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Mastercard, Financial Access Initiative Partner to Enable More Small Businesses Benefit From Digital Economy
The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and The Financial Access Initiative (FAI) at New York University have announced the launch of The Small Firm Diaries, a global research initiative that will provide unprecedented insight into the financial lives of small businesses across six countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
The study will examine how small firms manage the adoption of digital financial services, with a focus on women-led businesses.
By collecting detailed quantitative and qualitative data insights from firms employing between 1 and 20 non-family workers in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Colombia, Indonesia and Fiji, the study will shed light on how small business owners across the world manage their financial decision making amidst uncertain and volatile economies.
While there has been a great deal of research on informal family-run “microenterprises,” and more professionalized “medium-sized” firms, the needs of small firms are not yet well-understood.
For example, in Sub-Saharan Africa, small firms play a crucial role in economic development and job creation and insight is needed to understand the unique challenges faced by them in order to create sustainable solutions for their longevity and growth.
According to The World Bank, it is estimated that SMEs are responsible for 77% of all jobs in Africa and as much as half of the GDP in some countries.
The research initiative, supported by the Center, aims to provide financial service providers, policymakers, and practitioners with knowledge and recommendations to address barriers to adoption of digital financial services.
“We must understand how small enterprises work in order to develop interventions that reduce inequality and increase financial security amongst financially underserved communities,” said Natasha Jamal, Regional Director, Middle East and Africa, with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.
“This first-of-its-kind research will provide on the ground insights into what barriers and opportunities exist for small firms to adopt digital financial services and participate in an inclusive economy.”
“Small firms are by far the biggest employer in low and middle-income economies.
“Despite decades of statistical research, fundamental questions remain about why some grow, and some stagnate,” said Jonathan Morduch, Executive Director of the Financial Access Initiative and Professor of Public Policy and Economics at New York University.
“ Our aim is to go into the field and try to understand small firms from the bottom-up, by listening closely to how entrepreneurs and workers make choices on their own terms.”
“Just as household financial diaries have been crucial to understanding the needs of low-income households around the world, and the barriers to achieving household financial security, the kind of detailed financial information provided by diaries is needed to understand the choices that small firm owners make and the real barriers to growth they face,” said Timothy Ogden, Managing Director at the Financial Access Initiative.
FAI and its partners are working closely with local organizations that will be involved in the research to obtain country-level research and ethics approvals in each of the six countries that will host the study.
Methodology of The Small Firm Diaries Research Initiative
Project researchers will follow a group of 100 businesses in multiple sites in each country over a period of 12 months, visiting them several times per month to collect quantitative data on cash flows, and qualitative data on business owners’ aspirations and decision-making.
Compared to traditional research studies that produce static snapshots from a single point in time, financial diaries can produce nuanced and dynamic portraits of firm owners and their choices.
High-frequency, quantitative data on cash flows shows researchers actual trade-offs and decisions made in near-real time, and qualitative data collection allows them to probe deeply to understand the “why” behind those choices, revealing the behaviors and barriers that prevent firms from adopting useful tools and technologies, hamper firm growth, and slow market development.
The study will illuminate the ebbs and flows of the businesses, the markets they serve, the constraints to their productivity, profitability and growth, the impact of access (or lack of access) to technology and formal credit, the interactions of the cash flows of the business with the cash flows of the owners and employees, and much more.
The Small Firm Diaries has also received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Argidius Foundation, the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, and Australian National University.
The project’s overall research design is based on the experience of FAI and its research partners with previous financial diaries studies, such as Portfolios of the Poor, the US Financial Diaries, and the Bangladesh Garment Worker Diaries.
The advisory board for the multi-country study will include leading researchers on small firms and practitioners with expertise in digital and financial services and business support programs, with experience spanning the private sector, government, and academia.
Current board members include: Tamara Cook, CEO, FSD-Kenya; Matthew Guttentag, Director of Research & Impact at the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs; Machal Karim, Executive, Development Impact at CDC; Leora Klapper, Lead Economist at the World Bank and founder of the Global Findex; and David McKenzie, Lead Economist within the Development Research Group at the World Bank.
The Small Firm Diaries is a collaboration led by the Financial Access Initiative at NYU Wagner, with independent researchers at The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and Oxford University; research implementation partners L-IFT, MFO, and EDI Global; and local partners, including the University of the South Pacific (Fiji), SMERU (Indonesia), National Bureau of Statistics and Lagos Business School (Nigeria), and FSDU (Uganda).
Nigeria is partnering with Burkina Faso on Project Building Resilient Digital Infrastructure for Growth (BRIDGE), to extend terrestrial fiber-optic routes through Niger and Benin, aiming to cut Burkina Faso’s internet transit costs by up to 50 percent.
Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy and Dr. Aminata Zerbo-Sabané, his Burkinabe counterpart, have sealed a deal to establish a joint technical committee for regional digital integration at a meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital.
