A Cashless Continent?

African innovation is changing the way money is exchanged

- Nnamdi Oranye

African economies are well-positioned to benefit from rapidly accelerating technological change if they can harness the current open landscape for innovation. East Africa is already a global leader in mobile payments, while mobile money accounts in sub-Saharan Africa are on an upward charge. Apart from being able to leapfrog the limitations and costs of physical infrastructure, the continent stands to benefit from having the youngest, tech-savvy workforce in the world in the next decade.

Africa’s working age population is expected to grow with 450 million people by 2035, according to the World Bank, and the continent is projected to have the largest working population of 1.1 billion by 2034, according to the World Economic Forum on Africa. Recent GSMA data shows that mobile money accounts in sub-Saharan Africa grew with 18.4% between 2016 and 2017, to 33.8 million registered accounts.

However, we cannot wait 12 to 15 years before adequate job creating initiatives and policies are unlocked. The answer lies in harnessing the power of the digital economy today to create African solutions for African problems. An important part of this will require promoting and partnering with African innovators to unlock sustainable growth.

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