Description
Can fintech deliver on its promise of achieving financial inclusion in Africa? In this paper, I argue that the heady optimism around fintech is over-enthusiastic. Underpinned by the concept of sustainable financial inclusion, I review the fintech landscape in the West African and Southern African regions. I focus specifically on mobile money, and cross-border remittances, which I posit fit more accurately within Western-shaped imaginaries of modernity and inclusion. Whereas, in real terms, two primary issues obfuscate true inclusion. First is the intensifying digital divide. The narrowing of the digital divide has, ironically, deepened the gulf between those who have access to sophisticated technologies that allow them to use fintech solutions and the majority that do not. Second, the data governance rivalry between the EU, China and the US has complicated the landscape in which African countries have to innovate. Over the last decade, there has been an explosion of mobile money applications and African fintech unicorns. Still, those at the base of the pyramid have yet to reap the rewards of this disruption. Rather, shape-shifting firms and better-resourced citizens enjoy the fruits of the increased digitalization of the financial sector.
