Mobile money in Africa: Thinking about the social justice and policy implications of financial inclusion

Wayne Chinembiri is a Research Associate at the Technical University of Munich and a Senior Legal Researcher at 爱立信 . He is studying towards his Ph.D in law and his areas of interest are open standards in cellular communication technology and their relationship with patents.

We asked Wayne a few questions about his recently published article "Mobile money in Africa: How cellular standards are promoting financial inclusion?" We wanted to know about social justice implications and policy recommendations for his research.

What are the social just implications of your research?

?The wider adoption and use of mobile money in Africa can have a positive impact on gender equality. In the article, I observe that African women are especially affected by lack of access to financial services. This financial disenfranchisement limits the opportunities for women and others to gain financial independence. As such, mobile money provides an avenue to financial services such as micro-loans. Unbanked women and youths can thus leverage these opportunities to fund entrepreneurship activities and escape poverty.

?Are there any risks that we need to be aware of?

At continental level, we run the risk of discouraging a wider adoption of mobile money due to widely varying and, at times, stringent government regulatory policies. Africa needs a uniform legal framework addressing regulatory aspects of mobile money. Introducing a uniform financial regulatory environment can encourage service providers with global operation ambitions to roll out mobile money services to all African countries.

?Lastly, any policy recommendations?

Mobile money and other unique applications and use cases (such as hybrid and online learning) which are transforming the African society depend mostly on standardized and patented technologies. Africa must create an environment in which SMEs and other key stakeholders can be innovative and participate in standards-development.

In addition, establishing an African, balanced and efficient patent protection system is a good idea as this can stimulate investment and research and development into new solutions for Africa’s future.

Read Wayne's full article