IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/itsb21/238002.html

A Gender perspective on the use of Artificial Intelligence in the African FinTech Ecosystem: Case studies from South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Ahmed, Shamira

Abstract

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) based systems complements the time-sensitive and data intensive nature of many activities in the financial services industry (FSI)-Specifically, in FinTech Ecosystems (FEs) that have disrupted many financial services landscapes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, FEs have distinct interrelated supply-side and demand-side dynamics that perpetuate gender disparity. As evidenced in many wealthier economies with more AI maturity, technology is not neutral, AI in particular is inherently biased and magnifies pervasive gender and racial discrimination that exist in the ecosystems where it is deployed. This raises questions regarding the manner in which AI can exacerbate or alleviate current dynamics in inequitable and unfair ecosystems. With the aforementioned in mind, this paper adopts a gender lens to examine the potential impact of using AI based systems in the FEs of four SSA countries-South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahmed, Shamira, 2021. "A Gender perspective on the use of Artificial Intelligence in the African FinTech Ecosystem: Case studies from South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana," 23rd ITS Biennial Conference, Online Conference / Gothenburg 2021. Digital societies and industrial transformations: Policies, markets, and technologies in a post-Covid world 238002, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:itsb21:238002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/238002/1/Ahmed.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sajda Qureshi, 2020. "Why Data Matters for Development? Exploring Data Justice, Micro-Entrepreneurship, Mobile Money and Financial Inclusion," Information Technology for Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(2), pages 201-213, April.
    2. Paolo Brunori & Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Vito Peragine, 2013. "Inequality of Opportunity, Income Inequality, and Economic Mobility: Some International Comparisons," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Eva Paus (ed.), Getting Development Right, chapter 0, pages 85-115, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Sanjiv R. Das, 2019. "The future of fintech," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 48(4), pages 981-1007, December.
    4. John H. Miller & Scott E. Page, 2007. "Social Science in Between, from Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life," Introductory Chapters, in: Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life, Princeton University Press.
    5. Lee, In & Shin, Yong Jae, 2018. "Fintech: Ecosystem, business models, investment decisions, and challenges," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 35-46.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christine Bischoff & Ken Kamoche & Geoffrey Wood, 2024. "The Formal and Informal Regulation of Labor in AI: The Experience of Eastern and Southern Africa," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 77(5), pages 825-835, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sharina Tajul Urus & Intan Salwani Mohamed, 2021. "A Flourishing Fintech Ecosystem: Conceptualization and Governing Issues in Malaysia," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 11(3), pages 106-131, December.
    2. Kou, Mingting & Yang, Yuanqi & Chen, Kaihua, 2024. "Financial technology research: Past and future trajectories," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 162-181.
    3. Haruthai Kasemharuethaisuk & Taweesak Samanchuen, 2023. "Factors Influencing Behavior Intention in Digital Investment Services of Mutual Fund Distributors Adoption in Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-21, January.
    4. Payam Hanafizadeh & Mojdeh Gerami Amin, 2023. "The transformative potential of banking service domains with the emergence of FinTechs," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(3), pages 411-447, September.
    5. Hendricks, Leeya & Matthyssens, Paul & Kowalkowski, Christian, 2025. "The co-evolution of actor engagement and value co-creation on digital platforms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    6. Bier, Vicki & Gutfraind, Alexander, 2019. "Risk analysis beyond vulnerability and resilience – characterizing the defensibility of critical systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(2), pages 626-636.
    7. Citera, Emanuele & Sau, Lino, 2019. "Complexity, Conventions and Instability: the role of monetary policy," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201924, University of Turin.
    8. Katherin Carrera-Silva & Olga Maritza Rodríguez Ulcuango & Paula Abdo-Peralta & Ángel Gerardo Castelo Salazar & Carmen Amelia Samaniego Erazo & Diego Haro Ávalos, 2024. "Beyond the Financial Horizon: A Critical Review of Social Responsibility in Latin American Credit Unions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-23, September.
    9. Liu, Yongtuan & Wang, Kewei, 2024. "Asymmetric impacts of coal prices, fintech, and financial stress on clean energy stocks," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    10. Mustafa Raza Rabbani & Shahnawaz Khan & Eleftherios I. Thalassinos, 2020. "FinTech, Blockchain and Islamic Finance: An Extensive Literature Review," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(2), pages 65-86.
    11. Iván Sosa Gómez & Óscar Montes Pineda, 2023. "What is an InsurTech? A scientific approach for defining the term," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 26(2), pages 125-173, July.
    12. Theodosio, Bruno Miller & Weber, Jan, 2023. "Back to the classics: R-evolution towards statistical equilibria," ifso working paper series 28, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Socioeconomics (ifso).
    13. Ruixin Su & Tong Zheng & Yuzhao Zhong & Weizhou Zhong, 2023. "Role of Digital Inclusive Finance for High-Quality Business Development: A Study of China’s “Five Development Concept” Policy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-21, August.
    14. Maciejczak, Mariusz, 2015. "Will the institution of coexistence be re-defined by TTIP?," GMCC-15: Seventh GMCC, November 17-20, 2015, Amsterdam, the Netherlands 211478, International Conference on Coexistence between Genetically Modified (GM) and non-GM based Agricultural Supply Chains (GMCC).
    15. Carrasco, Hugo & Abreo, Cindy & Álvarez-Vaz, Ramón Dr., 2025. "How moving costs Impact in Schelling’s Segregation Model : An extension to the original model," SocArXiv 2mkra_v1, Center for Open Science.
    16. Jeffery S. McMullen & Dimo Dimov, 2013. "Time and the Entrepreneurial Journey: The Problems and Promise of Studying Entrepreneurship as a Process," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(8), pages 1481-1512, December.
    17. Guillaume Edou Tchidi & Wei Zhang, 2025. "Mediating effect of financial inclusion on FinTech innovations and economic development in West Africa: Evidence from the Benin Republic," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 1032-1048, April.
    18. Alaassar, Ahmad & Mention, Anne-Laure & Aas, Tor Helge, 2021. "Exploring a new incubation model for FinTechs: Regulatory sandboxes," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    19. Rabbani, Mustafa Raza & Hassan, M. Kabir & Billah, Syed Mabruk & Shaik, Muneer & Halim, Zairihan Abdul, 2025. "Religion vs. ethics: Tail dependence between Sukuk, green bond, Islamic Fintech, and fourth industrial revolution assets," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    20. Garitta, Claudio & Grassi, Laura, 2025. "Predicting break-even in FinTech startups as a signal for success," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:itsb21:238002. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.itsworld.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.