Africa 2.0, The Rise of the Financial Technology Market
Written by Damon Kane
The Financial Technology (FinTech) market has been steadily growing, especially in the last decade with the growth of fintech start-ups, mobile payment platforms, and cryptocurrencies. Many developed countries have now dedicated markets for fintech, with the figures showing an average adoption rate of 64% in 2020 across the top 30 major markets in the world.
The COVID-19 global pandemic has had drastic effects on the entire global economy; however, it has allowed the emergence of fintech industries to capitalize on populations that have been forced to migrate online to work, pay bills, connect, and use platforms to spend and receive payments.
Africa is no exception to this growing trend. While perhaps slow on the initial uptake, we are now starting to see some major digital markets establishing in the stronger economic nations within Africa, such as Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. Kenya was the first African nation to have mobile money back in 2007 and has pioneered further fintech solutions for its growing population and emerging middle class.
More recently, Ghana is seen as the fastest growing mobile money market in Africa and one of the key drivers of the electronic payment systems. The mobile money wallet is the new craze that is having major impacts on how locals handle online payments and money transfers.
We need to capitalize on this opportunity.
Australia’s fintech market has established a strong foothold on the world stage with 3 companies, Airwallex, JudoBank and Afterpay Touch all making KPMG Bank’s prestigious Fintech100 list in 2019.
Australian companies should invest in the emerging markets of Africa because of the potential for real growth and market advantage with a population of 1.3 billion people. The appetite is there from the developing African nations, as more and more of the middle-class populations demand for easy and quick money transfers and access to by-now and pay-later services.
Australia is very well known in Africa within the mining and agriculture markets and is well established within both. However, whether we like it or not, the pandemic has shown the world the importance and dominance of the fintech industry and their effects on the global economy. Africa’s fintech market could be the next big investment. It would be a shame to miss it.