FinTech for micro, small and medium sized enterprises
This report (PDF) by ING addresses the benefits of financial technology (FinTech) for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in developing countries. The role of FinTech is important in the discussion on how to financially include poor people in developing economies and can also be of interest to the agro-food sector. This report shifts the focus on to MSMEs because these are important job creators at the bottom of the pyramid. The report contains 10 main insights that offer important opportunities for the agro-food sector. According to the authors, FinTech is the game changer for the traditional bricks and mortar bank that cannot close the finance gap. Especially in remote rural areas physical branches are costly to operate and cannot provide the finance that MSMEs need. Furthermore, FinTech has the potential to impact the whole financial value chain and thus improve financial access for MSMEs. To fully fulfill this potential smartphones must not be seen as solely a luxury good, but as essential for financial inclusion. This would mean that financial inclusion policies can no longer go without policies to digitally include MSMEs and the people they hire.