{"id":13567,"date":"2022-01-12T09:25:56","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T08:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fundacionbankinter.org\/noticias\/africa-el-continente-con-el-mayor-potencial-de-innovacion\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T23:20:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T22:20:09","slug":"africa-the-continent-with-the-greatest-potential-for-innovation","status":"publish","type":"noticias","link":"https:\/\/www.fundacionbankinter.org\/en\/news\/africa-the-continent-with-the-greatest-potential-for-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa, the continent with the greatest potential for innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Africa and Innovation? Yes. This century, Africa is the continent with the most innovative potential; where the best opportunities for disruptive innovations could arise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Africa has already revolutionized the financial sector with the introduction of M-PESA<\/a> some years ago, a financial system that works through mobile telephony and that has allowed the financial inclusion of millions of people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jens Schulte-Bockum<\/a>, Director of Operations at MTN Group and Foundation\u2019s trustee, explains it to us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The African opportunity<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Why is there a huge opportunity for innovation in Africa? There are several data that allow us to get an idea: On the one hand, Africa’s GDP growth has historically exceeded world\u2019s GDP growth. On the other hand, with a GDP comparable to that of the United Kingdom or France, Africa has 20 times more population than these countries, which demonstrates a potential for economic growth per capita of at least one order of magnitude<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, Africa\u2019s population is growing and is much younger than the rest of the world: Africa will account for more than a quarter of the world’s population in 2050 and Nigeria will have overtaken the US population to 400 million that year, with a disproportionately larger youth (55% vs. 28%) and much smaller retired population (4% vs. 22%). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, Africa’s innovative growth is fueled by a young, motivated and growing population, whose current under service represents enormous future opportunities<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To put us in context, Jens cites a series of relevant figures in the African innovative world: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMobile, app-based banking made more inroads in financial inclusion in the past 10 years than the 50 years of bank branches and plastic cards that preceded it.<\/em>\u201d Andrew Torre<\/a>, VISA Regional President for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFintech provides what the African economy has wanted all along: greater purchasing power and more money that isn\u2019t taken up by fees or other nonsense.<\/em>\u201d George Gordon<\/a>, Director of Africa Master Blockchain Company and board member of Africa Blockchain Association. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn another five years, mobile money could evolve into a pan-African ecosystem akin to China\u2019s ubiquitous WeChat app.<\/em>\u201d Rob Shuter<\/a>, Chief Executive Officer Enterprise at BT and former President\/CEO, MTN Group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a continent where access to electricity does not reach even 50% of the population, where at least 60% of the population is unbanked or where less than 30% of the population has Internet access, opportunities are opening up to: <\/p>\n\n\n\n