Cash will categorically not disappear, but as consumers embrace convenient, secure, and frictionless payment options, there are limitless opportunities for financial services providers who lean into the trend and embrace the potential of digital.
By Monica MUEMA
Africa Tech Festival is putting a sharp focus on the continent’s ability to expand its fintech footprint, building on last year’s robust uptick in the fintech sector that showed a healthy report card for the potential for further growth and development.
This trend is echoed by Hannes Wessels, General Manager of Southern and Francophone Africa, Binance, exhibiting at Africa Tech Festival, whose YoY figures boast phenomenal growth.
“South Africa has experienced significant growth in cryptocurrency adoption, with active users increasing by 51.1% YoY in May 2023. The trend of new registrations over the last two years also shows a positive 58.0% YoY increase,” he reports.
Other noteworthy statistics from 2022 include Binance enabling 2.4 million users to spend their cryptocurrency in real-world transactions and processing $56 billion in trading volume on average every day, at a speed of about 0.7 million transactions per second. “Across 70 countries, 11.5 million people utilized Binance Pay for seamless payments,” he adds.
Many African countries have become attractive destinations for fintech investment, especially in the mobile money, digital payments, and financial inclusion areas.
Innovative technology solutions have seen underserved and remote populations, at last, get a foot in.
Enabling the smooth rollout to these areas was the establishment of new regulatory bodies that adapted to the evolving fintech landscape, thereby introducing a conducive environment for innovation consumer protection, and financial stability.
Most notably, mobile money gained widespread popularity and expanded financial access to unbanked populations. Additionally, businesses also got a leg up through digital payment platforms.
Arguably, the biggest achievement has been the financial inclusion of women, who for decades were hamstrung by a lack of opportunity and prejudice. These innovations have enabled them to access much-needed financial services to improve their lives.
But, despite the encouraging picture, challenges remain. The sector still faces issues such as limited infrastructure, cybersecurity risks, and widespread digital illiteracy.
It is Africa Tech Festival that aims to explore, innovate, and champion ways to remove these obstacles, through a series of panel discussions, fireside chats, and networking sessions between 14-16 November when the festival takes over Cape Town.
The fintech breakthroughs will also be celebrated at the upcoming Africa Tech Festival Awards Gala Dinner on 15 November at the Bay Hotel.
The exclusive category of Fintech Innovation of the Year Award Category puts the spotlight on the transformative power of financial technology in driving economic growth, financial inclusion, and digital transformation.
This category proved extremely popular in the application process and public voting phases, and the three organisations which will battle to bring the award home, are Tigo Tanzania, Mukuru, and Vodacom Tanzania.
Says James Williams Senior Director, Events | Connecting Africa | Informa Tech: “The incredible advantages of digitalisation are dependent on not only a plentiful and reliable source of power, and it’s essential that the public sector have strong strategies in place to drive this growth, hence our growing focus on this segment, at Africa Tech Festival.”