Can Fintech fuel Africa’s Covid recovery?

2019 was a landmark year for investment into digital financial services, or Fintech, across Africa. Despite the pandemic, the Fintech scene is not only still thriving; it’s poised to play a key role in Africa’s economic recovery. Uzoma Dozie, the head of Nigerian startup Sparkle, says with Covid limiting our ability to handle cash, the cashless revolution in Africa is moving along rapidly. But Viola Llewellyn, president of Ovamba Solutions, which helps finance small businesses across Africa, says some sectors of African banking still lagged behind in digital services provision. Barbara Iyayi of Unicorn Growth Capital says Africa has a “perfect storm” of a young population, prevalent mobile services and a low rate of bank account holding, means Fintech will thrive across African economies but the infrastructure needs to be built up more.

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