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The Myths and Realities of Inclusive Insurance: Lessons from the Field
Across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), insurance penetration is around 1% of GDP, compared to a global average of around 7%. According to Rehan Butt at Instaful Solutions, policymakers, donors and insurers have increasingly turned to “inclusive insurance” to reach LMIC customers — yet they often mistakenly approach it as a scaled down or charitable version of traditional insurance. He argues that inclusive insurance represents a fundamentally different business model, with distinct product design, processes, distribution and economics, and highlights some misconceptions that can cause these insurance products and programs to underperform.
- Categories
- Finance
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Designing Finance for the Realities of Youth: Applications are Open for the Newly Renamed Luxembourg Award for Inclusive Finance
Over 1.3 billion people in emerging economies are between 18 and 35, and the median age in some developing countries is in the teens or low twenties. As Sam Mendelson at e-MFP and Tim Nourse at Making Cents argue, young people represent the economic center of gravity in the Global South, yet financial systems were not designed to serve their shifting needs. They explore opportunities to unlock youth-inclusive finance — the theme of this year's Luxembourg Award for Inclusive Finance (formerly known as the European Microfinance Award).
- Categories
- Finance
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Creating a Local Means of Exchange for African Entrepreneurs: How a Blockchain-Based Community Currency Gained Traction in Tanzania
In African communities, the lack of disposable income often hinders economic growth, and many local entrepreneurs are excluded from centralized, formal finance. Malik El Bay at the Encointer Association and Alinagwe Mwaselela at Jukumu NGO explore how their organizations are addressing this issue by leveraging blockchain technology to enable community members in Dar es Salaam to independently create and manage their own local cryptocurrency. They explain how this community currency model can be leveraged to support economic growth and entrepreneurship across Africa and other emerging markets.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Press Release: Mal Closes Record $230 Million Seed Round to Build World’s First AI-Native Islamic Digital Bank
This will be the world's first AI-native Islamic financial platform targeting the world’s 2 billion Muslim population and other underbanked communities.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Flutterwave Buys Nigeria’s Mono in $25 Million – $40 Million Deal to Deepen Africa’s Fintech Infrastructure
Flutterwave runs one of the continent’s widest payment networks, supporting local and cross-border transactions across more than 30 African countries, while Mono has built open banking APIs that allow businesses to access bank data, initiate payments, and verify customers.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Building the Financial Services Stack of the Future: Why True Resilience Requires a More Holistic Approach
Over the last decade, financial inclusion has experienced unprecedented progress, as 79% of adults globally now have a financial account compared to 62% 10 years ago. But according to Payal Dalal at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, most financial inclusion initiatives are still organized around verticals like loans, savings and insurance, and delivered through separate providers and channels, which forces customers to piece them together into a comprehensive safety net or growth path. She argues that the financial services stack of the future must address this lack of integration, delivering solutions that meet multiple financial needs simultaneously — while responding to the growing headwinds that individuals and entrepreneurs face today.
- Categories
- Finance
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AI Risk Management in Digital Finance: Protecting Africa’s Underbanked from Invisible Threats
Digital finance has been a game-changer for financial inclusion across Africa. But as information technology security analyst Nathaniel Adeniyi Akande explains, many communities remain excluded — and though AI-powered lending tools offer new opportunities to reach them, these tools also introduce new risks that can undermine trust or even exclude the people they are designed to serve. He argues that it is digital lenders’ responsibility to anticipate and mitigate these threats, and explores several practices that are essential to AI risk management in the sector.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Zazu Raises $1 Million Pre-Seed Round to Reinvent SME Banking Across Africa
With more than 50 SMEs already in beta and over 1,000 businesses on its waitlist, Zazu aims to serve Africa’s 50 million underserved SMEs.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital finance, fintech, MSMEs, startups
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