Many African countries have made significant progress towards creating an Internet sector, with broad reforms that focus on increasing broadband availability. There have been further successes within countries in developing online platforms, fostering growth of local companies and increasing the incentive to go online– says a new report launched today by the Internet Society, a global non-profit dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the Internet.

Promoting the African Internet Economy highlights how greater use of the Internet and digitization of the traditional economy will spur economic growth in Africa.

The report further examines Internet adoption and use by companies and governments throughout the region, identifying barriers that must be overcome in order to create an Internet economy that delivers innovative services, job opportunities and income growth across the continent.

Both businesses and citizens can benefit from an Internet economy. Businesses across all sectors gain access to a global marketplace of billions of people, and citizens in both rural and urban areas benefit from enhanced educational and training opportunities and access to new job possibilities.

The report also outlines what needs to be done for Africa to take full advantage of the digital opportunity offered by the Internet. It highlights local successes as well as broader challenges, offering recommendations for policymakers in Africa to adopt.

The Internet economy presents a major opportunity for Africa. However, Africa needs a secure and reliable Internet infrastructure that users trust in order to bringing large and small businesses online, along with governments and other social services,” explains Dawit Bekele, Africa Region Bureau Director for the Internet Society.

The Internet Society in collaboration with the African Union recently introduced Internet Infrastructure Security Guidelines for Africa to help AU member states strengthen the security of their local Internet infrastructure through actions at a regional, national, ISP/operator and organizational level.

In Kenya, the Internet economy already represents 3.6% of the country’s GDP and in other developing countries 1.3% of GDP comes from the Internet economy. The McKinsey Global Institute predicts that in addition to contributions to GDP, the Internet will deliver productivity gains across Africa. These productivity gains across six key sectors:  financial services, education, health, retail, agriculture and government are projected to be valued at between US$148 billion and $318 billion by 2025.

However, a thriving Internet economy in Africa could be put at risk by the increasing number of Internet shutdowns in the region. In 2016 alone, there were at least 56 shutdowns of the Internet around the world. These shutdowns affect individuals and organizations that depend on the Internet for their daily lives and have negative effects on the economy.

In addition to the economic costs, Internet shutdowns also affect trust. If people don’t know whether they will have connectivity, they can no longer rely on that connectivity to build Internet-based businesses. This will affect entrepreneurs in greatest need of digital-led innovation for their own future, and the future of the Internet economy in Africa added Bekele.

A new platform designed to match financial institutions with disruptive fintech firms aims to make access to basic financial services easier for underserved communities within Africa.

Dutch development bank FMO and Miami-based digital strategies firm above&beyond have launched FinForward to bring traditional banks and micro-finance lenders into collaborative partnerships with companies that unbundle their services and make them accessible to the modern consumer market.

According to FMO, the platform will increase the pace at which African banks reach full digitisation, which it says will reduce costs and allow lenders to add services that complement existing digital infrastructure such as mobile payments.

Andrew Shaw, FMO’s senior fintech specialist, said fintech firms are becoming seen less as challengers to traditional banks, and more as potential banking allies. He said the bank aims to encourage collaboration, “where it makes commercial sense”, though did not say whether FMO’s mandate to ensure impact sustainable development was a draw for fintechs seeking to work with development banks and other institutions.

Communities in the most rural parts of the continent struggle most with access to finance services. According to the initiative Making Finance Work for Africa, where such services are available, low-income individuals and SMEs still lack the eligibility to apply for deposits, credit, payments and insurance, due to lack of collateral including real estate.

Lonneke Noteboom, fintech analyst at FMO, explained that the objective of FinForward is to reach down to those that at the bottom of the pyramid, such as smallholder farmers, female entrepreneurs and general owners of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

“Traditional providers, often called incumbent banks and micro-finance institutions, have failed to innovate quickly enough in order to meet the needs of the majority and fintechs are now stepping up to fill this gap,” she said. “It is FMO’s role to bring these two worlds together and create an enabling environment where fintechs and incumbent banks can co-create and co-innovate.”