Investing in Africa’s FinTech

With more countries embracing the digital space, there has been an increase in the development of technological hubs across the continent.

In Africa, FinTech remains the biggest beneficiary of investments across the financial services. In 2020, the sector attracted 33% of total tech start-up investments. Between 2020 and 2021, the number of tech start-ups in Africa tripled to close to 5,200. Nearly half of these are FinTech that are geared towards disrupting and transforming the traditional financial services.

The opportunities for FinTech are vast with two-thirds of the population still unbanked despite 64% of the global mobile money passing through Africa. As cash is still king, used in 90 percent of the transactions in Africa, the potential for fintech revenues to grow is massive.

Africa’s FinTech is emerging as a viable and lucrative investment, with average size of deals growing each year, resulting in job opportunities and economic growth across the continent. 

Mobile Money Ecosystem

Countries in Sub Saharan Africa hold more than 160 million monthly active mobile money accounts – representing more than 50% of the global total. The adoption of mobile money has the effect of unlocking business opportunities in other sectors due to access to financial services – ease of making payments, applying and receiving loans etc.

According to a survey by GSMA, an increasing number of mobile money providers are offering enterprise solutions for the agricultural sector, enabling fast, secure and traceable payments to farmers.

For the first time, the global value of mobile money transactions exceeded $2 billion a day and is expected to surpass $3 billion by the end of 2022. In 2020, the total value of global transactions was $767 billion with Africa accounting for $495 billion (approx. 64%).

As the worldwide economy continues to recover, the resilience and adaptability of mobile money is poised to continue and with it emerge from the pandemic more actively integrated and collaborative, with the momentum to deliver life-saving and life-enhancing benefits for all.