Hiedberg @ 3i Africa Summit
Our Founder & CEO, Miriam MacCarthy, had an opportunity to attend this year’s 3i Africa Summit. The conference’s goal is to
bring together governments, businesses, investors, academia, and thought leaders to unlock Africa’s full potential and explore the state of fintech and the digital economy. The event [functions] as a multifaceted platform for policy discourse, global alignment of intellectual resources, entrepreneurial endeavors, and investment networking. Key initiatives of the summit … include stimulating and curating investment, shining a spotlight on investment opportunities within the African digital economy and fintech landscape, promoting policy and regulatory development through engaging regulators and policymakers, and fostering innovation and impact by cultivating a culture of innovation and providing platforms for idea exchange.
The discussions were lively, and the agenda was filled with thought-provoking topics. Attendees were privileged to listen to the well-rounded panelists engage and grapple with current pressing issues affecting Africa’s digital economy.
Although there were many highlights, our three key takeaways from the conference are as follows:
Data’s role in Africa’s expanding fintech ecosystem
Data is the new oil, and there’s plenty to refine across the continent. The more data we can clean, digitize, and analyze, the more value we can create. There’s ample opportunity to create products and services in a way that fits our market. With the proper tools and expertise, we can transform our data into a commodity that will further support our fintech industries and provide greater and more tailored value to African end users.
Lack of funding for women founders.
On average, women founders in Africa are underserved and have received 1% of venture funding. Although mentorship and recommendations that women founders be more proactive and assertive in reaching out to funders, potential collaborators, and clients, the dearth of funding for women is a systematic issue. There needs to be less bias in venture funding.
Women founders need profitable opportunities and sponsorship not just mentorship, training, and feedback.
The use of digital assets in Africa
According to Chainalysis, although Sub-Saharan Africa globally is a small player in cryptocurrency, the use of digital assets has deep penetration, and adoption in key markets, and is heavily used for retail transactions. Although both the public and private sectors are exploring how to safely utilize cryptocurrency as an alternative to a depreciating national currency, establishing digital IDs has proven to be a challenge as it can limit accessibility.
However, with all challenges come opportunities for collaboration to increase the usage of digital IDs and creatively bridge the gap so that digital assets aid in overall financial inclusion.
3i Africa Summit left us inspired to continue working towards our mission of supporting companies with their data and software needs to scale and grow. We look forward to attending again!
