New research from Boston Consulting Group highlights that Africa is home to the fastest-growing fintech market in the world, and by 2030, revenues are projected to expand approximately 13-fold to around $65 billion – the highest growth multiple of any region in the world. Yet, despite this trajectory, the continent remains underrepresented in global discussions about the next generation of fintech hubs.
What’s more striking is that these figures only represent a fraction of the continent’s true potential. Against this backdrop of rapid growth, millions of individuals and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) remain excluded, operating on the margins of traditional financial systems. These groups have been shut out from the financial system, through no fault of their own. Despite MSMEs making up 90% of all businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa, they struggle to access the finance they need to grow simply because they lack a formal credit history or a conventional identification. As a result, they are often deemed uncreditworthy before they are ever properly assessed.
Now consider what Africa’s growth would look like if these businesses and individuals were given fair and meaningful access to finance. If Africa truly wants to take its rightful place as a leading fintech hub, it needs infrastructure that supports growth, rather than systems that systematically exclude viable borrowers.
Fintech’s fundamental design problem
The fintech sector is not being held back by a lack of innovation; it’s being constrained by how it has been designed. From the start, fintechs have been optimised for speed, scale, frictionless onboarding and products built for mass distribution. In regions with strong connectivity, consistent data and formal financial histories, this approach has worked extremely well. But in much of Africa – where connectivity can be unreliable, data is fragmented, and formal financial histories are scarce – this approach breaks down.
Many fintechs have one approach to geographical expansion, and this is where the disconnect emerges. They rush to expand into Africa due to its huge growth potential and assume that what worked in Europe will work across Africa as well. These fintechs’ strategies fail when they are put up against low connectivity, decentralised operations and inconsistent data, which make it difficult to build a picture of a borrower. By clinging on to traditional credit assessments, they are overlooking millions of creditworthy individuals and MSMEs, ultimately constraining both inclusion and growth.
Why inclusion will drive the next phase of fintech growth
With Africa’s huge growth and future fintech hub potential, a new model is required – one that enables fintechs in the region to thrive while expanding access to those excluded from traditional financial systems. This model must place inclusion at its core, with success not defined by speed alone, but by the ability to reach and serve underserved customers.
The technology to support this shift already exists. Alternative data sources – such as mobile payment behaviour – can help assess creditworthiness where formal histories are absent. Innovations like drone technology can support the evaluation of smallholder farmers, who might otherwise be excluded due to perceived sector risk. Increasingly, fintechs and investors recognise that the next phase of growth will be driven by genuine inclusion. This approach also enables more tailored products, whether through smaller loan sizes for microbusinesses or flexible repayment schedules aligned with harvest cycles. The focus shifts from exporting Western models to designing solutions around real customer needs.
The most inclusive fintech models will take this one step further by putting mechanisms in place to ensure they stay on track. Impact should be measured by outcomes, not just activity. Rather than measuring success by the number of accounts opened, the fintechs that want to make a real difference in the market they serve must find ways to accurately measure who is benefiting from these services and the extent of that benefit, and measure this across demographics such as women, youth and rural communities. This requires building models grounded in real-world impact, not just scale.
Africa’s position as the world’s fastest-growing fintech market underscores its innovation and potential. But if fintechs continue to apply Western models to fundamentally different environments, that potential will remain underrealised. The next phase of fintech growth will be defined by inclusion and access and those that adapt their models accordingly will not only lead the market but help unlock financial opportunity for communities long underserved by traditional systems.
Wayne Barratt, Director of Operations at Platcorp Group
Wayne Barratt is the Executive Director of Operations for the leading micro-finance organisation providing sustainable finance solutions in Africa, Platcorp Group. He has worked at Platcorp Group and Platinum Credit Limited (a division of Platcorp Group) for over ten years having joined the company as the Executive Director of Operations for Platinum Credit.
