Airtel Kenya has partnered with ePharmacy platform, MyDawa, so that subscribers can have easy and fast access to their medication. According to company sources, Airtel subscribers will be able to log on to the MyDawa app or website without incurring additional data charges. They will also be able to use Airtel Money to pay for medicine, health, wellness, personal care and other essential items.
Tony Wood, Managing Director, MyDawa
MyDawa’s Managing Director, Tony Wood describes the partnership as great “that will increase the access to healthcare products in Kenya. We are happy to partner with Airtel, one of the top telecommunications service providers in the country, to ensure that their subscribers are able to access quality medical products in a convenient and affordable way.”
“Free access to MyDawa’s services with no data charges helps people to stay at home and ease the financial burden on those who may already have seen family budgets squeezed. This benefit combined with no delivery charges within Nairobi and the option for microfinance amongst the payment options are all focused on increasing access to essential services whilst they stay safe at home.”
Prasanta Das Sarma, MD of Airtel Kenya, says “we are happy to be in partnership with MyDawa as it gives our customers more control over their health and wellbeing whilst leveraging on our technology. They can easily order the products they need, make payments via Airtel money and have them delivered by professionals whilst not worrying about the cost of data used in accessing the website or app,”
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
Like most economic sectors the world over, Africa’s financial industry took a beating in 2020. Particularly vibrant prior to the pandemic, with banking income growing by 11% per year, the industry has since become a leading source of aid for businesses in difficulty, especially state-owned enterprises and SMEs.
As a result, Moody’s has warned that non-performing loans on the books of African banks could double from 2019 levels.
Amir Ben Yahmed, Managing Director,Jeune Afrique Media Group and Chairman of the Africa CEO Forum
Despite this negative outlook, the financial industry will not be the biggest casualty of the ongoing crisis, even if the worst of the shock is yet to come. Banks have so far demonstrated unprecedented resilience, as their capital bases are stronger and their liquidity higher than during the last financial crisis. Their profitability remains well above the global average, while proactive steps taken by governments and central banks have shielded them somewhat from the global downturn in economic activity.
Meanwhile, mobile-money operators and fintech firms have been reaping rewards as the adoption of digital tools becomes widespread. Countless African fintech firms, including Pineapple, Paystack, InTouch and Yoco, have persuaded investors and new customers alike that their services have a promising future.
Challenges for Africa’s financial industry
This unconventional past year presents a number of challenges for Africa’s financial industry, and I would like to highlight three of them in particular:
African finance needs to speed up convergence between the industry’s various players to stimulate financial inclusion. This feat should be possible thanks to the innovativeness of African mobile-money operators and fintech firms operating on the continent. Converging the efforts of operators (which sometimes lack the technical experience bankers have), fintech firms (which lack capital) and traditional companies will pave the way for, at long last, a fully banked Africa. Regulatory authorities have a critical role to play in making this happen, as they must continue to promote innovation while keeping excesses in check (most notably to protect consumers), apply the right dose of regulatory pressure and spur the industry to work together.
African finance should be a key contributor to the growth of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by encouraging open and transparent public-private dialogues. As a financier of intra-African trade, the continent’s banking sector has a decisive role in the success of the AfCFTA, which just opened for business on 1 January. Several items should be on the agenda, such as standardised regulations and technology platforms within the continent; streamlining trade, money transfers and payments; ensuring currency convertibility; and prioritising the expansion of integrated regional or pan-African companies. Players like Ecobank, Attijariwafa Bank, Standard Bank and Interswitch are still too few and far between, even if a new wave of champions is coming on the scene, following in the footsteps of Kenya’s Equity Bank and KCB Bank.
Lastly, African finance must show the continent the way to prosperity and sustainability. Africa’s bankers have mostly steered clear of the kind of speculative tendencies that have plagued their international counterparts. More than ever before, their impact and the responsibility that comes with it gives them a pivotal role in ensuring Africa’s strong economic recovery and making the decisive shift to clean energy.
The revolution is coming
But let’s not forget that the industry is currently undergoing a radical transformation. The global financial industry continues to digitise, transform and reinvent itself. Innovations such as blockchain technology and cryptoassets, the ability to collect and process an almost infinite amount of data and the use of artificial intelligence are leading us towards ever more decentralised finance (DeFi).
In Africa, as elsewhere, this revolution is underway. A study jointly conducted by Deloitte and the Africa CEO Forum shows this: close to 70% of the continent’s financial institutions reported that launching or accelerating the digitisation of their business has become their top strategic priority since the pandemic hit. And that’s just the beginning.
Amir Ben Yahmed is the Managing Director of Jeune Afrique Media Group and Chairman of the Africa CEO Forum
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
