Showcasing the island economy’s potential in the FinTech arena – in Africa and beyond – the Mauritius Africa FinTech Hub (MAFH) successfully hosted the 3rd Africa FinTech Festival (AFF) from 13 – 15 October 2021 in close collaboration with the Africa FinTech Network (AFN) and with strong support on the ground from the Economic Development Board (EDB) of Mauritius.

AFF 2021 was held as a fully virtual series around the theme of FinTech, Sustainability and Innovation - The power trio to fast-forward Africa’s growth in two parts in June and October 2021. The main event was sponsored by Peach Payments, IPT Africa, Switzerland Global Enterprise, MCB, Synthesis and Care Ratings Africa. MAFH reported that over 1400 attendees from  over 90 countries listened in and engaged with over 100 key leader speakers across pan-African private and public enterprises.

MAFH CEO Michal Szymanski stated, “It has been an absolute honour to represent Mauritius as a host and to be part of the AFN. We are all working to develop our own ecosystems but it’s really great for us to see everyone working together to develop Africa holistically in this journey.” 

What the pre-and-post event landscape looks like 

As a network representing associations from 34 African countries, the AFN created and conceptualised the AFF with a view to support and boost the growth of a pan-African FinTech ecosystem, and to facilitate open collaboration for the purpose of driving innovation and financial inclusion in Africa. While Mauritius won the right to host this edition of the AFF, earlier editions were held in Nigeria in December 2018 and in Uganda in November 2019. 

Indeed, it was following significant delays caused by COVID-19 that the third edition of the series was held first on 16 June 2021 as a one-day prelude to the main event. Attended by nearly 500 participants, with registrations from over 60 countries and key representation from Mauritius, Nigeria, UK, India, South Africa and US, the pre-event session served as an insightful preview of what the October festival would hold. 

Looking back on the AFF, it is worth mentioning the impressive impact this event has had in its past two host countries of Nigeria and Uganda, such as:

• Rapid growth of the ecosystem and increased memberships;
• Rise in deal flow and investments in innovations in this industry;
• Strengthened relationships and more open dialogue with regulators.

Such positive outcomes are expected to unfold in the ecosystems of Mauritius and future host countries as well. 

What this edition of AFF was all about

This virtual conference series comprised of keynotes, panel discussions and fireside chat interviews revolving around the following four main themes: FinTech Innovation, Skills & Capacity Building initiatives, Regulatory & Policy strategies, and Investment & Deal Flow opportunities. 

The event was open to all the stakeholders in the FinTech and allied fields including entrepreneurs, SMEs, startups, corporations, universities, financial service providers, tech companies, investors, and regulators.

Some key topics that were addressed as follows:

• From building to bridging socio-economic ecosystems in Africa
• FinTechs to the rescue – building new roads to compliance
• Designing and Scaling innovation organizations In Africa
• Scaling up in Africa – Keys to successful pan-African expansion 
• Investing in Africa: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
• Funding: The Marriage with clauses?
• Building a blockchain technology ecosystem in Africa
• Industry First: Building the skills & marketplace for growth
• Building FinTech's Champions of Tomorrow (FFC)
• Drivers of digital transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa 
• Outlook on insurance products in Africa
• Regulating for Innovation

Key speakers at the event hailed from the AFN, EDB of Mauritius, Embassy of Switzerland and affiliates, UK Department of International Trade (DIT) and affiliates, Ecobank, Finance Innovation, Ecole 204, Financial Services Commission (FSC) Mauritius, Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB), AfriLabs Foundation, Imali Pay, Orange Africa, Digital Partners Associates, Peach Payments, InterpayTech Africa (IPT), Save and Remit Services, Servitech, Findexable, Sythesis, TheHiveOnline, BFA Global, Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF), African Leadership Group (ALU), YAEP, CVVC, Gebeya, Lagos Business School, Victoria Ventures, Ad Finance, AfricaInvest, Ovamba, Launch Africa, Mo Angels, COMESA, MUA, Amanleek, Bluewave Insurance, Capital Markets - Kenya, FSD Africa, Banker’s Association of Botswana, Making Finance Work 4 Africa, Crown Agents Bank, Jumo and IMF.

What AFF bodes for the future of FinTech in Africa

In qualitative terms, some key achievements from this series have been to showcase pan-African FinTech solutions and ecosystems, drive partnerships and funds for FinTech development, discuss regulations to enable and unblock FinTech development, and provide learning opportunities to all. This is expected to result in multiple tangible potential solutions being agreed upon for the FinTech arena, for it to keep growing in a sustainable and inclusive manner over the African continent. 

Looking ahead, as Mauritius prepares to hand the baton to Egypt, Noha Shaker, Secretary General of the Egyptian FinTech Association and AFN Vice President said, “We have a lot of exciting activities and initiatives to announce, none of which have been carried out in any other part of Africa, like the Green Finance Hub that we are going to be launching in Egypt in a few months’ time with key players around the ecosystem from Africa. We’ve had a couple of unicorns coming out of the Cairo this year, during COVID, and we see that investments actually channelled into Egyptian FinTech companies have surged and grown, despite a significant reduction in other parts of the world.”