NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, March 17, 2017

It is estimated that less than a quarter of adults have access to formal financial services in Africa. The lack of access to financial institutions makes it difficult for low-income consumers to make sustainable investments in their families and businesses. To address this, mobile technology is being leveraged to unlock and dramatically increase financial inclusion.

In 2011, Visa and the Government of Rwanda forged a partnership to boost financial inclusion in the country by leveraging mVISA, a new fully interoperable mobile money platform aimed at providing Rwandans with mobile banking services.

Visa engaged the IGD Advisory team in 2012, to conduct an independent evaluation to measure the socioeconomic impacts of the public-private partnership. IGD reviewed data on the partnership and interviewed key stakeholders from the Rwandan government, local banks and Visa to gather insights for a comprehensive impact assessment.

The assessment concluded that this public-private partnership demonstrated a new model for doing business in emerging markets, which laid the groundwork for enhanced financial inclusion in the country.