The Path to Inclusion is Mobile: An Interview with Ibukun Awosika

The Path to Inclusion is Mobile: An Interview with Ibukun Awosika

It may be a slow process, but financial inclusion in Africa is improving. Given the barriers formal banking faces on the Continent, including practical issues such as dispersed populations, and regional variations in infrastructure, it is unsurprising that this is not an issue which will be resolved overnight. We spoke to Ibukun Awosika to find out more on First Bank Nigeria's actions on financial inclusion, her thoughts on improving access to banking services – plus the impact of mobile in Africa.  

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Bigger than the Banks: Natalie Jabangwe-Morris on Africa’s movement to mobile money

Bigger than the Banks: Natalie Jabangwe-Morris on Africa’s movement to mobile money

The wave of mobile phone use in Africa has not only connected individuals to each other, but has connected many people to mainstream financial services for the first time. In regions where populations were majority unbanked, access to mobile technology has simultaneously unlocked mobile money, and spurred economic growth in societies previously run on informal, cash-based finance. By the end of 2016, the number of registered mobile money accounts in Sub-Saharan Africa stood at 277 million.

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