Driving Financial Inclusion in Africa: All Hands on Deck

According to the Human Development Index (HDI), of the world’s least developed countries (LDC), 69% are in sub-Saharan Africa. The factors that earn countries the label of ‘developed’ or ‘underdeveloped’ relate to the level at which a nation is contributing to the standard of living and well-being of its citizens – factors like healthcare, schooling, GDP and income distribution.

In these developing countries however, the scale and complexity of these issues are often of such great magnitude that solving the problem requires the participation and contributions of multiple groups of people, organizations, industries, or in some cases, nations. This is not a theoretical proposition; practical applications which have been implemented in developing countries across the world have proven the capability of an ‘all hands on deck’ approach to improve such countries.

In many developing countries, poor populations have difficulty gaining access to clean water, or access to water at all. In India alone, 21% of the nation’s communicable diseases are linked to unsafe water. Since 2005, a partnership of up to 21 organisations in the banking and finance, government, and development industries, have collaborated to supply knowledge, funding and infrastructure to solve this problem; as a result, there has been increased access to safe water and sanitation for over 7 million of India’s citizens.

Another example was implemented in East Africa, where the rate of youth unemployment in 2013 was so high that up to two-thirds of citizens aged between 15 and 24 were either unemployed or in irregular employment. By 2017, a development industry organization, working in partnership with an organization in the professional and technology services industry, had begun to address this. In Uganda, in fact, the partnership extended to include local businesses from a myriad of industries – together, they provided for these youths, skill-building classes, improved access to financial services, and links to work opportunities. Since then, over 12,000 youths have seen a 621% increase in income.

When industries collaborate, innovation is encouraged and accelerated, and the customer benefits from an improved service; this boils down to one thing – differing strengths combined for the greater good. In Nigeria, this approach has been particularly prominent in public and private sector partnerships, with numerous organisations collaborating to leverage each other’s strengths and expertise. Some examples of this can be found in the Nigerian transportation sector, where multiple road and rail development projects have been implemented across the country, thus reviving a sector that had preciously stalled.

The same can certainly be applied to the problem of financial inclusion. Despite policies and commitments to address the problem, according to recent reports by the World Bank’s Global Findex Database, our inclusion rates are dropping – from 44% in 2014 to 40% in 2017 – and are nowhere near the goal of 80% by 2020. Certainly, a new approach to solving the problem needs to be adopted, but even more so, one which leverages the competencies of industries whose expertise, infrastructure, processes, could play a critical role in increasing inclusion levels in an impactful way.

The continued development of nations is extremely essential for their continued growth and sustenance. When diverse groups of industries, organizations, and institutions collaborate to share resources, activities and their capabilities, there is an inevitable increase in the capacity to contribute effectively to solving problems, improving the lives of citizens, and ultimately to bettering the state of a nation.

All hands, where willing, should be welcomed and enabled to participate in our continued national development.