Category: News

FSD Africa celebrates key milestones announced during the President of Kenya’s visit to London in July 20

Posted on July 29, 2021May 23, 2025 by Kihingu Inc

The visit to London by Kenya’s President, HE Uhuru Kenyatta, starting 27^th July saw the announcement of a number of projects with which FSD Africa is proud to be involved.

President Kenyatta was welcomed by the UK’s Foreign Secretary Rt Hon Dominic Raab and the Lord Mayor of London, William Russell, to an event at the Mansion House, in the heart of the City of London, the UK’s financial hub.

The Nairobi International Financial Centre

One milestone that captured headlines was the announcement that Prudential, one of the UK’s most established insurance brands, is to join the new Nairobi International Financial Centre as one of its anchor clients.

For FSD Africa this represents the culmination of six years of work, starting in September 2015, during which we have facilitated the incubation of the NIFC providing financial and technical assistance on behalf of the UK government. We continue to provide support, including tax and strategic commun
The aim of the NIFC is to position Kenya as a leading financial services centre in Africa attracting long-term, foreign investment to the country and the region, thereby delivering sustainable economic growth and creating jobs. It will also provide an important conduit for green finance which will be crucial to fund Africa’s efforts to combat the effects of climate change.

When financial firms come together working in proximity, there will be an exchange of ideas and technical expertise and we should expect financial markets to become more innovative and competitive, making it easier for those seeking capital to find it on more affordable terms.

Green, affordable housing

Another key announcement was the Kijani initiative, a partnership between FSD Africa Investments and the UK Climate Investments, through which the UK government is committing £35 million (Ksh 5.2 billion) to the development of green affordable housing in Kenya.

Kenya needs at least 250,000 new homes annuallyet the housing demand, yet only 50,000 new homes are built. The investment will help address this through a new 10-year locally managed fund which aims to deliver around 10,000 new green, affordable homes for low-income families.

Importantly it will also support the development of sustainable building as a new green asset class for local investors through a new housing market intelligence portal led by the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa, designed to provide housing finance investors with the data they need to make investment decisions.

Capital market development

President Kenyatta also referred to the support Kenya had received from the UK on bond market development and especially on green bonds. While there were no details on Kenya’s long-awaited sovereign green bond, we expect further announcements on this in the coming months.

The President referred in his speech to the importance of deepening the domestic debt market, improving pricing efficiency, and g the cost of credit in the economy. This echoed the Budget Statement in June 2021 which confirmed plans to set up an Over-the-Counter secondary market platform for Government securities, to be in place by June 2022.

FSD Africa has been instrumental in the development of Kenya’s green bond market, through the Kenya Green Bond Programme, and of the OTC exchange.

Patient capital

Both these projects have been a long time in development and are a good demonstration of FSD Africa’s “patient capital” approach. To bring about change, at scale, in financial markets takes time and depends on good ideas allied with technical ability, a collaborative approach and the development of good relationships with partners across the sector.

We thank the governments of the UK and Kenya for their support and look forward to more good news in t

Finalists selected for the DRC Innovation & Financial Services Challenge, in partnership with the Central Bank of Congo

Posted on January 18, 2021 by TIMOTHYRADIER

The DRC Innovation & Financial Services Challenge is a competition organised by FSD Africa in partnership with the Central Bank of Congo to promote the development of innovative, relevant and value-added payment solutions and financial services in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Following an in-depth selection process, FSD Africa and the Central Bank of Congo have selected 6 companies from across the country to move forward to the final stage of the challenge.

The final stage of the competition will see each of the 6 finalists receive technical assistance from FSD Africa and the other contributors, including an individual grant proposal from FSD Africa of $13,000 USD provided to each of the finalists. At the end of the final stage, two winners will be selected to have access to the FSD Africa investment process, with the possibility of raising up to $130,000 USD each in funding.

Infoset SARL, A H&F Consulting SARL and Pluritone SAS were selected as finalists as they proposed innovative financial solutions to help with the economic and social development of the Congo. Smart Information eXchange SARL, Flash Services SARL and SINTEL SARL were selected for being innovative companies able to offer financial solutions to meet the needs of displaced populations and refugees in the region.