At the centre of the discussions was BRIDGE, Nigeria’s connectivity initiative aimed at expanding access to faster, more affordable and resilient internet infrastructure.
Under the proposed collaboration, technical teams from both countries will assess connectivity routes linking Nigeria to Burkina Faso through Nigeria-Niger-Burkina Faso and Nigeria-Benin-Burkina Faso corridors.
The assessment is expected to identify a viable pathway for lowering Burkina Faso’s internet connectivity costs by up to half.
The two countries also agreed to establish a Technical Working Committee to develop an implementation framework for the partnership.
The cooperation will extend beyond fibre infrastructure to other areas of the digital economy.
Nigeria and Burkina Faso plan to explore collaboration on digital skills and talent development, including the potential sharing of Nigeria’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) model.
The countries will also seek to strengthen ties between their startup ecosystems, support Burkina Faso’s Innovation Campus and collaborate on artificial intelligence, local-language technologies, shared computing infrastructure, cybersecurity and research.
Tijani said the engagement forms part of Nigeria’s broader outreach to neighbouring countries, following a recent visit to Benin Republic, with planned engagements in Niger and Chad.
Federal government said the broader objective is to leverage the country’s expanding digital infrastructure and capabilities to support shared economic opportunities across borders, strengthen regional digital integration and position Nigeria as a digital gateway connecting West Africa and the Sahel.
As the federal government is thinking os helping Burkina Faso, Nigeria’s internet cost is too high.
The cost of internet in Nigeria is driven by a 50% tariff floor increase approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), pushing average mobile data to over ₦431 per GB.
Major telecom networks, fiber providers, and satellite services like Starlink have raised prices due to severe inflation, local currency devaluation, and expensive diesel maintenance for cell towers.
Airtel Nigeria is approaching the 18,000-cell-site mark as the telecommunications operator accelerates network deployment across the country, adding more than 1,000 new sites annually and extending high-speed mobile connectivity deeper into rural communities.
The expansion places Airtel as an operator making one of the largest sustained infrastructure commitments to Nigeria’s digital economy, with the company’s network now spanning all 774 Local Government Areas in the country.
More than 99 percent of Airtel Nigeria’s sites are 4G-enabled, with the company continuing to add new capacity and upgrade existing infrastructure as demand for mobile connectivity rises. Airtel Africa’s latest annual report said the Nigerian operation added more than 1,050 new sites during its 2025-26 financial year.
The pace represents a significant increase from the approximately 15,000 sites Airtel operated two years ago. By early 2026, the operator had crossed 17,000 sites, after adding about 2,000 sites in two years.
The current expansion has also taken the network further into locations that have historically been underserved by telecommunications infrastructure. These communities include Kukawa, Borno State; Okomu-Udo, Edo State; Chimbi, Niger State; Orile Ijaiye, Oyo State; Kopii, Benue State; and Aran-Orin, Kwara; among others.
Airtel has previously said a significant portion of its network investments is targeted at deep rural communities, small towns and the fringes of major cities. At a media roundtable in February, Chief Executive Officer, Dinesh Balsingh, said the company intended to maintain the large scale of network expansion during 2026.
“Everyone has the right to digital connectivity, including people in deep rural markets and small communities,” Balsingh said.
The impact of the growth extends beyond the ability to make calls or browse the internet. Wider network availability gives families more reliable access to one another, enables businesses to communicate with customers and suppliers, and supports access to digital banking, education, healthcare and government services.
For farmers in remote areas, mobile connectivity can provide access to current crop prices, weather information, market information and agricultural advisory services. For small businesses, reliable mobile data supports payments, customer acquisition, logistics and digital commerce. For communities, connectivity can improve access to health and social services and help residents participate more fully in the digital economy.
Airtel’s network strategy is also increasingly focused on improving the experience delivered through the infrastructure already in place. In 2025, the company upgraded capacity on about a quarter of its existing sites, deploying higher-capacity radios and moving portions of its backhaul from microwave to fibre.
The operator has also reported a continued addition of spectrum to strengthen its spectrum position. Since November 2025, it has added 20MHz spectrum, which is on track for full integration on all sites this quarter.
Balsingh said the company’s investment programme was designed to improve coverage, capacity and resilience, with the benefits ultimately reflected in the quality of service experienced by customers.
“We have invested with discipline and clarity to strengthen our network nationwide. Those investments are now translating into measurable improvements in performance, customer experience and reach, including in underserved communities,” he said.
Third-party measurements have also continued to provide evidence of changing network performance in Nigeria. Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index, for example, reported a median mobile download speed of 97.74 Mbps for Nigeria in June 2026.
For Airtel, the network expansion not only extends the geographical footprint; but also increases the speed, capacity and stability available to existing customers.
Director of Marketing, Ismail Adeshina, said the company’s network investments were ultimately aimed at making connectivity more useful in the everyday lives of Nigerians, as increasing numbers of consumers, families and businesses depend on mobile services for communication, commerce and access to essential services.
