by Mariatou Ngum
The Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment (MOTIE) in partnership with GIZ on Wednesday held a national consultation focused on adopting and leveraging Fintech to enhance access to finance for women engaged in cross-border trading at Bakadaji.
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 EU Delegation to The Gambia, the EU remains particularly committed to ensuring that when we support projects and programs, they are an evidence-based policy approach. This, she said, is even more relevant on the matter of financial inclusion, where although the realities are plural and specific to each country, it remains important to build and popularise a uniform understanding of the issue.
Ms. Lumana explained that financial inclusion means that individuals and businesses should have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs.
She thanked the Ministry of Trade for their continuous engagement towards improving the country’s business environment and women’s economic integration.
For his part, Mr. Omar Badjie, director of Industry and Investment Development at MoTIE, disclosed that last year through ILO, the Ministry was able to develop a formalization strategy hence they saw the need to develop the Fintech strategy to drive their formalization because almost 76 percent of the MSMEs in the country are informal and majority of them are women and they are controlling 20 percent of the GDP.
Therefore, he said they will implement this strategy once it is developed as the primary goal is to enhance financial inclusion for women cross-border traders by leveraging fintech innovations to overcome existing barriers that limit their access to financial services.