This is a presentation by Paschal Anosike, Director, Centre for African Entrepreneurship and Leadership (CAEL), University of Wolverhampton, UK, at the 3rd Annual East Africa Finance Summit

1. Sustainability of Africa’s financial
services sector: Human capital &
Digitisation

2. Africa vs. World : Global account holders
vast but uneven

3. | Africa’s share
of global
account
holders Source: World Bank Financial Database 2017
0–1920–3940–6465–8990–100No
data
Mobile money has surprisingly spread across SSA
since 2014
2014 2017

4. Why Africa should look inwards

5. Global employment forecasts surprisingly positive

6. How does
Africa square
up with the
world?
_______
69% of adults
globally are account
holders have access
to financial services
72% of men have an
account compared to
65% of women
Globally, 7% gender
gap in account
holding
Gender gap in
account holders
higher at 9% in SSA
Adults in the 60%
richest economies
74% are account
holders
Whereas in the
poorest 40% only 61%
are account holders
91% of adults in high
income economies
made digital
payments in the last
year
44% of adults made
digital payments in
developing
economies
1.7billion adults lack
access to an account
majority of them
from SSA countries
Source: World Bank, 2017

8. Source: Global Financial Inclusion Database, World Bank
Bank account vs. Mobile Account Ownership in select SSA countries (2014)

9. Source: Financial Access Survey 2017, IMF & International Telecommunications Union
Figure 3: Value of Mobile Money Transactions vs. Mobile Phone Subscriptions in select SSA countries
Value of mobile money transactions vs. Mobile phone subscriptions in select SSA countries

10. Source:UNDP,2018
HDI is a composite index that integrates three basic dimensions of human development: a) life expectancy
at birth (which reflects the ability to lead a long and healthy life); b) mean years of schooling and
expected years of schooling (which reflects the ability to acquire knowledge) and c) gross national income
per capita, which reflects the ability to achieve a decent standard of living. The HDI has an upper limit of
1.0

11. Summary of future challenges and prospects:
tougher but better years ahead

12. Key
challenges
____
Human Capital
(Education & Skills) Infrastructure Financial inclusion
Expanding financial
access
Changing business
models based on big
data and agents
(e.g., FinTechs, Telcos)
Safeguard
financing
(e.g., e-KYC)
Financial sector
reforms
Research & Policy
Low level digital
literacy in
financial/insurance
services
consumption

13. Financial inclusion
_______
Microfinance institutions (MFIs) always seen as panacea to
remedy financial access poverty i.e., those financially excluded
(bottom of the pyramid), especially those without collateral,
most prominently women. Ranges from 23% in RSA to 78% in
Mozambique
MFIs
Mobility and utility of mobile accounts between urban and
rural Africa is uneven. In Kenya, Botswana relatively good.
Nigeria, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia have low handing
fruits
Mobile
financial
services
Financing for all, financing for growth or financing
for markets?
Agri-
business
sector
Supervising and monitoring Agent-Principal relationship can be
daunting due to lack of robust regulatory framework. Court systems
may be ineffective to resolve disputes. Alternative dispute
mechanism codified in the regulation may offer solutions
Agent-
principal
r/ship
Insufficiently accessible and acceptance by target population
notoriously low. Develop more inclusive/integrated products and
services. A third of all mobile money accounts are inactive – raising
the question as to whether inclusion should be defined as having a
point of access or services (e.g., savings, credits, insurance) that
customers actually use.
Distribution
outlets
Regulation should safeguard the interests and rights of the
poorest users of financial services/products. Biometrics can
resolve lack of unreliability of customer identity and ensure
digital identities are not abused. Digital footprints can be used
as source of credit referencing.
Safegaurding
financial
servicess

14. Thank you

15. Get in touch
Paschal Anosike (PhD)
CAEL| Training| Research| Policy
University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
T: +44 1902321770 | M: +44 7972139952 | E: CAEL@wlv.ac.uk
Director |Center for African Entrepreneurship and Leadership
University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom