Today more than ever, organisations across the world recognise that empowering women as employees, suppliers,…
Blog
Five Years of Impact and Building an Inclusive Digital Finance Profession
Over the last five years DFI has been working hard to build an Inclusive Digital…
UPCOMING APRIL WEBINARS
Three webinars are happening in April – these are a great and free opportunity to…
Le Mobile Money en Afrique:un accélérateur au service de l’inclusion financière
Promouvoir l’inclusion financière est de plus en plus un axe majeur des politiques économiques en…
Le pouvoir de la digitalisation des paiements des travailleurs
Une statististique de l’Organisation Internationale du Travail indique qu’à l’échelle mondiale six travailleurs sur dix…
Instant and Inclusive Payments are becoming the new normal/Les paiements instantanés et inclusifs deviennent la nouvelle norme
In recent years, instant payments systems have been planned and launched in many countries, some…
Introducing the upcoming Digital Financial Inclusion Supervision (DFIS) Program/ Présentation du prochain programme de supervision de l’inclusion financière numérique (DFIS)
Digital Frontiers, Toronto Centre, and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) are developing…
In the Spotlight / Sous les projecteurs …. Kenneth Ugwuanyi
Kenneth has extensive career experience in Digital Payments and Retail Banking where he has handled…
Le programme Ambassadeur DFI
Cette année, nous sommes ravis de lancer notre programme Ambassadeur DFI, qui facilitera la mise…
In the Spotlight / Sous les projecteurs …. Kombe Kaponda
Kombe Kaponda is a very familiar name at DFI! He is an integral part of…
Introducing the DFI Ambassadors
This year, we’re thrilled to roll out our Ambassador Programme, making it easier to get…
L’Afrique en marche vers la «cashless society»
Pourquoi les agriculteurs en Afrique devraient ils payer leurs intrants par des moyens électroniques ?…
Community and Activities for 2021 – Communauté et activités pour 2021
We ended three years of funding in 2020 on a high, achieving all of our…
2020 Community Activities: forming a Digital Finance Profession – Activités de la Communauté DFI en 2020: création d’une Profession de Spécialistes de la Finance Digitale
As part of its capacity building program, DFI established Communities of Practice (COPs) across cities in…
Le Défi de la Protection des Consommateurs des Crédits Numériques en Afrique
Le succès du crédit numérique Avec la pénétration rapide du Mobile Money et des smartphones,…
2020 DFI Community Activities – Les activités de la Communauté DFI en 2020
As 2020 draws to a close we can reflect on the community activities we have…
Session d’information sur le Cycle d’Expertise en Finance Digitale – Certified Digital Finance Practitioner (CDFP)
Ce webinaire a pour objectifs de permettre à la communauté francophone de Digital Frontiers Institute…
Digital Identity Week 2020 Summary
We held our first Digital Identity Week in November 2020. Led by David Porteous, Nolwazi…
Read More
Les sources alternatives de financement qui révolutionnent le secteur financier en Afrique : crédit digital, Pay As You Go et crowdfunding
Sur la plateforme de crowdfunding (financement participatif) KIVA, un éleveur originaire du Burkina Faso fait…
Association Digital Frontiers Senegal – L’Association Digital Frontiers Sénégal
The Association Digital Frontiers Senegal (ADF-SN) developed from DFI’s Senegal Community of Practice (COP)…
Ces technologies qui transforment le paysage des services financiers : IA, big data, biométrie…
Le dynamisme du marché de la téléphonie mobile et l’essor d’Internet en Afrique ont ouvert…
Communities of Practice and Digital Finance Associations – Les Communautés de Praticiens (COP) et Associations Professionnelles de la Finance Digitale
As part of its capacity building program, DFI established Communities of Practice (COPs) across cities in…
In the Spotlight…. Ethel Mupambwa and Gerald M. Nyakwawa
This month we are featuring a recent CDFP graduate and an award-winning entrepreneur, both of…
Banques digitales et néo-banques : de quoi parlons-nous?
Il ne faut pas opposer les mots ‘banque digitale’ et ‘néo-banque’ car dans le fond,…
DFI se rapproche davantage de sa communauté francophone
Bonne nouvelle pour les francophones passionnés de finance digitale ! DFI lance une série d’activités qui…
Read More
In the Spotlight….. Ophelia Ama Oni
In the spotlight this month is CDFP gradutate, COP Facilitator and President of the Digital…
Du chou-fleur aux licornes : Cinq leçons des cinq années d’existence d’une startup
Le mois de juillet marque le cinquième anniversaire de Digital Frontiers Institute. Notre mission reste…
Campus goes Mobile – Le Campus devient Mobile
Did you know that you can now access your DFI courses on your smartphone? You need…
Introducing Alfred Ikemon Biaou, CDFP Student
Introducing you all to Alfred Ikemon Biaou, who is a professional in the banking industry…
Digital Frontiers Institute turns five, launches a new company direction and announces the incorporation of the Gateway Academy
‘It’s our fifth birthday – my how we’ve grown” This July marks five years since…
Gateway Academy Merges with Digital Frontiers to form Gateway
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 1, 2020 – Gateway Academy, the digital learning platform for financial inclusion…
Pop-up Discussion: What is Privacy Worth?
