Africa, ASEAN enter into landmark partnership agreement to promote digital economies

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Fintech, decentralized assets, fundraising seen as areas of convergence

Amor Maclang of DP, OAFM, GIFT-ASEAN together with Professor David Lee of GFI and Dr. Patrick Saidu Conteh of AFN signs the partnership agreement witnessed by movers and shakers from ASEAN and Pan Africa – Sopnendu Mohanty of the Monetary Authority of Singapore; Remi Pell of the Cambodia Fintech Association; Dr. Segun Aina of AFN; and Premier Oiwoh of Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement Systems.

Africa and ASEAN signed a landmark partnership agreement to promote digital economies, identifying fintech, decentralized assets and fundraising as focus for convergence. The historic signing was done at the seminal inclusive Fintech Forum in Kigali, Rwanda witnessed by regulators, association heads and leading fintech and technology businesses across the two regions.

The partnership brings together ASEAN (via the GIFT- Global Impact Fintech ASEAN, the One ASEAN Fintech Movement – OAFM and Digital Pilipinas) and Pan Africa via the Africa Fintech Network. This also sets the stage for the first ever Africa x ASEAN Digital Economies and Fintech month both happening on the week of October 2-6, 2023 in Manila, Philippines and Nairobi, Kenya.

Witnessing the partnership signing for the Africa Fintech Network (AFN) were Dr. Patrick Saidu Conteh, CEO, Dr. Segun Aina President, Premier Oiwoh, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer at NIBSS / Nigeria and the various officers of the AFN, the 35 country strong network of digital economies in Africa.

For its ASEAN counterpart, witnessing the partnership agreement signing were Singapore’s Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Sopnendu Mohanty and Global Fintech Institute Dr. David Lee, Mr Ouk Sarat, Head of Payment Service Department, National Bank of Cambodia, Remi Pell, Chair of Cambodia Fintech Association and Amor Maclang of Digital Pilipinas, Philippine Fintech Association and GIFT/ OAFM.

This landmark agreement marks the beginning of a collaboration between the two regions in advocacy, fundraising, payments, lending, decentralized assets, start-up development, regulatory exchange and education.

Both Africa and ASEAN are expected to grow exponentially in the digital economies space with global projections for ASEAN growing by 6 per cent annually, reaching as high as US$1 trillion by 2030. Africa, on the other hand, is projected to top US$712 billion by 2050.

“Africa and ASEAN are uniquely placed to leapfrog digital economic development. The recent signing of a cooperation agreement with our various ASEAN partners as the One ASEAN Fintech Movement/ GIFT / Digital Pilipinas & Africa Fintech Network is a demonstration of the strong emerging partnership among the major digital finance stakeholders in the spirit of sharing innovative technologies, knowledge, and best practices to support the sustainable development of our countries, “ says Dr. Conteh.

Professor David Lee, Co-Founder & Chairman of Global Fintech Institute has this to say : “By rolling out the Chartered Fintech Professional (CFtP) professional qualification program in collaboration with our partners, Digital Pilipinas & Africa Fintech Network, GFI is committed to leverage on this partnership to empower and nurture future generations of fintech talents in ASEAN & Africa with a global mindset, a rigorous knowledge framework for continually keeping up with industry development & trends, and strong ethical standards. This is just a humble beginning and leveraging on the inputs from our partners, we will roll out even more programmes such as “CFtP Lite” and other digital literacy programmes to empower policymakers, practitioners and entrepreneurs!”

“Africa and ASEAN have almost the same parallel journey in our digital economy and our commitment to take this side by side with our African Fintech Leaders ensures that engaging and investing in the combined population of 2 billion as a fintech market will be a primary agenda of many companies, countries and organizations,” says Maclang.

The Africa x ASEAN digital economies partnership also enjoins other interested groups and organizations to be part of the collaboration by reaching out to Dr. Patrick Conteh of the Africa Fintech Network or Amor Maclang of the One ASEAN Fintech Movement / Digital Pilipinas.