The digital financial services (DFS) industry in Zambia has experienced significant growth over the last couple of years. The country went from having only 2 percent of the adult population with an active DFS account from four providers in 2014 to 24 percent of the adult population with an active DFS account from 18 providers in 2017. The number of active agents also increased from 2,730 in 2014 to 22,946 in 2017. To capitalize on these gains and to continue to develop the country’s DFS ecosystem, Zambia needs a group of trained DFS professionals equipped with the right knowledge and skills and the ability to apply them successfully.

The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) seeks to build the DFS capacity of local professionals, in collaboration with other stakeholders in the digital financial inclusion space in Zambia, including the Mercy Corps AgriFin Accelerate programme, Catholic Relief Services and Financial Sector Deepening Zambia. UNCDF and its partners do so by ensuring that best practices and information concerning the state of DFS in Zambia are disseminated in a timely and effective manner. UNCDF also works to ensure that DFS professionals have access to the right tools and techniques needed to apply their learnings. With access to the right tools, they can contribute to the growth of digital financial inclusion in Zambia.

Beyond engaging with the public and private sector to implement digital finance projects, UNCDF sponsors professionals to participate in DFS-related trainings in and outside of Zambia. An example is the Certificate in Digital Money course offered by the Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI). To date, over 120 professionals in Zambia have completed the DFI course. In fact, Zambia is the top-performing country of all those where DFI is active.

As the DFS industry in Zambia matures, new opportunities and challenges will emerge to test the theoretical knowledge shared in courses like those offered by DFI. For that purpose, UNCDF launched a new initiative: Digital Coffee Sessions. The objective of the Digital Coffee Sessions is to convene DFS professionals who are working in the public and private sector in Zambia to discuss issues affecting the propagation of DFS. These issues include, but are not limited to, interoperability, data privacy, customer dormancy, agent inactivity, innovation, and evolving policies and regulations around DFS. UNCDF wants to hear what DFS practitioners in Zambia think about these issues and how they are leveraging their theoretical knowledge gained from studying the industry. Their perspectives can help guide UNCDF and other DFS stakeholders in developing interventions to offer tailored and timely support to DFS professionals.

On 16 October 2018, UNCDF held the inaugural Digital Coffee Session at Protea Hotel Lusaka Tower in the capital city of Zambia. Over 40 DFS professionals from the public and private sector attended the event. Alumni from the DFI course were invited to share their experiences, in line with the theme of the session ‘Becoming a DFS Expert: Lessons from Theory to Practice’. Key takeaways from the alumni included the following:

1. Courses like those offered by DFI help to establish a baseline in terms of the knowledge and skills that DFS professionals should have as they work towards becoming experts. By being introduced to DFS terms and exploring their meanings through case studies and examples, DFI alumni have become more conversant with widely used DFS terminology and are able to understand and contribute to conversations on various DFS topics.

2. While it is important to learn from innovations and advancements in DFS in other high-performing markets, it is equally important to recognize that the ‘copy and paste’ approach rarely works. Understanding the local context as well as the target customers is key to the successful adaptation of DFS-related lessons from other markets.

3. Becoming a DFS expert requires a passion for the field. This requires a dedication to continuous learning and improvement of one’s DFS skills. One way the DFI alumni are doing this is by adopting a human-centred design approach in the design of products and services. This has led to an increase in the products that customers find relevant and thus are likely to use more.

As UNCDF continues to work to build the capacity of DFS professionals and advance DFS in Zambia, the organization looks forward to seeing the impact that the Digital Coffee Sessions will have on the community of DFS stakeholders and the practitioners’ capacity to apply lessons learned in Zambia.

Are you a DFS professional in Zambia? Are there any topics you would like to see addressed in subsequent editions of the Digital Coffee Sessions? Contact Uloma Ogba uloma.ogba@uncdf.org to share your feedback.

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