Airtel’s infrastructure programme is also contributing to the wider development of Nigeria’s digital economy.
“With mobile connectivity increasingly serving as the platform for financial services, commerce, education, healthcare, agriculture and enterprise, expanding the physical network effectively increases the number of Nigerians able to participate in those activities,” Adeshina said.
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is calling for a unified, cross-sector push to translate the framework of the Nigerian Startup Act (NSA) into practical benefits for local entrepreneurs and investors.
The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, represented by the National Coordinator, Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), Ms Victoria Fabunmi, in a group photograph with participants from various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) at the Nigerian Startup Act (NSA) Incentives Activation Co-Creation Workshop in Abuja.
Speaking at the NSA Incentives Activation Co-Creation Session in Abuja, organised by NITDA’s subsidiary, the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), the NITDA boss stressed that while enacting the legislation was a historic milestone, its ultimate success will be measured by its tangible impact on everyday tech ventures.
Delivering remarks on behalf of NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa, ONDI National Coordinator Victoria Fabunmi emphasised that Nigeria must now transition from policy design to operational delivery.
Inuwa noted that while early structural achievements such as setting up the Startup Consultative Forum and launching the digital startup portal have established vital channels for dialogue, the true test of the law lies in whether founders can easily access the relief and resources promised to them.
He said the establishment of the Startup Consultative Forum and its governance structures had created an important platform for sustained engagement among stakeholders, but stressed that the real test of the legislation would be its impact on businesses operating within the innovation ecosystem.
According to him, government agencies, private-sector actors and other ecosystem stakeholders must work collectively to remove institutional bottlenecks and ensure that startups can access the opportunities created by the Act.
Inuwa said the participating institutions possessed different mandates, resources and policy instruments that, if properly coordinated, could significantly improve the operating environment for Nigerian startups.
“We want to go to the next level. We want to be able to say that the actors in our ecosystem have been able to benefit significantly from the legislation that has been passed, and it wouldn’t happen without everyone sitting in this room,” he said.
He urged stakeholders to shift attention from the mere existence of the legislation to its practical implementation, particularly the activation of incentives designed to promote investment, innovation and enterprise growth.
The DG noted that the implementation of the NSA involved institutions across several sectors, including trade, finance, communications, innovation, digital economy, science and technology.
He said bringing these institutions together was necessary to identify gaps, clarify responsibilities and develop workable mechanisms for delivering the incentives to intended beneficiaries.
Inuwa also urged stakeholders to embrace continuous engagement and feedback, noting that the success of the Act would depend largely on the ability of implementing institutions to work together and respond to the evolving needs of the startup ecosystem.
He said recommendations from the session would contribute to ongoing efforts to strengthen the implementation framework and create an environment where Nigerian startups could scale, attract investment and compete effectively in global markets.
In a context-setting presentation, “Operationalising the Incentive Provisions of the Nigerian Startup Act,” Ms Elma Andah, Acting Lead, Strategy, Research and Analytics at ONDI, said the Act provides more than 31 incentives distributed across six major categories.
She identified the categories as tax and fiscal incentives, regulatory support, funding access, exports and trade, ecosystem enablers, and training and capacity building.
Andah explained that implementing the incentives required the participation of more than 15 government institutions, making inter-agency coordination central to the success of the legislation.
She said the Nigerian Startup Act, signed into law on October 19, 2022, was designed to promote innovation, improve access to funding, strengthen collaboration and position Nigeria as a leading technology and innovation-driven economy in Africa.
According to her, Nigeria’s startup ecosystem has continued to demonstrate significant potential, with more than 3,000 startups and several globally recognised technology companies.
She added that Nigerian startups attracted about $410 million in funding in 2024, despite the challenging economic environment.
Andah highlighted several areas of progress under the Act, including engagements with states on adoption, the operational startup support engagement portal, improved startup labelling timelines, the Startup Consultative governance framework, the Startup Investment Seed Fund framework and ongoing efforts to operationalise the regulatory sandbox framework.
She, however, stressed that the interconnected nature of the incentives meant that no single institution could deliver them independently.
“No single institution can deliver all these incentives alone. Implementation requires coordination across more than 15 MDAs,” she said.
Using practical examples, Andah explained that a startup seeking funding could simultaneously require tax incentives, while an enterprise seeking to export its products might need regulatory approvals. Investors seeking tax credits could also depend on access to the startup labelling system.
She consequently challenged participating institutions to clearly establish ownership of the incentives assigned to them, strengthen coordination, simplify access procedures and introduce effective monitoring and accountability mechanisms.
The session therefore provided stakeholders with an opportunity to identify implementation gaps and develop practical approaches for ensuring that the incentives contained in the Startup Act are accessible to startups, investors, innovation hubs and other beneficiaries.
The outcome, stakeholders noted, is expected to support a more coordinated implementation of the NSA and strengthen its contribution to Nigeria’s innovation, investment and economic development objectives.
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