Without a doubt, the East Africa region has been making significant progress in driving financial inclusion through Fintech and use of mobile technology. It has since become the bedrock of the “Mobile Money” segment of the financial services industry by leveraging these technologies, which has made it affordable and convenient. At the moment, Central banks in East Africa have implemented revolutionary strategies to enable the success of digital financial services. In addition, the likes of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda have initiated national financial inclusion councils composed of regulators, mobile operators along with banks in an effort to reconcile the cause of financial inclusion.

These varying technologies and innovative solutions across different areas have led to disruptions which in turn have enabled the use of alternate data, peer-to-peer transactions, and the rise of non-traditional players offering financial services. However, the key enabler of Financial Inclusion in the region has been strong mobile and internet penetration allowing services like lending, savings & payments, and personal financial management possible and allowed the FinTech’s to come in with a strong value proposition. What does it take to be a Financial Inclusion forerunner in these times?