Exploring Business Pathways to Digital Financial Inclusion: Early Indications from a Field Visit to Ghana and Tanzania

The Mobile Financial Services Development Report, May 2011

24 Pages Posted: 4 Apr 2011 Last revised: 6 Nov 2015

See all articles by Ignacio Mas

Ignacio Mas

Tufts University

Shirley Mburu

Bankable Frontier Associates

David Porteous

Bankable Frontier Associates

David del Ser

Bankable Frontier Associates

Date Written: November 1, 2015

Abstract

This report contains an initial evaluation of the opportunities for spreading financial services through business networks in local communities across sub-Saharan Africa. The central premise is that small, local business that are able to establish a data-rich, trusted relationship with financial institutions can be effective channels for spreading the benefits of financial services indirectly into the communities that they operate in, through their base of customers, employees and suppliers. This complements traditional financial inclusion approaches, which seek the establishment of direct relationships between end-users and financial institutions.

Keywords: Savings, mobile money, mobile banking, mobile payments, branchless banking, financial inclusion, microfinance, access to finance

Suggested Citation

Mas, Ignacio and Mburu, Shirley and Porteous, David and del Ser, David, Exploring Business Pathways to Digital Financial Inclusion: Early Indications from a Field Visit to Ghana and Tanzania (November 1, 2015). The Mobile Financial Services Development Report, May 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1801743 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1801743

Ignacio Mas (Contact Author)

Tufts University ( email )

Medford, MA 02155
United States

Shirley Mburu

Bankable Frontier Associates ( email )

Suite 303
48 Grove Street
Somerville, MA 02144
United States

David Porteous

Bankable Frontier Associates ( email )

Suite 303
48 Grove Street
Somerville, MA 02144
United States

David Del Ser

Bankable Frontier Associates ( email )

Suite 303
48 Grove Street
Somerville, MA 02144
United States

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