Recent Blogs
Blog
Can Disruptive Innovation Favor Financial Inclusion in Côte d’Ivoire?
Côte d'Ivoire's mobile money market is an excellent opportunity to reflect on whether market disruptions contribute to financial inclusion, given a recent revamp of mobile money business models in the country.Blog
How are Mobile Money Agents Protecting Customers’ Data in Uganda?
Recent qualitative research in Uganda conducted by CGAP and MicroSave Consulting (MSC) identified good practices for responsible agents in safeguarding their customers’ data and the role that providers can play in promoting these practices.Blog
Can Open Banking Support Financial Inclusion in Nigeria or Elsewhere?
Open banking initiatives must be well designed to deliver the benefits they promise consumers and financial service providers - Nigeria’s framework offers a look at both the opportunities and potential pitfalls of implementing such a scheme.Blog
Findex 2021 Insights: Boosting Financial inclusion in Africa
Global Findex 2021 shows Sub-Saharan Africa has made progress in financial account ownership and usage over the past decade but lags behind in closing the financial inclusion gender gap and indicators around the value of financial services.Blog
Mitigating DFS Consumer Risks: Insights from Sub-Saharan Africa
Emerging evidence shows digital finance consumer risks are increasing and, if not mitigated, could undermine users’ trust. We highlight risks that affect digital financial services users in Sub-Saharan Africa and measures to mitigate them.Blog
Can Kenya’s Fintech Boom Address the MSE Finance Gap?
Kenya has seen an explosion of fintechs and nano credit providers, but they have yet to meaningfully serve MSEs in the country. We explain how fintechs could have a wider reach and distinct value proposition for MSEs in Kenya beyond digital credit.Blog
Savings at the Pump: Financing Solar Irrigation to Support Rural Women
Solar water pumps can be a sustainable, low-cost solution for irrigating farms. Asset financing from organizations like PEG Africa could help more women to obtain these cost- and time-saving tools.Blog
We Agree – Life Stages Likely Impact DFS Usage Among Young Women
Certain life stages have a significant impact on women’s economic empowerment and use of financial services - particularly for young women.Blog
Growing Up, Growing Informal: Gender Differences in Financial Services
Teenage men and women in Kenya and South Africa adopt formal savings accounts at similar rates. But when they hit their 20s, men continue to adopt formal services while women begin gravitating toward informal services. Why?Blog
MFI Digitalization: How Can DFIs and IFIs Contribute?
From funding digital innovation to boosting digital literacy, here are some ways that development finance institutions and international financial institutions can accelerate the digitization of microfinance in Africa.Blog
MTN Mobile Money Opened APIs – Was It Worth It?
MTN launched open APIs for its mobile money service in 2018. Today, its APIs are being used by over 900 partners to offer everything from pay-as-you-go solar to e-commerce apps — generating revenue and new use cases for financial services.Blog
Is It Possible to Estimate Financial Stress Before It Harms Borrowers?
A tool piloted by CGAP and 4G Capital reliably measures changes in borrower behavior to detect financial stress. If stress indicators are found to predict future repayment, the tool could also serve as an early warning system for issues like default.Blog
Africa Is Top Recipient of Financial Inclusion Funding
For the first time since CGAP began its funder survey, Sub-Saharan Africa in 2019 received more financial inclusion funding than any other region, with $7.6 billion in commitments. But new pressures on development budgets could impact the region.Blog
The Benefits of G2P Choice: Zambia Leads the Way
In 2017, Zambia introduced a government-to-person (G2P) payments model that lets beneficiaries choose the provider they want to use to receive their payment. Today, the benefits to the recipients, providers and government are clear.Blog
Flipping the Switch: How Locking Assets Unlocks Credit for the Poor
A new study out of Uganda offers strong evidence that lock-out technology can enable providers to sustainably lend to low-income customers, who may need credit for school fees and other critical expenses.Blog
In Uganda, Solar Home Systems Help Students Stay in School
A pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) solar provider in Uganda is proving that an often-overlooked benefit of PAYGo – financial inclusion – can also affect education outcomes by keeping kids in the classroom.Blog
Data Privacy Concerns Influence Financial Behaviors in India, Kenya
For digital financial services providers looking for a competitive edge in developing economies, better data privacy features could be the answer, according to CGAP research from India and Kenya.Blog
How Ghana’s New Digital Finance Policy Can Drive Women’s Inclusion
Ghana launched the world's first digital finance policy earlier this year. Here are five ways the new policy can be implemented to help Ghana close its gender gap in financial inclusion.Blog
Financial Services for Platform Workers: Lessons from Partnerships
Platforms in Kenya are partnering with licensed financial services providers to offer credit, insurance and savings to their workers. Here are some lessons emerging from these partnerships.Blog