TALKING

The concept of digital inclusion is here to stay . We won ’ t wake up tomorrow and suddenly find that everyone has an e-wallet and is transacting digitally on every platform . However , we are going to continue seeing a secular shift from informal to formal , from entirely cash-based segments of the economy towards the uptake of various forms of digitisation . There ’ s an ever greater need to bridge the cash and digital divide and the platforms that will succeed are the ones that will enable people to go on this journey over the bridge between the two paradigms .

At the outset , the biggest challenges to financial inclusion remain access , trust and education . These aren ’ t standalone themes . Rather , they are interwoven strands of a very powerful rope that can be used to construct the bridge over the digital divide .

All new digital initiatives and start-ups that fail in Africa have missed one or more of those strands – their ropes were simply not strong enough .

Access – do people have access to the types of phones and devices that they need to use your service ?

Education – do your prospective customers appreciate and understand the how and why of an e-wallet and how it fits with the products and services they need ?

Trust – There ’ s no inherent trust in any segment that has never handled a technology before ; they must be shown and be allowed to feel the actual benefits of the solution , and then they ’ ll trust you to take them on a journey .

Once the three strands are solid , it allows customers to take control of their own destiny and that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy . and take off into their own destinies . This may sound wishful , but consider this : A few short years ago , 70 % of Mukuru ’ s network trade was cash-to-cash , meaning cash was sent and the user went and extracted that cash on the other side – traditional remittance , as it were . Today , that ’ s been turned around – only 49 % of the trade on our platform is cash-to-cash , yet the total number of customers has grown in leaps and bounds . This powerful metric suggests that if a FinTech gets all the elements right and makes small and incremental changes that customers trust and feel comfortable using , then the saying “ cash is king ” is well and truly on its last legs .

While FinTech is continually evolving , there are a few prominent themes that have underpinned its immense growth and success over the past few years , and which will remain important in 2022 .

Remittances

Remittances remain the lifeblood for many Africans who have left their homes to work in other regions . They are an important source of income , and even funding . Remittances provide a living , an education and even the means to start up micro-enterprises . FinTechs that make remittances easy and convenient , meaning that the service is found where and when they need it , will continue to make strong inroads . Platforms that integrate various digital services which allow the users of the remittance service to build increasingly sophisticated financial habits , will lead the pack .

Dual-sided networks

Andy Jury , CEO , Mukuru

However , it ’ s important for FinTechs to be brave enough to take baby steps . FinTechs need to make small changes and add incremental developments that trigger large secular changes over time . The ingenuity of the human spirit inevitably means that as people are given a runway , they figure out how to build planes

Dual-sided networks are going to continue gaining prominence . Perhaps the best way to describe a dual-sided network effect in the context of FinTech is by way of example . Imagine a FinTech remittance platform such as Mukuru having more than 10 million customers , half of whom have used the platform in

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