By Mariatou Ngum
The Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment (MoTIE), in partnership with GIZ recently held a national consultation focused on adopting and leveraging Fintech to enhance access to finance for women engaged in cross-border trading. Empowering women in cross-border trade is crucial for economic growth and development in our region. By harnessing the potential of financial technologies, we can break down barriers and provide these entrepreneurs with the tools they need to thrive. According to Ms. Lumana Kamashi, Development Cooperation and International Aid Officer at the European Union (EU) Delegation to The Gambia, said EU remains particularly committed to projects and programmes that are evidence-based policy approach. This, she said, is even more relevant on the matter of financial inclusion. “Although the realities are specific to each country, it remains very important to build and popularise a uniform understanding of issue,” she stated.
Ms. Lumana explained that financial inclusion means that individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs. She thanked Ministry of Trade for their continuous engagement towards improving the country’s business environment and women economic integration On his part, Mr. Omar Badjie, Director of Industry and Investment Development at MoTIE disclosed that last year through ILO the Ministry developed a formalisation strategy. The need to develop the Fintech strategy became necessary to drive their formalization because almost 76 percent of the MSMEs in the country are informal and majority of them are women controlling 20 percent of the GDP. He further highlighted that they will implement this strategy once it is developed. The primary goal is to enhance financial inclusion for women cross-border traders by leveraging fintech innovations to overcome existing barriers that limit access to financial services.
