Information minister Peya Mushelenga on Tuesday addressed the second annual Africa Digital Finance Summit currently underway in Nairobi, Kenya.
The three-day hybrid summit which is themed, ‘The Future of Finance in Africa; Our Pathway to Financial Freedom’ kicked off on Tuesday and is set to end today.
The summit’s aim is to incorporate a thought-leadership conference featuring governments, central banks across Africa, prominent executives representing global fintech operators, start-ups, professionals and decision makers across the world in the financial, economic, technology, fintech and block chain industry to deliberate and forge a pathway towards the future of finance in Africa.
Addressing delegates, Mushelenga said deliberate financial inclusion strategies should be adopted in collaboration with the private sector to bring many youths in the digitalised financial services and economy in developing countries.
He said policies should provide for targeted youth business inclusion, mindful of the fact that digitalised financial services cater for persons from all levels of income and businesses of all sizes.
“Consideration should be made to ensure increase in competition among service providers and lowering the cost of borrowing among users. As people adapt to changing technologies faster, their participation will stimulate innovation and creativity. They will be availed an opportunity to digital wallets and a broad-range of financial services,” he said.
According to Mushelenga, the evolution of information technology has brought a number of changes in various sectors, adopting digitalised services.
“Financial institutions are no exception. They have adopted digital financial services, through facilities like the internet, mobile phones and other near-field communication (NFC)-enabled devices,” he said.
“The base of users for these services have increased in recent years,” he added.
He said a study commissioned by the International Bank last year, reveals that there were about one billion registered mobile money accounts by the year 2019.
“People are increasingly making use of e-commerce and e-payments. They realised that electronic wallets are convenient means of payments. Digital financial services’ transactions can take place anytime and provide several options to users,” he said.
According to the minister, less time is spent on doing financial transactions and individuals and businesses now have enough time to focus on productive and income-generating activities.
He further said that the services are speedy, thus facilitating smooth business operations and positively impacting on economic growth.
For financial institutions, Mushelenga said digital services mean a saving in human resources and information technology (IT) costs.
“Because of these reasons, these institutions can increase their customers’ base, thereby strengthening their economic positions. Digital financing promotes financial inclusion and access to low-cost financial services,” he said.