Marrakech — Experts and industry leaders came together today at GITEX Africa’s Future of Finance Stage to tackle the transformative power of fintech for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a session titled “The Opportunities Next Door.”
Adetayo Oduwole, Director of International Business and Compliance at Itana, emphasized that financial barriers remain among the most significant challenges for SMEs looking to expand.
“What we need is ease of banking, access to funding, ease of compliance, and straightforward redress mechanisms,” he said, pointing to how fintech innovations are addressing these pain points.
Oduwole further advocated for a regional approach to policy development, saying: “We’ve been pushing for SME regional expansion. Let’s ensure that there is an expansion opportunity for you maybe in West Africa and Northern Africa.”
He also advised that political commitment is essential in fintech inclusion for a better SMEs’ environment. “If we have that political will, it’s easy to support regulation. Once there’s political will, we put the control mechanisms in place.”
Meanwhile, the International Business expert at Itana called for proper market research prior to any expansion efforts.
“Let us start with sustainable policies, let us do our proper market research, let us speak to the professionals,” he urged, while raising the vitality of collaboration to reach the intended goals.
“SMEs should stop seeing themselves as islands. There needs to be cooperation and collaboration.”
For his part, William Benthall, Global Head of Government Relations at Glovo, reinforced the importance of market readiness before expansion.
“I’ve seen a lot of SMEs and start-ups that do make that jump when they’re not ready,” he cautioned.
He also noted that successful scaling requires multiple systems working together, saying that SMEs need payment systems and a tech-savvy population.
Benthall shared how his company has generated approximately $1 billion in direct economic impact for 45,000 African businesses over five years, with 90% being SMEs.
“There are amazing stories of small businesses that would have been tucked away on a street managing to use technology to start online sales, access finance, and grow into medium-sized businesses.”
The session demonstrated how fintech solutions are increasingly bridging the gap between SMEs’ growth ambitions and the practical challenges of expansion across Africa’s diverse markets.
In doing so, the session’s takeaways offer new pathways for businesses to capitalize on the continent’s ongoing digital transformation.
