Business updates

The COMESA Business Council (CBC) has entered into a partnership agreement with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMG Foundation) on a project termed; the COMESA SME Digital Financial Inclusion Plan. The overall objective of the development of a business case for an integrated digital payment scheme that offers low transaction costs for domestic and regional payments thereby improving cross border trade. The project will be implemented for the next two years, piloted in ten countries;Malawi, Zambia, Mauritius, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Egypt, Tanzania.  

The project will focus on two phases:

i) the development of a business case for a regional payment policy and framework that supports a practical solution that will digitalize SMEs through financial services;

ii) the development of the business model, governance and operational aspects of a payment scheme, and the documentation of the requirements of a payment scheme that fulfills those requirements.

The specific objectives of the Business case study will be on defining the requirements needed to develop a regional payment scheme that can facilitate bottom of the pyramid informal traders (cross border and domestic) to carry out affordable digital transactions that are transparent, affordable, and provide access to formal working capital.

For more information on the CBC SME Digital Financial Inclusion Project, click here.

Legend: Mr. Marday Venkatasamy, CBC Chairperson, and Mr. David Lubinski from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, at the centre.