We launched a new way for our community to discuss, share their thoughts and create…
Our CDFP Journey with Gavin Krugel and Sarah Corley
In this video, Gavin Krugel and I share our journeys to become Certified Digital Finance…
Transitioning Community of Practice Meetings Online
Communities of Practice (COP) were established in 2016 to support students on two of DFI’s…
COVID-19 Resources
We’ve shared many covid-19 related resources and blogs via our League of Digital Finance Professionals…
Interview with CDFP Student, Farouq Kakuru
Farouq is experiencing an illustrious career within banking. He began his career as a Teller…
Financial Inclusion in Zambia and the role of the ADFP
On an ordinary day, Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city, is laden with agents on almost every…
Our Upcoming Webinars for April and May 2020
We have some great webinars coming up during April and May – as always places…
In memory of Ann Muhangi, DFS Champion
We received the sad news yesterday of the passing of Ann Muhangi. Ann was our…
Factors Contributing to the Success of the Bangladesh Community of Practice
The Dhaka Community of Practice (COP) started in April 2018, and was DFI’s first Asian…
DFI’s Community of Professionals and its Impact 2019
Digital finance is an emergent and disruptive field. It is important for those working in…
Read More
DFI Measurement and Impact Report 2019
Foreword from Gavin Krugel The importance of measurement and impact of initiatives and meeting customer…
Launch of Association Digital Frontiers Senegal / Lancement de l’Association Digital Frontiers Sénégal
On 30th November the Association Digital Frontiers Senegal (ADF-SN) was launched. DFI alumni along with…
Shortage of Cash in Zimbabwe and its Impact on Digital Payments Adoption
Cash, also termed fiat currency, has always been a medium of exchange for trading and…
Who are DFI’s first graduating CDFP class?
Digital Frontiers Institute established the Certified Digital Finance Practitioner (CDFP) program, in 2017, to support the growing…
Read More
Introducing Mohammad Rashed – Our Fifth CDFP Graduate
Mohammad Rashed is our fifth CDFP graduate. We conducted an interview with him so we…
Capacity Building in Rwanda
DFI together with Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR) organised an event for DFI alumni and…
Introducing Tavonga Edson Masendeken – our Fourth CDFP Graduate
Tavonga Edson Masendeken was our fourth CDFP graduate. We had the pleasure of getting to…
Sports betting and its Relationship to Digital Credit: A Case Study for East Africa
From the time gambling was introduced in East Africa it was a niche activity enjoyed…
New Communities of Practice launched
The second half of 2019 saw four new Communities of Practice (COP) being established and…
Cote d’Ivoire’s Desire Nindjin Talks Digital Transformation
When Desire Nindjin joined MTN Cote d’Ivoire in 2006 after a six-year stint at EY as Financial Auditor, the world of digital financial services was still in its infancy (M-Pesa first launched in Kenya a year later).
Charity Chikumbi and her journey to becoming the world first female CDFP
Charity Chikumbe was at a United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) conference in Johannesburg when she attended a presentation by Digital Frontiers Institute CEO, Gavin Krugel.
DFS Ecosystem Partnerships for Financial Inclusion in Zimbabwe
What are the benefits of DFS ecosystem partnerships and to what extend can they impact…
Lending in the Golden Data Age: Are Traditional Lenders Losing Ground to Fintech Lenders?
More than a third of the world’s adult population makes little or no use of…
The Unheard Cry of a Female Mobile Money Agent in Zambia
Walking along the streets of Lusaka Zambia, you see mobile money kiosks on almost every…
Development of a Digital Finance Profession in Uganda
Since 2009, when the Bank of Uganda issued a no-objection letter to Uganda’s first mobile…
Changes in SADC and South Africa promise progress in financial inclusion, but will incumbent payment systems operators move fast enough to support it? Thoughts from African Global Payments Summit – 2019 Johannesburg
Discussions and speeches at the Africa Global Payments Summit suggest that SADC is gearing for…
DFI aims to further the financial inclusion agenda with Digital Finance for All
Financial service providers have traditionally offered products that serve the needs of workers and enterprises…
Transition from Switch to the League of Digital Finance Professionals
Earlier this year, DFI decided to move from using our sister platform to campus –…
Community of Practice Conference 2019
DFI has 16 active Communities of Practice (COPs) around the globe who are meeting regularly…
30 scholarships to female students for Digital ID 2019
Fintech companies continue to grapple with an underrepresentation of women in leadership roles. This, according…
Libra – what’s behind the hype?