Henri Plessers, Country Manager, DRC, FSD Africa said: “Innovation in financial services is the key to ensuring democratic access to the core products that every person in Congo should be able to use. We are proud to be supporting this exciting competition and would like to thank all the applicants for their submissions and all thecontributors who agreed to support the development of these projects in the best possible conditions, with a view to creating value for the national economy and Congolese society. We look forward to working with the 6 finalists as the competition continues.”

Mr. Deogratias Mutombo Mwana Nyembo, Governor of the Central Bank of Congo, sa”We are pleased to congratulate the 6 companies selected for the second phase of the call for applications, as well as the other 93 candidates. We thank them all for the quality of the solutions proposed. We would also like to thank the members of the juries – from the Central Bank of Congo, UNHCR and FSD Africa – as well as the auditors for their consistent and meticulous work, despite the many constraints and the impact of the health context. Their verdict now allows us to select these 6 candidates for the next stage, with an individual grant of USD 13,000 proposed by FSD Africa, a programme funded by UK Aid.”

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Welcoming our new director for credit markets

Posted on September 1, 2020May 23, 2025 by Kihingu Inc

We are pleased to have Jared Osoro join us as the Director for Credit Markets effective 1st September 2020.

Jared has two decades of experience as a practising economist in the financial sector. Prior to joining FSD Africa, he had the dual responsibility of being the Director of Research and Policy at the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) and the Director of the KBA Centre for Research on Financial Markets and Policy®.

For nearly eight years in that role, he spearheaded analytical work on policy and market dynamics to support market deepening and policy engagement. The body of knowledge arising from the research work has supported financial sector players in Kenya and the broader East African region in their strategic endeavour to drive the development aspirations of the region.

Jared’s passion and intellectual interest in finance as an engine of development were nurtured at the East African Development Bank where he served as Bank Economist for more than ten years.

Jared holds a Master of Science Dee in Economics from the University of Zimbabwe and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Nairobi. Jared has published numerous journal essays for technical audiences as well as articles for a wider readership.

On his appointment, Jared said, “As I join FSD Africa, I have a good understanding of the various imperfections that characterize financial markets in Africa. While acknowledging the challenge of bridging the gap between the growth that the continent’s financial sector is experiencing and the ability of such growth to deliver development outcomes, I welcome the opportunity to be part of a diverse team that is dedicated to supporting the deepening of the financial system.”

“We are delighted to welcome Jared to FSD Africa. We will benefit greatly from his intellectual heft and unique insight into the regional financial system”.
“font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: 0.4px; color: #333333;”>Mark Napier, CEO

Jared lives in Nairobi with his wife and son. He is ideas-driven, hence his keen interest and obvious passion for reading. He is an avid golfer playing as often as he can get a chance, which he regrets is as rare as once a week.

COVID-19 – a statement from the CEO

Posted on March 18, 2020May 27, 2025 by TIMOTHYRADIER

Friends and colleagues,

COVID-19 represents an unprecedented challenge for all of us, including those of us working in developing markets to build a sustainable future for the poor. Africa has so far escaped the worst of the pandemic but as countries across the continent impose measures to contain the spread of the virus, FSD Africa is also adjusting to the new realities.

With the health and safety of our staff and partners at the forefront of our minds, travel has been curtailed. We are not planning to organise or attend workshops or conferences anywhere for the foreseeable future. Our people are working from home and our offices in Nairobi are closed to visitors although they will stay partially open to give staff members a quiet and place to work from, in case working from home is difficult.

However, we are determined to push forward with our plans, providing the best possible assistance to our partners across Africa. Much of the technical support we provide can be done virtually and we will ensure that our partners continue to benefit from the global expertise that we can access through our networks.

We will also be giving careful thought to how our strategy can be modified to address the profound challenges that this pandemic has revealed. The financial system can be part of a solution, both now and in preventing future disasters. We welcome any ideas you may have on this.

