(Africa prefers aid and loathes to compete)

Africa has an opportunity to use Fintech as a significant, offensive and, commercial tool and become a more potent global competitor

Africa is poor partly because it missed out on two transformational global events- the Agricultural and Industrial revolutions.

But it now has a unique opportunity to participate fully in the Digital Revolution.

However, its regulatory authorities are thwarting its chances

Why is Fintech (broad sweep of digital financial services) so important to Africa? Well, for one its demographic is young (~60% of pop under 30).

This digital generation knows nothing but a digital world. Digital permeates the way they live, transact and experience the world.

Fintech also refers to one of the major avenues wealth creation in the 21st Century and presents a unique opportunity even for smaller countries to create competitive global enterprises

For example, Estonia with a pop of 1m boasts 2 $Bln coys-Transferwise and Bolt.

Its regulatory approach is laisser-faire and it was the first European country to legalize/regulate ride-sharing.

It’s E-Residency program permits foreigners to open/operate a company remotely

Singapore presently is aggressively growing globally competitive Fintech companies by actively seeking global connections for them.

It actively organizes “meet and greet” events for its Fintech coys – Kenya (the Afro-Asian Fintech festival), Vietnam and the US, etc

In September, I received the WhatsApp message below from one of its Fintech companies: (MAS is the Monetary Authority of Singapore or the Central Bank of Singapore)

The US OCC recently opened up the “business of banking” including the 3 core banking functions- receiving deposits, paying checks, or lending money- to Fintech.

“Smart regulation”, i.e, Regulation that considers the national interest before the well being of commercial banks.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/11/13/why-africa-is-poor/

Africa is poor because Africans are not thinking critically and imaginatively. Their mindsets are stocked in limbo between rogue Christianity, disruptive Islam, delusional education and visionless leadership.