The announcement about the new global currency, Libra, has seen a frenzied response across the…
Building the digital finance community in Zambia
Digital finance professionals in Zambia have established the Association of Digital Finance Professionals with the…
The Jordan Landscape – A Situational Analysis
Financial inclusion in Jordan has increased from 24.6% in 2014 to 33.1% in 2017. 13.2%…
Expanding the League of DFS Professionals
For us at Digital Frontiers Institute (DF), our journey with our students doesn’t just stop…
Launch of the Association of Digital Finance Practitioners (ADFP) in Zambia
Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI) are proud to have been part of the launch of the…
Innovating With Pensions for the Informal Sector: Lessons from Solomon Islands
Saving for retirement usually is not one of the first priorities people have. Most people…
How the EU’s PSD2 open banking challenge could shape global regulations
As of Friday 14 March, payment service providers within the European Union have to comply…
Community of Practice – 2018 achievements
213 Community of Practice (COP) meetings were held in 2018 with 1494 places being filled,…
FSI Insights on policy implementation No 13
This paper outlines the emerging regulatory and supervisory approaches in selected jurisdictions to cloud computing…
Call for Applications: Non-Executive Director to the Board
The Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI) is pleased to announce an open call for applications for…
Digital Frontiers Institute, Omidyar Network commit to increase women’s roles in the digital identity sector
Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI) is offering 20 full scholarships for female candidates in DFI’s Digital…
Is our Gender and Digital Financial Services course for you?
As part of our ongoing work to improve financial inclusion across gender lines, Digital Frontiers…
DFI partners with CAFI at Renmin University in China for the successful completion of the first cohort of the Certificate in Digital Money in Mandarin
Drawn from a range of public and private sector financial institutions across mainland China, a…
The Digital Frontiers Institute and TalentintheCloud partner up to promote formal education in Digital Financial Services
The Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI) is proud to announce its new strategic partnership with TalentintheCloud,…
Communities of Practice – what are they and what are their benefits?
One of the unique aspects of DFI is the focus on taking action and…
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, FSD Africa and Omidyar Networks extend funding by a further $10 million in DFI to ramp up successful online training model for fintech globally, meet unexpectedly strong demand.
The Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI) was founded two years ago to address the human capital gap in the fintech industry. Its growth and success in developing fintech…
How DFI and our partners are addressing the gender gap in fintech.
Fintech is likely to struggle with the gender gap for a while still, as there is no instant solution to this problem. Through concerted and focused programmes and initiatives such as DFI’s…
Why Kenya leads the continent in fintech remuneration packages
The scarcity of fintech talent in Africa means that competition between companies for the best…
Understanding gender parity in fintech
Just as in technology and finance industries around the world, fintech companies in Africa are…
Seven strategies for improving employee engagement in the Fintech sector
Fostering strong employee engagement is one of the key factors in creating a sustainable and…
Explore Africa’s fintech talent landscape with the Digital Frontiers Institute
New Reports Highlight Salaries and Gender Gap Across Africa’s Fintech Industry To better understand and address human talent gaps that exist in Africa’s Fintech landscape, the Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI)…
Capacity Building for the New Era of Digital Finance – DFI Launches Certificate in Digital Money in Mandarin with CAFI
Digital commerce is now advancing rapidly in many parts of the world, with China at…
From scripted cordiality to solving empathy. Not as SIMPLE…
In the age of digital finance, customer centricity becomes a key element for success. New,…
Move over Behavioral Economics: Hello, Emotional Finance
Our brains are imperfect calculating machines: who could argue otherwise? There are cognitive biases galore:…
Consumer Protection in your DFS Go-to Market Plan
My January article introduced you to Consumer Protection in DFS, why it is important from a…
Study Paper: ‘AML/CFT Regulations for Mobile Money: Global Standards, Practices & Recommendations for Bangladesh’
Executive Summary Access to financial system by the lower segment of the society is assumed…
The “golden age” of digital finance in China
China’s Ant Financial Group announced in January 2017 that it will acquire the second biggest…
Call to Action – FinTech Talent Africa: Time to Act!
