South Africa faces severe economic and social challenges, including weak and declining economic growth and the world’s highest inequality and unemployment. Three decades after the end of apartheid, its economy is defined by stagnation and exclusion with current strategies not achieving inclusion and empowerment in practice. To achieve the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and meet commitments under the Paris Agreement, economic growth must be inclusive and shared more evenly across society, including with marginalised groups. Marginalised groups represent significant untapped potential. For Africa to tackle the development challenges faced, multiple partners are required.
Against this backdrop, Invest Africa in partnership with British International Investment (BII), will be hosting a half-day forum centred around the key strategic impact objective of BII – Inclusive Development.
Session 1: Digital Inclusion (08:15 - 09:15)
The African continent is at a pivotal moment in its journey towards digital transformation. The region faces a daunting array of challenges, from underdeveloped digital infrastructure and prohibitively expensive connectivity to a persistent digital divide between rural, peri-urban, and urban areas and a pronounced digital gender gap alongside an attendant lack of skills for digitally enabled industries. Moreover, regulatory and policy environments tend to often lag the needs of a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Despite these obstacles, the past decade has heralded considerable progress across the continent with increased connectivity, narrowing digital divide, and leveraging digital services that were unimaginable just a few years ago. Among other critical interventions and innovations mobile payments have revolutionised commerce, online learning platforms have brought education to remote areas, illustrating the region's resilience and innovative spirit. Such strides were only possible due to development finance investments across critical digital infrastructure.
Despite this progress, more investments from various parties working in a collaborative manner are needed to fully increase and support affordable digital connectivity for all.
In this session, BII and Invest Africa will explore how to mobilise financing that is not only impactful but also innovative to drive Africa’s digital infrastructure.
Session 2: Spatial & Financial Inclusion (09:30 - 10:30)
Spatial exclusion remains a significant barrier to economic growth and inclusion, rooted in South Africa history of exclusion. ities are characterised by vast commuting distances between economic centres and urban townships where most of the population reside, with attendant prohibitive transportation costs. These costs (direct and commuting time) create a wedge in the South African labour market with most housing located at the periphery, far from economic opportunities and essential amenities. This urban sprawl unfortunately perpetuates apartheid-era spatial segregation while undermining numerous social, developmental, and economic outcomes. Investing in affordable housing developments located closer to economic hubs and retail shopping centres in townships and peri-urban areas where the majority of urban populations reside, will improve the livelihoods of these populations, and decrease transportation costs (direct and indirect)
Africa is often heralded as a trailblazer in the future of banking, leveraging financial technologies like mobile banking, mobile money, artificial intelligence, and distributed ledgers to reach the unbanked. Across the continent, digital finance has emerged as a powerful tool for poverty reduction, providing low-income households with affordable and convenient methods to support their economic activities and enable efficient digital payments. But significant challenges remain. Consumers with limited literacy or digital skills struggle with navigating digital financial services, while inequitable access to mobile phones and internet in rural or poorly connected regions exacerbates the issue.
In this session, BII and Invest Africa will explore how to mobilise financing that is not only impactful but is innovative to drive spatial inclusion through investing in the affordable housing and township retail sector and explore strategies to enhance financial inclusion in Africa.
Speakers
Managing Director, Head of Africa | British International Investment
Chief Executive Officer | Divercity Urban Property Group
Head of Office and Coverage Director, South Africa | British International Investment
Executive: Partnerships & Planning | TymeBank
Head of Affordable Housing Development | Standard Bank
Group President & CEO | Cassava Technologies
In partnership with
