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The Wrong Kind of Credit: Why Loans to Gig Workers Must Reflect Income

Volatile gig income and inflexible loan repayment schedules can be a dangerous mix, as this ride-hailing driver in Nairobi learned from experience. His story serves as a cautionary tale to lenders and borrowers in the gig economy.

How Is the Pandemic Affecting Agents? Here’s What Providers Tell Us

As customers, agents and digital financial services providers adjust to COVID-19, it’s becoming clearer what a resilient agent network looks like. Providers should take note to prepare for future crises.

Ghana Launches World’s First Digital Finance Policy Amid COVID-19

While the new policy has been years in the making, the government hopes the policy will support its measures to leverage digital financial services in its COVID-19 response.

Kenya’s Expansion of G2P Becomes Lifeline During COVID-19 Crisis

Kenya offers higher fees to providers that facilitate digital government-to-person payments in underserved areas. Today, this makes it easier to reach hundreds of thousands of low-income people with assistance during the COVID-19 crisis.

COVID-19 Exposes Risks and Opportunities in Kenya's Gig Economy

Gig workers in Kenya report major disruptions to business and depleted savings due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), while platforms signal eagerness to facilitate government-to-person payments or loans to hard-hit workers.

How Paystack’s APIs Are Enabling Entrepreneurs in Nigeria

Paystack's open APIs for digital payments are helping thousands of African companies to launch new business models and deepen customer relationships.

African Digital Credit Goes West

Digital credit is emerging in West Africa. Despite early reports of low default rates, consumer protection policies will be key to avoiding problems witnessed in East Africa.

How Are Kenya’s Youth Experiencing the Gig Economy?

The gig economy is on the rise in Africa. What does this mean for youth? In Kenya, CGAP interviewed young people to get their perspectives.

Zoona Is Putting APIs at the Core of Its Business: Here’s Why

What began as a side project has become central to Zoona's plans for growth. In this blog post, Zoona executives Brett Magrath and Bridgid Thomson discuss the importance of APIs at the company.

Smart Phones, Smart Partners: Linking Asset Finance and Microfinance

One company offers microcredit. The other offers PAYGo financing for smartphones, tablets and solar home systems. In what may be a template for other microfinance institutions, they are helping each other to reach more low-income customers.

The Path to Financial Health Begins in Adolescence

It is critical that youth financial inclusion programs tailor interventions based on young people's life stage to achieve long-term impact on financial health.

Where Youth Join Trust Groups, Not Insurgency Groups

By providing a combination of financial and nonfinancial services to over 16,000 smallholders, a social enterprise in northern Nigeria is harnessing the power of agriculture to create jobs for youth and improve livelihoods.

When Youth Entrepreneurship Training Meets Financial Inclusion

By working together to integrate entrepreneurship training and financial inclusion in Africa, youth-serving organizations and financial services providers could help young people build successful businesses and create jobs.

Has Fintech Closed the Credit Gap? Not by a Long Shot

If funders want to spur job creation and economic growth, they’ll need to close the credit gap for small businesses in emerging markets. But to do this, they can’t depend solely on fintech.

Sports Betting: Highway to Hell or On-Ramp to Digital Finance?

Sports betting is pervasive in Africa. What impact is it having on how youth use digital financial services?

3 Principles for Funders of Youth Financial Inclusion

How can donors promote financial inclusion in a way that creates jobs for youth? Here are three guiding principles, based on the Mastercard Foundation's experience in Africa.

Reaching the Next Generation of Financial Services Customers in Africa

A growing body of evidence shows young people's potential as users of financial services in Africa.

How Do Kenyans Really Use M-PESA?

Transaction data shows mobile money agents are more like petrol stations than barber shops, with few customers showing loyalty to particular agents.

6 Strategies to Promote Digital Financial Product Adoption Among Youth

Here are six insights about how to make financial services appeal to young people, coming out of a digital savings pilot in Tanzania.

Youth in Agriculture: A New Generation Leverages Technology

Digital financial services can help young people see a future in agriculture.