Financial inclusion: Experts want more women hired in leadership position to close gender gap

Experts have said hiring more women in leadership position in the financial sector will contribute highly in closing the financial inclusion gender gap.

The plea was made on Tuesday during the official opening of a two-day Africa FinTech Festival at Kampala Serena Hotel under a theme ‘The role of FinTechs in Africa’s Digital Economy’.

Sadiq Aramide, the Finconecta Business Development Lead (Africa and Middle East) said policy makers, Fintechs, investors among other stake holders need to look at the entire spectrum of financial services if they are to do away with gender gap.

“Financial services are mostly dominated by men, so before we look at how to create technologies that could bring more women on board in terms of financial inclusion we should  first have a good gender representation on the supply side,” said Ms Aramide.

“Place women in the leadership positions so that they can inspire and appeal to the women on the demand side.”

Shamirah Kimbugwe, the Managing Director, Cellulant (Uganda) said FinTech innovators should always come up with simple to use technologies for women given the fact that a good number of them on the African continent are illiterate. She stated that this will in one way or the other help to improve inclusion.

“We should come up with innovations that are favourable and secure for women. We should also give them discounted services. For example banks have done it with women’s saving accounts but for the FinTechs we are not yet there,” Ms Kimbugwe suggested.

On his part, Peter Bo Larsen, the Country Director, Dan Church Aid revealed there’s a need to provide digital and financial literacy to women saying that this will help to overcome emotional distance and build their trust in the financial services.

Representing Information Minister Frank Tumwebaze, Vincent Bagiire, the Permanent Secretary- Ministry of Information said, “Government views FinTech operators as crucial enablers of electronic trnansactions and e-commerce. They are key players in the intergration of systems that are vital for service delivery where citizens have to pay for a service-such as passports.”

Rashmi Pillai, the Executive Director of Financial Sector Deepening Uganda (FSDU) said their primary role is to address constraints to accessing financial services and facilitate the financial the financial market system to function more effectively and inclusively.

“Because of the agility of FinTechs, they play an increasing important role in ensuring relevant financial services reach marginalized groups, build their resilience and secure their wellbeing,” Ms Pillai explained.

Organized by  FSDU and Financial Technology Service Providers Association of Uganda (FITSPA), the Africa FinTech Festival aims at providing an opportunity for stakeholders to reflect on the 2019 Financial Inclusion Week theme ‘Financial Inclusion: For What’ and address the pervasive issue of industry –wide under-representation of women.

Over 250 delegates from across Africa including FinTechs, regulators, policy makers, investors, financial service providers and development partners are taking in the event.

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