3i Africa Summit: Africa’s Fintech Ecosystem Key in Driving Digital Revolution – MTN CEO
Stephen Blewett, CEO of MTN Ghana, emphasized the pivotal role of Africa’s fintech ecosystem in driving the continent’s digital revolution and economic development.
While speaking at the recently concluded 3i Africa summit held in Ghana, themed “Unleashing Africa’s FinTech and Digital Economic Potential”, Blewett said that Africa’s fintech ecosystem is the engine that will drive its digital revolution and economic development in the coming years.
Blewett highlighted several ways in which fintech could stimulate local economies and drive progress across the continent, including financial inclusion, innovation and entrepreneurship, job creation, cross-border transactions and payments, digital identity and security, agriculture and rural development, government services, investment and funding, as well as digital and financial literacy.
He pointed to the success of services like MTN’s Mobile Money and Vodafone and Safaricom’s M-Pesa as evidence of fintech’s ability to revolutionize business on the continent and provide millions with access to essential financial services.
The CEO said despite these gains, Africa lags far behind the world in mobile adoption and innovation.
He said,
“Constraints such as low infrastructure coverage, affordability of data and smartphones, and lack of digital skills training continue to inhibit access to the Internet among vulnerable groups, especially women”.
He further called on stakeholders to make every effort to remove these bottlenecks and close the usage gap by improving data coverage, lowering the cost of data and data-enabled devices, especially in rural and low-income areas, and enhancing digital literacy.