Most of us are familiar with the phrase “The war for talent”, a term coined…
Consumer Protection in Digital Financial Services – What should I do about it?
In December 2016 I published an article Your Top 10 Things to get Right in a…
Talking digital finance with venture capitalist Sanjay Swamy
In three years from now, what do we hope will have happened within India’s digital…
Paid, But Not Paying Off: Why G2P Payments Are Not Yet Driving Financial Inclusion
Your alarm goes off. It’s 3 a.m. on the last Friday of the month. You…
(Micro)insurtech: 5 challenges tech is addressing in microinsurance
The business of insurance is hard. Microinsurance has proven to be mostly impossible. Whilst promising exampleshave…
Could this be microinsurance’s uber moment?
Over the last decade, microinsurance has grown from covering fewer than 100 million risks, to…
Big data for small policies
What does big data mean for microinsurance? There are 24.2 million adults in Tanzania. About…
Is regtech a noun or a verb?
That seems like a silly question—it’s a noun, right? After all, the UK’s Financial Conduct…
Jumping to conclusions: How commonly held assumptions have skewed our view on women’s financial inclusion
Have you heard of the Fosbury Flop? Probably not. But you’d know one if you…
A balancing act: Using innovation to enhance financial inclusion whilst protecting personal data
Data has permeated all facets of our lives. It is more available and accessible than…
Why a plastic bottle trumps a bank account
… and what that tells us about the impact of financial inclusion on people’s lives. Patience,…
A key reason why a mobile money operation has failed comes back to how it has been operationalized
Today there are only a handful of successful mobile money deployments around the globe. Most…
“I’ve got your back” – the role of mutualitées in the DRC
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a country with a volatile history and…
Considered Social Media as a Change Management Channel yet?
Most of us can identify with the chaos change can create in an organization. While…
Are we ready for the new world of work?
I spent 3 minutes of pure adventure after stumbling across a video clip of Jabob…
WePay: The future of digital finance
The Economist magazine of 6 August 2016 featured a cover story on China’s ‘tech giants’. Most…
Digitisation of Government Payments Task Force Benefits from Digital Money Training
Financial Sector Deepening Kenya (FSDK), in partnership with FSD Africa and the Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI), held a graduation ceremony at the Serena Hotel for the Digitisation of Government Payments…
This road will not get you there – Customer Perspectives, Financial Inclusion
This week I drove 600 km from Cape Town airport to my home and sheep…
Banks need a paradigm shift to make headway in developing countries
In 1778 the first modern-day savings bank in Germany was founded in Hamburg. The bank…
Storming the Walls – How Mozambique’s ‘Citadel Economy’ shapes financial inclusion
When I first travelled through Mozambique, the picture was idyllic. Leaving sprawling Maputo behind, my…
Feedback – we all struggle with it, without fail!
Having attended the co-creation workshop last week and spending time with many Human Capital developers…
Beyond financial inclusion: financial health?
I have just spent two days at the EMERGE 2016 Conference in New Orleans, organized by US…
New partnership to help 1,500 professionals boost financial inclusion through digital finance services
A new certified training programme in digital money will help 1,500 professionals gain technical knowledge and drive innovation in digital money, thanks to a partnership between FSD Africa and the…
Want to know more about digital lending? Hear it first hand from a trailblazer.
DFI was privileged to spend some time with Lito Villanueva, President & CEO of FINTQ,…
The Unified Payments Interface – A Game Changer For India?
India already has a diverse and complex payments system, which is moving away from paper-based…
Bangladesh Bank–the controversy continues…
News of the cyber heist of some $81m from the account of Bangladesh’s central bank…
Digital Frontiers Institute and Karandaaz Pakistan partner to develop Human Capital in the Pakistan Digital Finance Industry
Islamabad, 11 May, 2016: Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI), an organization that promotes continued professional development in digital finance, and Karandaaz Pakistan…
Introducing Australia’s New Payments Platform
The Coming Age of Real-Time Retail Payments Systems The landscape of the contemporary payment systems…
Moving Money in Nigeria: Are there any “EaZy” Solutions?
I’ve been in Nigeria for four weeks now. Despite having a job focused on electronic…
Are you Satoshi Nakamoto?
The bitcoin protocol was first published in 2008 under the pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto. For years there has…
ApplePay is adding a million customers a week—is this high or low?
One of the better kept secrets of the payment world at present is the real…
What comes first? The chicken or the egg? A source of funds story.
One of the big dilemmas today for mobile payment solution providers is making mobile payments…
Oh Mama – an introduction to one of South Africa’s newest money transfer providers
Remittances act as a crucial lifeline for recipient households, however, for migrant workers, getting their…