The Africa Money and DeFi Summit just wrapped up its second edition in Accra at the Movenpick Hotel. Over two days, the summit had keynote addresses, presentations, and panel discussions with guests from different companies including EMTECH, Bank of Ghana, Flutterwave, WiPay, Turaco, and more.
Here are five of our takeaways from the two-day summit:
Bank Of Ghana Is Still Committed To The eCedi
On the first day of the event, Kwame Oppong, the head of fintech and innovation at the Bank of Ghana, officially announced the eCedi hackathon which will allow participants to build innovative solutions with the eCedi.
Although the pilot phase of the eCedi has been completed, the launch of it has been delayed due to Ghana’s dire economic situation. On a panel, Mr Oppong and Betrand Ndengeyingo, CTO of the Central Bank of Rwanda, discussed Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), its usefulness for central banks, and misconceptions about privacy.
Carmelle Cadet, Founder of EMTECH, later had a masterclass to discuss the eCedi and their partnership with the Bank of Ghana in developing the CBDC.
There Are Opportunities In Embedded Finance
In one of the panels on the future of digital finance, Leona Abban of Turaco, noted how embedding insurance digitally could help with the onboarding of new customers, especially in the insurance space.
Embedded finance is the integration of financial services into non-financial offerings.
Africa is noted for having the least insurance penetration, averaging at 2% of the population. Leona stated that looking at embedded finance could create new opportunities for companies to grow and scale their businesses.
The Funding Winter Will Wipe Out Some Startups
In a panel on Africa’s fintech investment outlook, the panelists noted that funding for African startups was decreasing and the period of getting new funding was taking longer.
One panelist noted that some startups will probably have about 6 months of runway left before they shut down operations. There were discussions about the possibility of consolidations and venture capitalists looking at companies that were more profitable to fund in the long term.
Hedera Is A Big Deal
Hedera got a big mention in some masterclasses and sessions at the event. The company which is a decentralised public ledger, was mentioned at the EMTECH masterclass in the discussion of the eCedi.
It was also mentioned during a Flutterwave presentation, where the speaker stated that the company was partnering with Hedera to make use of it for some of its product offerings including remittances.
Remittances Using The Blockchain Is Inevitable
A presentation by Aldwyn Wayne from WiPay showed the potential of sending money across borders. In his presentation, he demonstrated the WiPay platform showing how a user could send money from one Caribbean country to another instantly using the blockchain.
He discussed how this could open doors for the diaspora to send money through the blockchain instead of relying on the conventional ways of SWIFT payments and banks.
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