FinTech and women’s entrepreneurship in Africa: the case of Burkina Faso and Cameroon

Our article examines the role of financial technology (FinTech) in improving the occupational choices of women in the global South. We analyse the link between FinTech and entrepreneurship, drawing on large data sets from central and western Africa that hold important novel policy implications for the wider Africa region. Our study helps to clarify if and when financial technology use may translate into self-employment, and how it can contribute to the improvement of the livelihoods of marginalised social groups. The article calls for a critical view of financial inclusion and highlights the importance of considering gendered livelihood and resource access patterns. Most of the existing research on financial inclusion in Africa is linked to access to and use of formal bank-based finance. Hence, the expanding mobile money use in Africa is viewed as contributing to financial inclusion. We argue that the dynamics involved are much more complex, and FinTech enters into and interacts with a sophisticated web of informal and formal financial institutions and transactional patterns. Disaggregating our analysis by gender, we explore how the use of mobile money enhances women’s entrepreneurship. The article also advances policy recommendations with important implications for the development of FinTech in the continent.