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Empowering women in Africa Through Microfinancing

Empowering women in Africa Through Microfinancing

microfinancing
Microfinancing in Africa. Reporter N’Gunu Tiny discusses women in technology and how it can empower women on the Continent. Photo: thecommonwealth.org

N’Gunu Tiny is the founder and executive chairman of the Emerald Group and BANKO, and partner at Optimal Investments.

In this article, he discusses microfinancing in Africa and how it can empower women in technology.

Technology is changing the world of finance by encouraging innovation in the sector and creating new ways of thinking. In Africa, it is helping to tackle gender inequality by creating opportunities for equal and fair access to banking services and the development of regional and local communities. 

The banking sector is changing globally, and new regulations are creating fairer competition. African businesses are able to reflect on technologies and legislation used in the West to see how the sector may potentially develop, but then adopt these technologies with a greater focus on empowering the population. 

From Business Chief. Story by N’Gunu Tiny.

We are entering the advent of open banking, APIs, digitization and clever partnerships with FinTech service providers has meant that Africans are leading the way with early adoption of new technologies. 

For example a recent partnership between Emerald Group and Makeba Inc., a US-based financial services provider allows users to make peer to peer transactions and provides services for individuals and businesses in the African economy. 

With a variety of companies investing in the African economy, and the development of new technology and increased access to financial systems, you should rapidly see a positive difference to local and regional communities.

Banko Financial Group are also making inroads into the integration of finance and technology. Banko is a technology aggregator that focuses on banking solutions, not just a bank that has a technology focus. It provides secure platform solutions for banks that in turn can offer these solutions onto their customer base in order to offer services such as microfinancing. This long-term project expands over several African countries in order to empower its users and contribute to the socio-economic development. 

Microfinancing is the provision of financial services, targeted at individuals and business who lack the provision to access conventional banking services.  It increases access to finance in developing countries where a traditional banking institution would not extend credit to people if they have little or no assets. By using credit ratings, relationship banking, and microinsurance it helps families to take advantage of income-generating activities and enables users to better cope with the risks. 

Read more at Business Chief.