If you are a grantee or if you are working for us under a contract, please stay close to your main counterparty at FSD Africa so that we can keep assessing how the pandemic is going to affect service delivery.

Useful links are as follows. Advice from Kenya’s Ministry of Health can be accessed here – our offices are in Nairobi. Information on the Government of Kenya’s stringent travel restrictions on inbound travellers into Kenya can be accessed here. Finally, Public Health England’s website, which offers guidance on hygiene and social distancing, can be accessed here.

FSD Africa is open for business and we look forward to working with you, in solidarity, in the coming months.

Mark Napier
CEO, FSD Africa

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Published on 18 March 2020

Launch of country diagnostic report on long-term finance in Côte d’Ivo

Posted on February 21, 2020May 27, 2025 by Kihingu Inc

Together with our partners the African Development Bank, the German Economic Development Cooperation (implemented by GIZ), the Making
Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A) and Centre for Affordable Housing, we recently launched a country diagnostic report on long-term finance (LTF) in Côte d’Ivoire.

This country report focuses on infrastructure, housing, and enterprise finance in Côte d’Ivoire and applies a flexible definition of LTF that reflects the differing productive life of assets being financed, which may vary from 20 to 30 years in the infrastructure and housing sectors and 5 years or less for enterprises.

Given scarce fiscal resources and the underdeveloped status of domestic financial markets, the report identifies sizable long-term financing gaps in the infrastructure, housing, and enterprise sectors.

The Africa Long-Term Finance (LTF) Initiative seeks to rebalance the focus toward this perspective by (a) assembling data and establishing an “LTF Scoreboard,” on which individual countries are benchmarked against one another on the availability of LTF, and (b) undertaking country diagnostics in a number of African countries to identify specific hurdles faced in deepening markets for LTF and ways such hurdles could be overcome. This report is the first of these country-diagnostic reports.

We started the Africa LTF Initiative to assemble information about the provision of LTF across countries in Africa as well as to provide guidance as to how the public and private sectors can work together in strengthening the provision of LTF.

FSD Africa welcomes £90m commitment from UK aid to initiate a new phase of financial sector developmen

Posted on January 17, 2020May 27, 2025 by TIMOTHYRADIER

Commitment comes as part of ambitious £320m UK aid package to strengthen Africa’s financial markets, designed to boost economic growth and reduce poverty at scale.

FSD Africa today welcomes a £90m commitment from UK aid, part of a £320m package that will initiate an ambitious new phase of financial sector development across the continent. Announced ahead of the <a “https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/uk-africa-investment-summit-2020”>UK-Africa
Investment Summit in London, the package includes funding for 8 existing local Financial Sector Development programmes and to set up and scale new FSDs in high-priority markets.

The new commitment, announced by DFID Secretary of State Alok Sharma, represents the start of an important new phase of financial sector development in sub-Saharan Africa. The package from UK aid recognises that a comprehensive, integrated approach to financial market development in Africa is required to realise the continent’s significant economic potential and address the United Nation’s global goals. The £320m commitment, therefore, provides funding for innovative programmes that enable access to finance amongst micro-enterprises and individual households, but also ambitious programmes that drive business and infrastructure investment through capital market development. It also means operating closer to the interface between finance and the real world.

Announced ahead of the landmark UK-Africa Investment Summit, this £320m package reinforces the UK government’s commitment to accelerating the flow of critical long-term investment into Africa’s high-potential economies, and to harnessing UK and the City of London’s expertise to help position the continent as a world-leading investment destination.

Africa’s substantial investment potential is clear, with many African countries outstripping global economic growth in recent decades. London is already the top market of choice for Africa’s businesses and we want investors to seize the exciting opportunities that Africa offers.

These new initiatives, announced ahead of the UK-Africa Investment Summit, will make it easier, greener and more secure to invest in Africa, mobilising billions of pounds of sustainable investment to help end poverty

Alok Sharma, UK International Development Secretary

The next frontier for financial inclusion

Building on the success of over a decade of programming by FSDs and their partners, which has helped increase access to finance to 43% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa, this new funding package represents the next phase of the financial inclusion effort. New programmes led by FSD Africa and the FSD Network will improve regulation, market information and financial products and channels to connect millions of these newly financially included households with access to basic services, like energy, affordable housing and healthcare. This work will also will drive investment into financial markets to make them more innovative, competitive and accessible to those who need them.

