Commerce

Mastercard and African Development Bank join forces to bring digital access to 100 million people in Africa, fostering inclusive growth and innovation. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Mastercard and the African Development Bank Group unveiled the MADE Alliance: Africa, aiming to bring digital access to essential services to 100 million individuals and businesses across Africa within the next decade

The announcement was made during the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, organised by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Initially, the Alliance will prioritise assistance to the agricultural sector and women. Its inaugural initiative, slated to commence this year, involves a pilot program in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria, aimed at supporting three million farmers. This initiative will collaborate with local banks to furnish digital identities and facilitate access to high-quality seeds and agricultural resources. The Alliance's future plans encompass expansion to Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana, and beyond, covering the entirety of the continent.

“Mastercard's work leading the new MADE Alliance: Africa aims to provide 100 million people greater digital access to critical services,” said Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard. “Across Africa, people are driving new growth and opportunity, and Mastercard wants to support their success. This Alliance builds on the innovations and investments we are already making with partners in 45 countries to enhance Africa’s digital infrastructure and accelerate inclusive growth.” 

In their capacity as co-chairs, the African Development Bank Group commits to investing US$300mn to bolster Alliance initiatives. This investment will be directed towards enhancing digital infrastructure and incentivising various stakeholders within the ecosystem to promote digital access. Concurrently, Mastercard pledges to onboard 15 million users in Africa onto its Community Pass platform within five years. This platform, initiated in 2020 as a social enterprise at Mastercard, serves to digitise and interconnect remote and underserved communities with governments, NGOs, and the private sector, granting them access to essential services. The Alliance aims to establish interoperable digital infrastructure, encouraging participation from a diverse array of ecosystem actors.

To enable more people to join the digital economy, an ecosystem of public and private sector partners is critical. The Alliance matches partners’ complementary strengths in key geographies to promote sustainable digital access. Together, the partners will deliver connectivity, skilling, employment and digital access to financial and other critical services.

More than half a dozen organisations have committed to participate in the MADE Alliance: Africa at launch, including Equity Bank, Microsoft, Heifer International, Unconnected.org and Syngenta Foundation. The African Development Bank Group and Mastercard will serve as initial co-chairs of the effort.

The efforts of the MADE Alliance: Africa will support the U.S. Digital Transformation with Africa Initiative (DTA) and the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (DTS). It also ties into other business objectives announced this year focused on Africa, including:

A memorandum of agreement with the International Trade Administration, a bureau within the U.S. Department of Commerce, to advance digital access and inclusion in Africa based on a mutual interest to support the aims of the U.S. Government’s Digital Transformation with Africa initiative and MADE Alliance: Africa. This collaboration builds on Mastercard hosting U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo during AmCham in Nairobi in April for a “Digital Showcase” on best practices and lessons learned for building and scaling digital solutions across the continent of Africa.

EdTech Africa, a new partnership between the Government of Kenya, Kenyan President Ruto and the U.S., which builds on Mastercard’s existing multi-million-dollar investments with the Atlanta University Consortium (AUC) Data Science Initiative and Howard University’s Center for Applied Data Science & Analytics Initiative. This effort cultivates educational exchanges between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and African scholars in the ever-evolving landscape of emerging technology and is an example of innovation, talent empowerment and cross-cultural connectivity across the African diaspora, poised to drive forward education and technology for young leaders of Africa and America.

A new partnership involving Mastercard Community Pass, the Co-operative Bank of Kenya, the Shell Foundation, and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office that gives smallholder farmers access to a digital marketplace and enables affordable credit to buy clean energy tools that support farmers' incomes, such as solar-powered irrigation pumps. First announced in January, the effort aligns to Mastercard’s involvement with two USAID initiatives: the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE) and the Women in the Digital Economy Fund (WiDEF).

Bringing together public and private sector leaders will create and enhance accessible, affordable and trusted technology and digital tools that are scalable, enabling more people to join the digital economy.

Veda Sunassee, CEO of African Leadership University. (Image source: ALU)

Coursera, a prominent online learning platform, has teamed up with the African Leadership University (ALU), an institution dedicated to nurturing Africa's future leaders with a focus on ethics, entrepreneurship, and innovative solutions for the continent's unique challenges

Together, they're striving to provide learners from all corners of Africa with access to top-tier education and the essential skills needed to thrive in today's digital economy.

Education in Africa faces formidable obstacles. A mere 9% of young individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa pursue tertiary education, a stark contrast to the global average of 38% (source). Additionally, youth unemployment rates across Africa remain distressingly high (source). These realities underscore the critical need for accessible, quality education and skill development initiatives to prepare Africa's workforce for the future.

The partnership between Coursera and ALU seeks to confront these challenges head-on by democratising education in Africa and fostering inclusive learning opportunities. By seamlessly integrating ALU's experiential learning model with Coursera's cutting-edge technology, the collaboration ensures widespread access to high-caliber courses. Moreover, it equips learners with practical, job-oriented skills that empower them to seize new employment prospects and contribute to the burgeoning digital economy in the region.

