Pillars for the digitization of economics are being put into place across Sub-Saharan Africa. Still very much a mobile-first region, the continent is positioned as a potential leader in Digital Finance and Commerce (DFC) with several markets already leading the way in establishing use cases for mobile money and digital finance. But failures in South Africa and Nigeria as well as difficulties in launching in new markets prove that the case for DFC is contingent on its value proposition and the market engagement.
Beyond Person-to-Person (P2P) transactions and airtime top-up, an array of viable use cases is developing across the region. The proliferation of these use case innovations have spurred adoption, as well as altered the ecosystem and opened it up beyond telcos, banks and retailers. From Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) energy and agriculture to education and micro-credit, these new service offerings are re-ordering the DFC value chain across Sub-Saharan Africa and driving adoption.
These more efficient and targeted value propositions should help to drive a digital transformation of economies across Africa. And the resulting innovation in use cases could lead to an orders-of-magnitude increase in DFC addressable market. But the questions still remain: how can stakeholders determine which use case will be most viable and valuable for their consumer base? The partnership model for DFC is already complex; what will new alliances look like? How can progress and impact of these services be measured?
The fifth annual event will showcase new and exciting use cases, as well as address the Big Data and analytics, and how new and legacy players alike can derive value and monetize existing and potential data sources.
