Rwanda to host the 2016 MasterCard Foundation symposium on Financial Inclusion

Fourth Generation Capital  a Kenyan company focused on micro-entrepreneurs is among three companies that will be competing for the US$150,000 initiative from the MasterCard Foundation in Kigali, Rwanda.

Kenya will be competing against India and South Africa during at the sidelines of The MasterCard Foundation Symposium on Financial Inclusion  that will be advocating for financial service providers to focus on those living in poverty on October 20-21, 2016.

MasterCard Foundation believes that universal access to finance, embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals, can be achieved only if economically disadvantaged people have access to safe, affordable and convenient financial products and services. That can occur only if financial service providers truly understand the complex financial lives of poor people and design and deliver products that respond to them.

“Financial inclusion is essential to improving the livelihoods of people living in underserved communities, and for advancing a country’s overall economic growth and prosperity,” said Reeta Roy, President and CEO of The MasterCard Foundation. “Large numbers of people across the developing world need and want access to modern financial products and services that work for them. This Symposium is promoting the innovation, learning and sharing of knowledge that will spur more inclusive financial systems.”

World Bank’s global Findex report stated, “Studies show that when people participate in the financial system, they are better able to start and expand businesses, invest in education, manage risk, and absorb financial shocks. Access to accounts and to savings and payment mechanisms increases savings, empow­ers women, and boosts productive investment and consumption. Access to credit also has positive effects on consumption—as well as on employment status and income and on some aspects of mental health and outlook.”

Key speakers during the event include: Stephen Mukweli, Managing Director, PostBank (Uganda), Olga Morawczynski Program Manager, The MasterCard Foundation, Paul Kweheria Senior Strategy Manager, KCB Group, Nick Hughes Co-Founder, Chief Product Officer, M-KOPA among others.

Roger Morier, Senior Communications Manager, Financial Inclusion at The MasterCard Foundation says the Symposium will devote more time to explore and understand the behavioural aspects of client decision-making, and how financial service providers can use that information to better respond to what poor people want.

“Gaining insight into how we process information and what shapes our behaviours as consumers can lead providers to design products and services for the most economically disadvantaged while earning a small profit. This is a key point: although we all understand the benefits of altruism, no financial services firm can be sustainable unless it can find a way to earn more than it dispenses.”

For the past four years, the annual Symposium has brought together professionals from the global financial inclusion community to learn about best practices, discuss the latest innovations and insights, and to share knowledge about potential opportunities.