom of the pyramid are put into consider-
ation. Therefore, there is a need for the government and financial institutions (e.g. banks) to consider
sponsoring researches, policies and programmes aimed at heightening the technological literacy in
the rural regions.
Limitations and area for further study
This study relied solely on secondary data therefore; further studies may adopt and utilise primary
data, longitudinal survey and qualitative data in other to test the inference of this study or to
propose new ways of enhancing or reaching 100% financial inclusivity for rural dwellers in develop-
ing economies.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes on contributor
Edwin Agwu is presently an Associate Professor of Strategic Management at Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic Univer-
sity, Lagos State, Nigeria. He is an astute banker, active/versatile researcher, a seasoned professional lecturer, manage-
ment/training consultant and accomplished education/business manager; with 12 years banking and finance experience
and more than 15 years of lecturing experiences in various academic institutions in the United Kingdom and Nigeria. Dr
Agwu attended the Federal College of Education, Okene, where he bagged the Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE)
specialising in Science/Education. He attended the University of Lagos for his BSc (Hons) also in Science/Education. He
also attended Adekunle Ajasin University, Ondo State, where he bagged MBA in General Management. He proceeded to
the United Kingdom where he attended Staffordshire University, West Midlands and bagged MSc in International Stra-
tegic Management and PhD in Strategic Management from University of Wales, Cardiff, also in the United Kingdom. Dr
Agwu is an effective communicator with excellent planning, organisational and negotiation skills as well as the ability to
lead, reach consensus, establish goals and attain results. Academically qualified and professionally/commercially experi-
enced, with several years of lecturing experience cutting across all ages/levels – postgraduates, undergraduates, diplo-
mas and certificate levels in Universities and Colleges in the United Kingdom and Nigeria. And a cross-border experience
in a broad range of business and management training, curriculum development, school management and adminis-
tration and proven skills in marketing and management of change; with the ability to adapt to multicultural settings
with strong interpersonal skills and ability to handle students and clients from different nationalities. He was formerly
the Director of Quality Assurance and Academic Standards at Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State. He is an active
researcher with more than 60 publications and numerous citations in several International Journals and conference pro-
ceedings. Dr Agwu has also published extensively on very diverse research topics related to the domains of business
strategy, sustainability, marketing, HR, management, SMEs as social agents in the society and adoption of technologies
in financial services industries.
ORCID
M. E. Agwu http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3384-4088
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