Test II - DFI Newsletter

June/July 2022

HIGH-LEVEL STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENTS TOWARDS INCLUSIVE DIGITAL RETAIL PAYMENTS IN COMESA

The CBC team has been carrying out stakeholder engagements with various financial services actors in the region, including but not limited to the Central Bank of Egypt, and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, to discuss possibilities for cooperation in driving digital financial inclusion, towards implementation of The Regional Digital Retail Payment Scheme for MSMEs in COMESA.

PUBLISHED REPORTS

We've recently published the following two reports under the Digital Financial Inclusion for MSMEs program, which inform the roadmap for the next phase:

The Model Policy Framework on Digital Retail Payments for Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in COMESA
Business Model on Operation and Implementation of the Regional Digital Retail Payment Scheme for MSMEs in COMESA.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

CBC DIGITAL FINANCIAL INCLUSION ADVISORY COMMITTEE 2022

We welcome Ms. Mildred Nadah Pita, Head of Public Affairs Science and Sustainability at Bayer’s Crop Science Business in Africa, to our Digital Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee.

Bringing forth a wealth of insights from the manufacturing value chain perspective, we look forward to working together towards reshaping the future of industry through digital financial inclusion of MSMEs in COMESA.

Get to know the rest of our Digital Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee members..

CLICK HERE

Insights from webinar-Adoption of DFS for crossborder trade

ADOPTION OF DIGITAL FINANCIAL SERVICES BY MSMEs FOR CROSS-BORDER TRADE

We partnered with AfricaNenda in carrying out an assessment of the training needs of MSMEs in the use of digital financial services for cross-border trade in Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. The findings were discussed in a validation webinar held earlier this month; one of note was that there's need to create impactful and tailored capacity-building programs (focusing on financial & digital literacy, and logistical planning, amongst other topics) to facilitate uptake of digital financial services by MSMEs cross-border traders.

WATCH THE WEBINAR REPLAY HERE

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Do central bank digital currencies have a future in Africa?
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"Hack the Mara" competition now open to African developers
To tackle last mile payment challenges, Mara, the Pan-African blockchain platform, is announcing the launch of the “Hack The Mara” competition which will take place from 17th-26th of September 2022. The hackathon in partnership with Circle, the issuer of USD Coin (USDC) and Euro Coin, will challenge developers to use blockchain via USSD and M-Pesa for payment transparency. Read More.

EcoCash pens deal to enable PayPal service in cash-strapped Zimbabwe
Zimbabweans are now able to use PayPal’s Xoom for remittances after mobile money platform, EcoCash inked a partnership with global payment network Thunes to facilitate payments utilising the global remittance platform. This developments comes a shortly after World Remit terminated direct remittances into Zimbabwean bank accounts of recipients. Read More.

Mobile money in Kenya now fully interoperable
Airtel and Telkom users are now be able to access Safaricom’s pay bill platform following the upgrade of the seamless transfer of money through merchants attached to different operators. This development is in line with the principles of the National Payments Strategy, 2022 – 2025, which was launched by the Central Bank of Kenya in February this year. Read More.

About COMESA Business Council:
CBC is a business member organization bringing together a diverse group of businesses and associations in the region from 34 sectors in 21 countries of COMESA. CBC is the recognized regional apex body of the private sector in the region. CBC as the key advocacy driver for business, provides a link between the private sector and organs of the Common market. We seek to improve the competitiveness and deepen the participation of the private sector in regional and global trade, through advocacy, business facilitation and enterprise development. This includes prioritizing and taking specific advocacy strategies to address key business impediments and measures that affect our industries and have a direct bearing on the participation of our businesses in trading in the COMESA region.

CONTACT US:

COMESA Business Council, COMESA Center
Ben Bella Road, P.O. Box 30051, Lusaka, Zambia

Tel: +260 211 229725/32, Ext: 7542 +260 761 228 754

www.comesabusinesscouncil.org

You received this email as you are a valued DFI stakeholder of COMESA Business Council.
For inquiries, contact: mnzioki@comesabusinesscouncil.org

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