AfricaNenda will today launch a report that provides a landscape view of the state of instant payments across Africa at the MWC Africa 2022 opening today in Kigalia, Rwanda.
GSMA, organsiers of MWC Africa 2022 says the event will bring together a variety of industry sectors, business leaders and policymakers with the region’s mobile ecosystem over a packed three-day agenda for the first in-person edition of MWC Africa, holding October 25-27, 2022.
AfricaNenda says it partnered with the World Bank and UNECA on ‘The State of Instant and Inclusive Payment Systems in Africa’ (SIIPS – Africa) report that will provide more details on these insights and highlight the landscape of IPSs in Africa and opportunities to make them more inclusive.
The upcoming report features several emerging trends at the scheme, market and demand levels ‘likely to shape the African IIPS ecosystem over the coming years.’
Instant payment systems, AfricaNenda says, ‘have overgrown the continent, but how inclusive are they? To what extent do they enable or prevent payment service providers from reaching lower-income people?’
According to AfricaNenda, ‘there is no actual consolidated stock-take of the current state and trends in instant and inclusive payment systems in Africa.’
AfricaNenda says the report to be launched today ‘fill this gap in producing the first annual think piece on the role of instant and inclusive payment systems (IIPS) in achieving financial inclusion for all in Africa.’
AfricaNenda says the report to be launched today ‘fill this gap in producing the first annual think piece on the role of instant and inclusive payment systems (IIPS) in achieving financial inclusion for all in Africa.’
Giving a peek into the report, Sabine Mensah, AfricaNenda Deputy CEO, says that report gathered data from individuals and MSMEs from seven different countries ‘who shared their experiences and perceptions around digital payments.’
Their stories, Mensah says, ‘confirmed our belief that for IPS to be inclusive, they must cater to the needs of the low-income segment end-users.’
Mensah notes that while different IPSs deliver varied payment solutions and experiences to merchants and customers across jurisdictions insights gleaned from stories across the continent will be vital in ‘informing the design and deployment of IPSs in Africa.’
The AfricaNenda Deputy CEO says that ‘if designed and implemented appropriately, instant and inclusive payment systems are well-placed to offer useful solutions that would help the vulnerable and traditionally underserved end-users to transact more safely and efficiently, unlock access to further financial services, improve business processes and ultimately improve lives.’
Some of the key highlights of the report reveals that:
- Digital payments are serving an important purpose but still do not meet all payment needs;
- Consumers find digital payments do not fully reflect the ease and precision associated with the use of cash;
- Women face greater barriers to accessing and adopting digital payments.
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