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Financial inclusion may sound like an esoteric concept, but its meaning is more than real for over 1 billion people who have access to a financial account. These people no longer need to rely on and transact solely in cash or use their mattresses as saving cabinets. With rapid changes and innovation in technology especially with the spread of mobile phones, more access to banking and inclusions has been witnessed. \u00a0\u00a0Mobile banking has digitalized cash payments in African countries and eased the long-distance travels to banks for financial services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digital technology helps boost financial inclusion and SDGs. Digital financial payments- a mobile phone lined to a bank account- allows people to access money in a crisis such as a hit by financial shock reducing the odds they\u2019ll fall into poverty. Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) has partnered with M-pesa to allow its users to save money from any location. This platform has encouraged those in the informal sectors especially farming save the little they make to use in the long term and also transact despite the marginalization of some of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So\nwhy promote financial inclusion?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n People who access\nfinancial services have greater security and privacy over their money. Savings\naccounts make it easier to save, so people save more and earn more. Increasing\naccount ownership helps promote gender equality. considering that poor women\naccount for 1.1 billion adults, or most of the financially excluded. When\nsavings accounts were offered to female\nmarket vendors in Kenya<\/a>, their daily expenditure increased\nby 37% compared to a group of women who did not receive an account. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Financial inclusion of\nfarmers can unleash bigger investments in the planting season. The results-\nhigher yields- and progress towards achieving food security. When Malawian\nfarmers<\/a> had their earnings deposited into a new bank, their\ncrop value increased by 21% and they spent 13% more on purchasing equipment\nneeded to aid in farming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Financial inclusion also encourages good health- SDG 3. Having a savings account helps parents to pay for a clinic appointment for kids. Out-of-pocket health care costs are one of the major reasons why most Africans in developing countries are stuck in poverty. But give them an account and poverty can be alienated. A study in Kenya<\/a> found that giving people a safe place to store money increased health spending by 66%. Health-related shocks, that would otherwise disrupt their economic activities as a result of lost income are managed when one has insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/climatepione.jpg\")