According to research firm Disrupt Africa's 2023 "Finnovating for Africa: Reimagining the African financial services landscape" report, Botswana has only one recognised fintech startup.
The Finnovating for Africa Report 2023 is based on data extracted from a list of 678 fintech startups from across Africa collated by the Disrupt Africa team. This list was built over a number of years from Disrupt Africa’s own reporting on the African tech space, as well as additional research and information provided by third parties.
According to the Bank of Botswana, as of 2019, 24% of Botswana's population were unbanked, do not use any financial products and do not have access to any form of financial service.Fintech innovations can go a long way in making it easy for these people to move money, have access to financial information, and make borrowing easy which would, in turn, make life easier for people who have no access to traditional banking institutions. This would boost economic activity in the country as those who have been previously left out from accessing banking services like informal traders can now have access to them.
To harness all these transformative advantages that can come with fintech innovation, there first has to be an enabling environment for these innovations to actually happen and for investors to be nudged to put their money in. From the innovators' side, more effort has to be put into coming up with solutions that can not only change lives but also scale. From the government's side, more innovation-friendly regulatory frameworks have to be put in place to remove bureaucratic red-tape for innovators and investors. Last but not least, academic institutions should constantly update their curriculums to put them in line with current trends so they can produce skilled personnel who would play a big part in aiding fintech innovation in the country.
It is only through a combination and cooperation of all these players that a synergy point can be reached which will put Botswana on the fintech map and transform Batswana's lives in the process.