Within five years, FSD Africa and the FSD Network aim to improve access to basic services for 7m people across sub-Saharan Africa and reach 22m individuals and 3.9 micro-enterprises and SMEs with improved financial services, with a focus on traditionally marginalised groups.

We are delighted to welcome this significant new commitment from UK aid, that will allow us to scale our programming over the next five years. This commitment represents an important step forward in our approach to financial sector development.

The new package recognises that capital markets have a critical role to play in making financial markets truly inclusive and that innovative investment is needed to complement other market-building work, such as regulatory reform.

African financial markets are a long way from playing the kind of role needed to address profound challenges on the continent like jobless growth and to capture new opportunities, such as in regional e-commerce.

This new programme will allow us to work with our partners to address the intractable financial sector issues that have held markets back. It shows the UK continuing to be the global thought-leader in financial sector development, as it has been for over two decades.

Mark Napier, CEO, FSD Africa

An expanded role for capital market development

The new funding package also places a renewed emphasis on strengthening Africa’s nascent long-term finance markets, a driver of job growth and a specialism of the FSD Africa team. This includes significant new programmes to help overcome the challenges currently faced by investors at a regional and local level: addressing persistent regulatory barriers; providing more timely, reliable market information; and enabling the development of pioneering new products, such as Green Bonds, to build confidence for future transactions. Increasing access to long-term finance ensures that governments and businesses alike are able to invest in the basic services that are critical to poverty reduction, from essential infrastructure projects to healthcare and education.

A new chapter for the FSD Network

The £320m package also marks an important step forward for the FSD
Network. After over 10 years of operation and UK aid support, the FSD Network now comprises 9 mature FSD programmes, with a strong track-record of impact, unparalleled local insight and a powerful network of relationships with local regulators, policy makers and industry bodies.

From 2020, FSD Africa and the FSD Network will build on that strong foundation to collaborate on addressing the common challenges that our distinct markets share. Led by new dedicated FSD Network staff and infrastructures, FSD Africa and the FSDs will design and lead a range of collaborative programmes; from multi-country climate finance work and knowledge-sharing on gender inclusion to cross-border remittances and e-commerce and the common application of the latest impact measurement standards.

The new commitment will support the 8 existing FSDs within the FSD Network, including; FSD Kenya, FSD Mozambique, Enhancing Financial
Innovation & Access [Nigeria], Access to Finance Rwanda, FSD Tanzania,
FSD Uganda, FSD Zambia and the FinMark Trust [SADC region].

The £320m package also includes funding to expand the reach of the FSD Network, specifically to set up and scale new FSD programmes in high-priority markets, including: Ethiopia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and the West African Monetary Union. FSD Africa will help to establish these new FSDs, which will then operate as independent entities, able to adapt to the distinctive needs of each country and to build crucial local-level relationships. The new FSDs will also join the FSD Network, enabling them to benefit from, and contribute to, continent-wide knowledge sharing and essential cross-border collaboration.

On behalf of the nine existing members of the FSD Network and those new FSDs in formation, our sincere gratitude to the UK Government for this generous, constructive, and thoughtful five-year commitment.

We pledge to broaden and deepen our innovative work across Africa to make money work for low-income families, women, youth, the excluded and those who need financial services the most. This new package will enable us to apply finance – in all its forms – to the challenge of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The FSD Network will enhance livelihoods for poor people; improve access to basic human services where finance is a barrier; and enable a sustainable future, particularly addressing the financial aspects of climate change and illicit capital flows.

Betty Wilkinson, Chair of the FSD Network Council

The £320m commitment will be dispersed to FSD Africa and local FSDs incrementally over five years, providing support until 2025. To enable strong, operational and strategic oversight, DFID representatives sit on the Boards of both FSD Africa as well as individual FSDs within the FSD Network.

