Navigating COVID-19: African Women and Digital Financial Access in South Africa and Nigeria

Abstract

Financial inclusion is much in vogue given the reach of 21st century digital and mobile technologies. However, offering credit and a formal transactional account does not automatically bring transformative welfare change in the lives and businesses of the poor, particularly for women, as the strategy of simply including more low-income individuals, households and MSMEs into existing and formal economic market systems, as a conduit to inclusive development and enhanced social welfare, fails to fully capture the context of markets in which new technology, financial products and services are introduced, argue Shamira Ahmed and Tapiwa Chinembiri in this policy brief.