Recent Blogs

Blog

Transforming Côte d'Ivoire's Cashew Sector with Phygital Empowerment

In Côte d’Ivoire, Wi-Agri empowers women farmers with digital tools and on-the-ground support. By understanding the challenges rural Ivorian women face, Wi-Agri is able to design for them rather than around them.
Blog

Surveys Reveal a Path to Responsible Digital Finance in WAEMU

For the first time, there is comprehensive data on digital financial services users in the WAEMU region, and it highlights the need for more responsible digital finance ecosystems. Strengthening consumer protection is crucial.
Blog

Digital Credit in Côte d'Ivoire: A Double-Edged Service

Digital credit can provide opportunities for financial inclusion and improved resilience, but new survey data from Côte d'Ivoire shows the need for greater consumer protection.
Blog

Can Disruptive Innovation Favor Financial Inclusion in Côte d’Ivoire?

Côte d'Ivoire's mobile money market is an excellent opportunity to reflect on whether market disruptions contribute to financial inclusion, given a recent revamp of mobile money business models in the country.
Blog

Growth of Digital Finance in Côte d’Ivoire is Not Without Risks

While digital financial services are driving financial inclusion in Côte d’Ivoire, we are also seeing the emergence of significant consumer risks that will require concerted action from all stakeholders in the digital finance ecosystem to counteract.
Blog

African Digital Credit Goes West

Digital credit is emerging in West Africa. Despite early reports of low default rates, consumer protection policies will be key to avoiding problems witnessed in East Africa.
Blog

Beyond Regulations: What’s Driving Mobile Money in Côte d’Ivoire?

Regulations helped spur the recent growth of mobile money in Côte d'Ivoire, but there's more to the story.
Blog

Regulations Drive Success of Digital Finance in Côte d’Ivoire

The year 2015 marked a turning point for financial inclusion in Côte d'Ivoire, as nonbanks were allowed to issue e-money. Since then, mobile money has driven big increases in account ownership.
Blog

Understanding Côte d’Ivoire’s Financially Excluded Women

Women are 45 percent less likely than men in Côte d’Ivoire to have a mobile money account. Low mobile phone ownership and financial innumeracy remain major barriers.
Blog

Digital Credit Helping to Put Kids in Classrooms in Cote d'Ivoire

By partnering with farmers’ cooperatives to offer an innovative digital credit product, Advans is seeing high repayment rates and having an impact on school attendance in rural Cote d'Ivoire.
Blog

Financial Innumeracy: A Global Problem for Digital Finance?

Mounting evidence suggests financial innumeracy presents a bigger barrier to financial inclusion than is often acknowledged. Here are three ways to improve numeracy.
Blog

Building Rural Digital Ecosystems, One Small Payment at a Time

New research shows that digitizing everyday payments as person-to-person transfers can be a sustainable way for providers to reach customers in rural areas.
Blog

In Côte d'Ivoire, Financial Inclusion at a Crossroads

Mobile money is driving overall progress in financial inclusion in Côte d’Ivoire, but it’s also highlighting a digital divide that could leave excluded segments behind if not dealt with through smart policy.
Blog

Building Rural Digital Ecosystems: A New Role for Agribusinesses?

Bringing digital finance to the rural poor will require financial services providers to work more creatively with agribusinesses that have extensive experience serving last-mile clients.
Blog

Better Regulations Can Spur Agent Banking in WAEMU

Regulations in the West African Economic and Monetary Union have enabled mobile money providers to double their agent networks since 2014, while restricting banks and microfinance institutions. Better regulations would create a level playing field and expand financial inclusion.
Blog

Digital Finance in WAEMU: What’s New?

CGAP recently interviewed representatives of 100+ organizations in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali and Niger to better understand the market system for digital financial services in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). What have we learned?
Blog

Future of Mobile Money for Cocoa Farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana

New research from the World Cocoa Foundation explores the potential of mobile money to enhance cocoa farmers’ livelihoods in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana and paints a detailed persona of customers at the frontier of widespread adoption.
Blog

Digital Financial Services for Cocoa Farmers in Côte d’Ivoire

Smallholder farmers are largely unable to access formal financial institutions. Over the past 22 months, a pilot project implemented by Advans Côte d’Ivoire strove to link cocoa farmers to financial institutions by transitioning from cash to digital payments, with promising results.
Blog

Insights on Inactivity of Mobile Money Accounts in Côte d’Ivoire

Côte d’Ivoire is one of the most vibrant digital financial services markets in West Africa. But why do so many customers remain inactive?
Blog

3 Insights on Customer Empowerment from Côte d’Ivoire

In Côte d’Ivoire, societal values and personal relationships have a high degree of influence over how people choose financial service providers.