In many developing countries, including Malawi, digital financial inclusion remains a challenge, leaving a significant portion of the population underserved in the digital era. Marginalized groups, such as women, youth, and rural communities, face barriers like the lack of digital infrastructure, limited network access, electricity shortages, stringent regulations, and limited accessibility to digital financial services

To bring these issues to the forefront, the UNCDF in Malawi, through its Digital Financial Services for Resilience (DFS4Res) program, organized a fintech event named "Chiyambi Fintech: Dialogues to shape the future of digital finance technology in Malawi." The first in a series of dialogues whose goal is to initiate discussions among various stakeholders in the field on developing the fintech ecosystem in Malawi.

The event successfully brought together participants from financial institutions, mobile companies, fintech startups, regulators, academia, and among others. Dr. Sunduzwayo Madise, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Malawi and a keynote speaker at the event, emphasized the need for regulatory flexibility. He urged the Reserve Bank of Malawi to ease financial requirements for startup fintechs, particularly in the payment system, to encourage innovation among the younger population.

Dr. Madise stated, "I think it is important that we should change the licensing regime, have a license for those who want to work in the payment system as the banks do, but also allow aggregators and others to innovate. The people who have the innovations are the young people. They don’t have the money. So, let’s encourage them to innovate."

UNCDF IDE Malawi Country Lead Iris Kissiti echoed Dr. Madise's sentiments, highlighting the nascent nature of the fintech space in Malawi. , "The fintech ecosystem plays a crucial role in financial inclusion, especially for marginalized groups such as youths, rural women, refugees, as well as micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME). By growing the fintech ecosystem, these institutions can address niche needs faced by marginalized groups in accessing and using financial services." Kissiti stated.

The DFS4Res program, implemented by UNCDF in collaboration with the European Union and the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States, aims to leverage digital financial services (DFS) to enhance the resilience of the Malawian economy.