FSD Network collaborations aimed at harnessing the power of the digital platform economy

Posted on November 18, 2019May 27, 2025 by Kihingu Inc

Digital platforms are virtual marketplaces that connect providers of goods and services with consumers. In 2018, the i2i facility identified 277 digital
platforms, of which around 80% were of African origin. These platforms derive revenues from facilitating interactions between providers and consumers of goods and services. Transactions are normally settled on the platform through various payment methods, such as bank cards, bank transfers, cash, mobile money and digital wallets.

A growing number of Africa-based digital platforms are starting to leverage their technology to channel financial services to their customers, therefore providing early demonstration of the ability of platforms to extend financial service reach to new or under-served individuals and small enterprises. They offer financial service providers access to customer data that enables more appropriate product design, as well as access to a range of payment solutions through which they can service these customers.

We are currently providing support to two innovative projects that leverage platform technology in collaboration with FSDs. This support s provided by Cenfri, through our Risk, Remittances and Integrity (RRI) programme.

Addressing risks and constraints in Kenya’s housing sector

We have forged a partnership with FSD Kenya and iBUILD, through Cenfri to understand and address constraints to providing construction-linked financial services in Kenya.

Kenya’s housing shortage is estimated to be around two million units, with over 60% of the country’s urban population reported to be living in slums. Only 7% of Kenyans are able to access formal housing finance, such as mortgage finance. Construction workers, building suppliers and other housing industry players face various risks, ranging from injury, loss of income and breach of contract, as well as constraints such as lack of capital and fluctuations in price or consumer demand.

iBUILD is a digital platform that offers the potential to contribute to tackling some of these issues and broadening financial service delivery to the sector. It connects construction workers with people looking to build and facilitates open access to housing support services that guide individuals through housing construction and reconstruction processes.

Cenfri has signed an MOU with FSD Kenya to rtake consumer research to help build a business case for insurance companies, banks, Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) and others to offer construction-linked financial products to users of the iBUILD app in Kenya.

The consumer research will focus on three iBUILD small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) users: construction workers, contractors and building suppliers. It will tease out the issues they face and identify how financial services could add value to their businesses, including asking the questions: How can finance add real value to small businesses and informal workers in construction? How does their participation in a digital platform help facilitate the delivery of innovative solutions?

The ultimate objective of this research is to support the launch of a financial service (insurance, credit or savings) that is distributed through iBUILD to its customers. FSD Kenya will engage with financial service providers to understand what such a financial produccould look like.

Building the resilience of e-hailing drivers in Rwanda

Through Cenfri, Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR) and Yego – an e-hailing taxi service in Rwanda – we are collaborating to help improve the resilience of e-hailing drivers by understanding the financial service needs of Yego’s drivers.

Yego is a digital platform that was launched in Rwanda in 2018. Like Uber, it connects passengers and local drivers of cars and motorbikes (moto) through a computer or mobile device. Yego currently has around 11,000 motorcycle and 2,000 taxi drivers signed up in Rwanda and is looking to expand on the continent.

Initial scoping suggests an encouraging opportunity to offer financial services, specifically insurance, to Yego drivers, who report that they trust Yego and would be open to procuring insurance through the company. Yego is keen on partnering with insurance firms to develop products suitable to the needs of the Yego drivers.

Cenfri has signed an MoU with AFR and Yego to support this collaboration. The objective will be to build a business case for financial service providers, specifically insurers, to service tharket through digital platforms. AFR and Cenfri will provide technical assistance to Yego in the form of consumer research and support to identifying an insurance partner, as well as during the product development process.

FSD Africa finalised a £350k commitment to the People’s Pension Trust Gh

Posted on September 27, 2019May 27, 2025 by TIMOTHYRADIER

The majority of people in Africa do not benefit from any public or employer supported pension scheme, while at the same time are living with diminishing traditional support from children. The book Saving the Next Billion from Old-age Poverty, estimates that there are 1.2 billion at risk of old-age poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

This week, FSD Africa finalised a £350k commitment to the People’s Pension Trust Ghana, a subsidiary of the pension fund administrator Peoples Pension Trust, to help design and scale innovative tailor-made pension products for underserved and low-income people across Ghana.

