Konference: Ready for a new era for development financing shaped by technology? (København)

African economies are already undergoing a digital revolution, including in the areas of Finance technology (Fintech) and Regulatory technology (Regtech). Both technological trends offer opportunities and risks for African countries, and in some respects, African countries are already ahead of other regions.

Across the African continent, including through partnerships with actors abroad, we see new and innovative Fintech solutions spearheaded by Governments, start-ups, companies and civil society: From Blockchain-solutions and trackable coins, to apps and new digital solutions for greater transparency. Impact investments are on the rise and many leverage new digital tools and approaches. At the same, digital solutions open up for innovation of capital market instruments. At the same time, Regtech has the potential to boost more transparent public finance and more effective oversight of the finance sector.

New Technology makes it possible to break with ‘business as usual’ also when it comes to raising funds for the SDGs. Many solutions were originally designed for the financial sector, but what opportunities and risks do they offer impact funds, African states and civil society organizations in SDG implementation? This question is gaining increasing interest in the Danish Fintech start up community.

This one-day conference is hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Copenhagen FinTech Lab and the Sustainable Digital Finance Alliance (SDFA) as part of #TechVelopment Spring 2019. The conference is designed as a meeting of minds, highlighting cases and studies from Africa, Denmark and international organizations to address Fintech, opportunities and risks in an African context. Strategic insights from the discussions will be captured as a contribution to the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Task Force for Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals.

A number of African governments, organizations and innovative private companies are proposing digital solutions that can help change public finance dynamics and improve transparency and oversight. Among others, the conference agenda explores examples from the M-Akiba, the World’s first mobile-only bond; to The Fintech company Pangeas innovative impact investing space, which connects African innovators to mentors globally, offering fully transparent investment flows on the blockchain; to the cooperation between Germany and Burkina Faso to build a blockchain-based national platform for tracking aid flows; to the ongoing project by the Danish company Maker Dao to create a stable crypto-currency.

Join the conference to learn more, share your experience and insights and grow your network to innovate for sustainable development in Africa.

Conference programme

10:00: arrival and coffee/networking

10:15 – 10:30: Opening by Danish minister for Development Ulla Tørnæs (V)

10:30 – 10:50: UN High Level Task Force for Digital Financing of the SDGs The Secretary General of the United Nations has established a Task Force for Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals. The aim is to develop proposals on how technology (Fintech) can help close the 2,5 trillion-dollar annual funding gap of the Sustainable Development Goals. Kenya has a vibrant Fintech community and has experimented to innovate capital market instruments for sustainability. Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, Patrick Njoroge.

10:50 – 11:00: CPH FinTech The Danish FinTech innovation landscape by CIO Simon Schou

11:00 – 11:15: State of digital innovative finance in Africa (World Bank or IMF, TBD)

Part 1. Trackable financial flows

11:15 – 11:30: Making money flows transparent: The German Development Bank Kfw and the Finance Ministry of Burkina Faso work on a national blockchain platform for funds. Project Director of TruBudget Piet Kleffmann, Kfw 

11:30 – 11:45: Making national currencies transparent and programmable – Potentials and options for designing community coins and state-issued digital currencies to open new avenues for increased transparency and to innovate the delivery of impacts on the SDGs. But is this the next step for Africa? Danish digital cash company Aryze

Part 2. Digital Innovation for Citizen investing

11:45 – 12:00: Health break (networking and more coffee)

12:00 – 12:10: Community mobile bonds and automated digital reputation of SMEs – Smart algorithms can automate due diligence on projects and small businesses to open up equity investments to citizens. Digital also has the potential to directly harvest data from the real economy to enable the structuring of community bonds. Sofie Blakstad CEO and Founder of Hiveonline.

12:10 – 12:20: Bancore – Platform for digital finance in Nigeria by CEO Brian Larsen.

3-minute presentations on unlocking domestic assets. JamiiPay Danish mobile wallet provider by CEO and Founder Charlotte Rønje, Lone Søndergaard Investment Manager Nordic Micro-finance initiative

12:30 – 12:45: Panel discussion w. presenters

12.45-13:30: Lunch

Part 3. Impact investing goes digital

13.30-13:45: Impact investing goes digital allowing remittances to flow into fragile states: Use of blockchain to attract impact capital into states such as Zimbabwe. Gustav Arentoft, Business Developer at MakerDAO, a Danish stable coin company.

13:45 – 14:00: Impact investing by African diaspora into African talent: Innovating impact investing to unlock African capital and peer-to-peer entrepreneurial mentorship. Jonas Tesfu CEO and Founder Pangea, an impact accelerator based in Norway.

14:00 – 14:15: Risk assessment of tech investments in Africa by IFC

3-minute pitches and panel discussion on risks and opportunities: with Metoa, sustainable robo-advisor for impact investing Jakob Lage Hansen, The Nordic Impact Fund, CEO and Founder Lisbeth Zacho, MakeImpact ChangeMaker, Varan Pathmanathan, Matter, pension-tech for impact investing, CEO and Founder Niels Fibæk and accelerator Katapult Africa by CEO and Founder of Nordic Impact Søren Stig.

14.40 – 15:10 Panel discussion with all the presenters

Part 4: Workstreams

15:10 – 16:00: Break-out work streams (and more coffee)

Workstream # 1 Blockchain towards investable local economies: This can help shift communities and local economies from dependent to investible and attract capital for example via digital community bonds for e.g. roll-out of green infrastructure or crowd equity investments into local businesses. It can also open up for a broader national tax base. This workstream will explore how to move forward on digital community finance, where value stays where it is created. Moderators Sofie Blakstad CEO and founder Hiveonline and Line Gamrath Programme Coordinator CARE Danmark

Workstream# 2 Digital innovate impact investment: Impact investing is on the rise, but it is still less than one percent of all invested assets. This workstream discuss and design opportunities for using digital technology to design new instruments for scaling impact investments into Africa. Moderator Jonas Tesfu CEO and Founder of impact accelerator Pangea

16:00 – 16:10: Next steps for TechVelopment Spring by MFA.

Arranged by:

• Cph Fintech
• Udenrigsministeriet
• Sustainable Digital Finance