3i Africa Summit: BoG Governor urges increased investment in African FinTechs
Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, at the opening ceremony of the 3i Africa Summit, sounded a clarion call for heightened investments in African FinTechs, cautioning that a dearth of capital could impede the continent’s goal of achieving digital transformation.
In his address, the Governor underscored the criticality of investor visibility, lamenting that without robust financial backing, promising FinTech startups risk languishing in the ideation phase, unable to realize their potential impact.
“The lack of requisite investments in African FinTechs could slow the pace of innovation and scalability of solutions in achieving the desired impact of a digitised Africa.
“The general lack of investor visibility is a major challenge for most local FinTechs, without sufficient capital, brilliant ideas and prototypes of FinTech startup solutions with the potential to address the diverse financial service needs fail to progress to production,” he quipped.
The African Continent boasts a strategic advantage in the global digitization race, buoyed by its burgeoning youthful demographic, extensive mobile phone penetration, and a burgeoning ecosystem of indigenous FinTech solutions.
Given the Continent’s strategic advantage in the global digitization race, Dr. Addison urged all stakeholders to convert these advantages into tangible progress, stressing the imperative for collaborative efforts in fostering innovation, attracting investment, and formulating enabling regulatory frameworks.
The Governor speaking further, averred the Summit must provide concrete initiatives and partnerships to achieve tangible policy outcomes that will among others; enable affordable and safe instant cross-border payments; empower FinTechs to drive Africa’s economic transformation agenda by committing to a sound regulatory environment; advance digital public infrastructure; and finally explore the role of FinTech in bridging the financing gap for SMEs, including the creative arts industries.
The theme for the summit, “Unleashing the FinTech and digital economic potential of Africa”, captures the vision of Africa in a digital world.
The forum presents a unique opportunity for private and public sector stakeholders to explore, discuss, and interrogate technological advances, FinTech innovations, and financial sector policies to revamp the digital financial services industry in support of Africa’s socio-economic transformation.