Today, only 10% of people in Ghana have access to a pension scheme – when over 80% of the workforce is employed in the informal sector with no access to this vital safety net for later life. This initial investment will serve 500,000 Ghanaians with affordable pension services; if successful the products will be scaled to Rwanda and other countries in the region.

As life expectancy is increasing speedily in a lot of African countries, the family size is decreasing, and urbanisation is taking place. This means that more workers in the informal economy are getting into old age poverty when they retire, because they are unable to work due either to sickness or ageing. We are therefore happy to have this support from FSD Africa to tackle head-on this issue of old-age poverty” class=”blockquote-source”>Bediako Waterberg, CEO, People’s Pension Trust Ghana

PPT aims to serve 500,000 micro-pension customers and serve 1 million customers within 10 years. For now, the Rwanda operation will be a three-year pilot targeting 6,000 participants and 3,000 active users to test and learn in preparation for an investor fundraise and subsequent scaling.

The FSD Africa Investments will enable PPH to scale up its operations and provide innovative, technology-driven and customer-focused pension solutions to informal workers in other countries.

Through this investment FSD Africa also seeks to catalyse market system change by:

Stimulating market-responsive, long-term savings through a pension fund vehicle that has the potential to reduce age-old poverty and fund assets (e.g. homes) while allowing customers to respond to short-term emergencies
Introducing an innovative business model with potential for replication that leverages digital technology and a partner ecosystem to lower nsactional costs, reach highly dispersed markets, and drive consumer adoption;
Expanding pension fund participation in long-term finance for developmentally important investments.

Crowdfunding on the move: approaching P2P market regulation in East Africa

Posted on August 5, 2019May 27, 2025 by TIMOTHYRADIER

In June 2016, the crowdfunding industry in East Africa met for the first time in Nairobi, Kenya. The indaba hosted over 60 leading platforms, regulators, donors, researchers and business service providers from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The event highlighted crowdfunding as a potential source of alternative finance in the region (summary here).

To maintain momentum, FSD Africa has partnered with the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and Anjarwalla and Khanna to examine the existing regulatory and policy landscape that governs debt, equity, rewards and donation-based crowdfunding activity in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

According to Joe Huxley of FSD Africa: “Effective regulation and policy frameworks are critical. They provide the necessary rules and incentive structures to ensure the growth of crowdfunding markets in East Africa is carefully managed.”

The objectives of this work are to:

Map out the existing regulatory and policy landscape for all crowdfunding models in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
Determine a list of priority areas for regulatory and policy development to support crowdfunding market development in East Africa.
Identify key lessons from the regulation and policymaking of leading crowdfunding markets.

To provide relevant insights for East Africathe regulation and policy frameworks for crowdfunding markets in South Africa, the UK, New Zealand, the USA, Malaysia and India will also be examined. In addition, the research team will also interview and seek insights from selected crowdfunding platforms, practitioners and experts internationally.

According to Kieran Garvey of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance: “Throughout the project, we intended to work closely with regulators and industry practitioners in East Africa to foster common understanding of key crowdfunding risks and opportunities, and how to manage them appropriately.”

The research will be finalised and launched in September 2016.

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Further information:

To express your interest in this research or to participate, please email Kieran Garvey from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance “mailto:kjg44@cam.ac.uk”>kjg44@cam.ac.uk

For further information on the crowdfunding industry, please the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance reports here: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/faculty-research/centres/alternative-finance/publications/

Furthermore, the Africa and Middle East alternative finance benchmarking survey is currently underway. Please see further details here:

http://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2016/06/87301-cambridge-centre-alternative-finance-launches-first-industry-study-middle-east-africa/

Crowdfunding platforms in Africa & the Middle East can access the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/AltFin_MiddleEast_Africa

Africa’s long-term financing shortfall – The Banker