Rwanda has once again proven that nothing can stop business from happening. The Inclusive FinTech Forum (IFF) successfully concluded in Kigali this week, bringing together more than 3,000 participants from over 30 countries across the globe.

The forum, running under the theme ‘Shaping the Future of Financial Technology,’ brought together some of the leading entrepreneurs and innovators from across the world to chart a path forward for the world’s digital future.

From a young Rwandan using artificial intelligence and robotics to transform education and a Zambian integrating technology to enable consumers to access credit, to a Tanzanian innovator enabling seamless cross border payments, and all the way to the investors providing much needed capital to entrepreneurs, IFF reminded us that the future of financial technology is happening right in front of us.

Africa’s financial technology (fintech) ecosystem has flourished over the years despite macro headwinds. Fintech companies in Africa have nearly tripled in number since 2020, improving access to finance for people and businesses across the continent.

This exponential growth is being fueled by a new generation of tech-driven entrepreneurs who are bridging the financial gap for millions of Africans still excluded from traditional banking services.

Technology, at its core, is enabling this to happen at a rate never seen before. One report suggests that the number of African companies offering new products and services in the area of finance using technology jumped to 1,263 at the start of 2024 from 450 in 2020.

This has meant that more Africans are getting access to credit that otherwise would have been hard to access, farmers are able to get funding for their farmlands, insurers are accelerating coverage to more populations, the diaspora communities are able to send money back home, enabling families to take children to school and provide decent healthcare services, and small and medium sized businesses are able to trade across the border without worrying about how they will be paid.

Indeed, there is no question that this industry will transform how we do business. The challenge now is to address the existing bottlenecks that still limit young innovators from achieving their full potential.

These challenges range from unharmonised regulations across countries, limited financial literacy, poor internet infrastructure, lack of access to electricity, inadequate data protection, and difficulty accessing funding.