By Stanley Onyeka, Lagos
The Agence française de développement (AFD) has committed an additional €3 million to the African Development Bank-managed (AfDB) Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI), to accelerate financial inclusion in Africa.
AfDB said in a statement that the increase brings AFD’s total funding to over €5 million.
It also explained that the resources will support the ADFI partnership in catalyzing digital financial solutions across Africa by expanding investment in scalable and replicable initiatives that enable access to credit and other financial services that support investment and entrepreneurship among underserved communities.
The Bank and AFD co-founded ADFI in 2019 with the Gates Foundation and the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Luxembourg. France’s Ministry for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, the Women’s Enterprise Finance Initiative (We-Fi), and India’s Ministry of Finance joined in 2020, 2022 and 2023 respectively.
The statement said the AFD Group is strongly committed to accelerating the mobilization of financial and human resources to align the financial systems with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This is to ensure that vulnerable populations—especially in regions most affected by climate change—can access financial tools that help them adapt and thrive.
Head of AFD’s Financial Systems Division, Audrey Brule-Françoise, was quoted as saying: “Developing digital financial services is a key pathway to reach financially excluded populations in Africa.
“Through our continued collaboration within ADFI, we aim to promote access to digital financial services that are tailored to diverse needs and delivered in a responsible manner. This new contribution will help scale up impactful and inclusive solutions.”
The resources will support the ADFI partnership in catalyzing digital financial solutions across Africa by expanding investment in scalable and replicable initiatives that enable access to credit and other financial services that support investment and entrepreneurship among underserved communities.
Digital financial solutions
Similarly, Head, AfDB’s Financial Intermediation and Inclusion Division, Mohamadou Ba, said: “Digital financial solutions are key to improving the quality of life of people in Africa and reducing the gender access to finance gap.
“We welcome the Agence française de développement’s renewed support of the catalytic role ADFI has been playing in accelerating greater access and usage of digital financial solutions and financial inclusion across the continent.
“We look forward to working together to scale our efforts to enhance the impact on greater economic empowerment, resilience, and growth across Africa.”
Recent data shows that nearly half the continent’s adult population does not benefit from digital financial solutions, particularly women, youth, farmers, small businesses, and rural communities.
ADFI works to expand digital financial solutions across Africa through strategic investments in digital infrastructure, policy and regulation, and product innovation, with a special focus on reducing gender gaps and building capacity.
ADFI aligns with the African Development Bank’s 10-year Strategy for inclusive growth and its priority to improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. It also advances the mandate of the Bank’s financial sector development department to improve access to finance for the underserved.
ADFI works to scale innovative digital financial solutions under the three broad strategic pillars of infrastructure, policies, regulations, and product innovation. Capacity building and gender inclusion cut across all interventions.
