And it’s a Wrap! Here’s All We did in 2017

Wow, 2017 is gone already!
Time truly does fly, especially when you have so much to do.

A quick rundown of the events of the year:

• As part of our deep dive into the role of regulations in deepening financial inclusion, we kicked off the year in February, with a closed door, policy roundtable with the former Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, Professor Njuguna S. Ndung’u.
• In August, we held our very first industry-wide consultative working group forum. 63 delegates from 40 institutions representing more than 15 different industries were in attendance. The 2-day forum produced a 14-page communique which was distributed across the ecosystem. In case you missed it, you can download it here.
• In the same month of August, we launched a weekly column in BusinessDay, under the Financial Inclusion and Innovation section. We use this medium to share thought leadership and insights while engaging and educating the public on the state of financial inclusion. The articles are published every Wednesday, so do keep an eye out for it. If you want to read all the articles we’ve published so far, start here.
• In November, our project lead, Dr. Olayinka David-West, was a speaker at the Association of Mobile Money Agents (AMMAN) annual Conference. There she presented a paper on Market-enabling policies for agent banking. The Doc was also a keynote speaker at the retreat of the Committee of eBusiness Industry Heads (CeIBH) where she delivered a paper on the Assessment of Financial Inclusion.
• We started a series of technical papers examining the macro-economic effects of financial inclusion on the nation’s economy. The first two papers, i. Nexus between financial inclusion, economic growth and income; ii. Government Payments and Financial Inclusion in Nigeria, were presented at a closed roundtable discussion in Abuja to a room full of policy makers, influencers and international experts in the financial services industry.
• In December, we hosted the second International Financial Inclusion Conference, in collaboration with BusinessDay, IFC and Microsave. It was a day of insights, discussions and debates as almost 400 DFS experts and enthusiasts were in attendance. You can find a quick recap of the event with pictures here.
• Also in December, we launched the long anticipated Digital Financial Services in Nigeria: State of Market Report 2017. The report is a year plus of research, offering evidence based insights on market-enabling policies for DFS and financial inclusion. If you are yet to, download a copy here.

Indeed, it has been a loaded year and we’re grateful you came on this journey with us.

Here’s to a greater, more productive and more inclusive 2018!