“At ALU, our mission is to shape Africa’s future leaders, and partnerships like this with Coursera play a crucial role in addressing the significant challenges facing education in Africa. By expanding access to world-class education and ensuring that students have the necessary skills to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges, we are not only helping them to thrive but also contributing to Africa’s growth and development,” said Veda Sunassee, CEO of African Leadership University.

"At Coursera, we believe that talent is universal, but opportunities are not. Our partnership with ALU is a testament to our commitment to bridging this gap and providing learners in Africa with the skills they need to succeed in the digital economy," said Kais Zribi, Coursera’s general manager for the Middle East and Africa. "We are excited to see the incredible impact this collaboration is already having and look forward to expanding our efforts to reach even more learners across the continent."

Chika Nwosu of PalmPay emphasises the importance of trust and transparency in achieving digital financial inclusion. (Image source: PalmPay)

PalmPay, an African-focused fintech company, has emphasised the importance of building customer trust among stakeholders in the FinTech industry across Africa, saying that trust was essential to achieving last-mile access to digital financial services in underserved communities across the continent 

Speaking at the 2024 RegTech Africa Conference in Lagos, Nigeria, held on 23 and 24 May, 2024, Chika Nwosu, managing director of PalmPay Nigeria, stated, “When we look at the digital payment space in Nigeria, sometimes we feel that we are doing well. But, the data shows that more must be done to build trust, especially from the last mile of underserved people to achieve a better result.”

Nwosu, who participated in a panel on ‘Bridging the Data Trust Gap for Last Mile Access to Digital Financial Services in Africa,’ emphasised that for digital payment platforms in the African FinTech space to thrive, transparency in their processes is vital.

“One of the reasons why we are facing this challenge is the lack of transparency. Sometimes financial service providers are not upfront with their fees, leading to hidden charges. When customers find unexpected charges after believing a transaction was free, they lose trust in the service and may avoid the financial service provider in the future,” Nwosu explained.

Nwosu offered several recommendations to build customer trust, including investing in customer care representative training, providing 24-hour customer care service, protecting customer data, and promoting financial literacy. He noted that these measures are crucial as “Most customers in the last mile are illiterate, lack formal education, and do not understand many of the products offered to them.”

He continued, “Another issue is inadequate customer care services. It can take weeks or even months for customer complaints to be resolved, and some customer care agents are not well-trained to handle these complaints. These experiences can deter customers.”

Nwosu emphasised the need for financial service providers to enhance customer care skills, including offering 24-hour services, to build trust.

Addressing data privacy concerns, he added, “What do you do with the data that you collect from people? Is their data safe with you? These questions are very important. For example, if agency banking in an underserved area does not provide good services, customers will lose trust in the entire system going forward.”

The 2024 RegTech Africa conference, with the theme ‘Harnessing Partnerships for Africa’s Prosperity - Bridging the Data Trust Gap,’ attracted top professionals across Africa and with an interest in regulation, digital financial services, compliance, technology, fraud, risk, monitoring, reporting, financial crime, cybersecurity, data management, financial inclusion and identity management.

Through this agreement, American Express Card Members will be able to use their cards in twelve new countries. (Image source: Ecobank Transnational Incorporated)

American Express and Ecobank Group, the leading pan-African financial services organisation, have announced a partnership to significantly enhance the acceptance of American Express Cards across twenty-one African countries 

As part of this agreement, American Express card Members will be able to use their cards in twelve additional countries: Burundi, Central African Republic, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Niger, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Togo. Moreover, the number of merchants accepting American Express Cards will increase in nine other countries where American Express is already accepted: Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. This expansion will be implemented over the next twelve months. Ecobank will also facilitate ATM acceptance for American Express in all African countries where it operates, except Cape Verde.

This announcement was made during the 2024 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group. The agreement aims to bolster the American Express global network by expanding the locations where American Express Card Members can use their Cards in Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, this will allow merchants to tap into a new customer base comprising American Express consumer, business, and corporate Card Members from Africa and around the world.

"We are delighted to welcome American Express to our network, reinforcing our commitment to offering innovative payments solutions for customers across Africa,” said Jeremy Awori, CEO of Ecobank Group. "This agreement will benefit American Express Card Members, providing them with greater choice and will help merchants to grow their businesses. It also highlights the scalability of Ecobank’s unrivalled borderless banking ecosystem and network across Africa."

Mohammed Badi, president of Global Network Services at American Express, commented: “This agreement with Ecobank is a major milestone for American Express acceptance across Africa as it will expand our presence in sub-Saharan Africa to 42 countries from 30 at present. With Ecobank’s support, we look forward to providing merchants in these countries access to higher-spending American Express Card Members both in Africa and from around the world.”