South Africa’s leading mobile telecoms firm Vodacom has joined forces with AFI to drive financial inclusion across Africa through knowledge sharing with financial policymakers and regulators. According to the companies, the partnership, which runs until October 2021, should enhance select AFI member services and platforms with private sector insights.

“AFI members in Africa are among the world’s pioneers in mobile money services, having fostered decades of ground-breaking innovations that have shaped the financial inclusion landscape across the continent and beyond,” says Dr Alfred Hannig, AFI Executive Director. Regulators in the region have turned the current pandemic into opportunities to accelerate financial inclusion and ensure that no one is left behind.

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“As the region’s economies emerge from the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic, improving quality and usage of digital financial services, especially for women, youth, micro and small businesses and other vulnerable groups will be integral. Open dialogue among policymakers, regulators and the private sector is an important component of these efforts,” adds Hannig.

Vodacom’s engagement with AFI is expected to enrich the network through: Technical knowledge contributions to AFI’s PPD webinars, particularly where the focus is on financial inclusion policy implications in Africa. High-level discourse among leaders of AFI members and partner institutions in the Africa Regional Policy Initiative (AfPI).

 “Financial and digital inclusion for all underscores Vodacom’s commitment to the communities in which we operate,” says Nkateko Nyoka, Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer at Vodacom.

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“Through existing platforms like M-Pesa we connect 42 million customers across Africa to facilitate safe and secure mobile payments and our VodaLend offering as part of Vodacom Financial Services is specifically designed to assist small to medium-sized businesses with access to funding.”

“This is why partnering with AFI maps to Vodacom’s existing purpose and allows us to accelerate this work across the continent with access to their extensive African network. We also believe strongly in the power of partnerships and what the pandemic has taught us is that collaboration and partnerships are crucial to help address problems and challenges as effectively as possible. It is the only way we will truly be able to move past the challenges of today and build the future of tomorrow.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry