(Ecofin Agency) - The whitepaper marks the operating debut of the Ivorian fintechs’ association created in 2021, which wants to improve financial inclusion.

The Côte d’Ivoire Fintech Association (CIFA) officially presented its white paper on the digital finance ecosystem yesterday.

The whitepaper, presented at Radisson Blu Hotel Abidjan, is the result of research conducted by the international firm Deloitte in collaboration with several fintech companies in Côte d’Ivoire. It aims to improve the efficiency of digital finance actors active in the market. It also intends to give the actors keys to refine their various positioning strategies while strengthening financial inclusion by helping people benefit from decentralized payment systems.

"Not only did our inventory cover the Ivorian ecosystem, but it also covered the main African countries. […] It was necessary to understand who the players are, what are the different segments that exist, and how the ecosystem is structured. The second thing we did was to zoom in on Côte d'Ivoire and make an inventory of the situation by doing a SWOT analysis that sets up the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within the Ivorian ecosystem," said Paul-Harry Aithnard, CEO of Ecobank CI and CIFA's president for the 2022-2024 period.

The association was launched, in 2021, by a dozen companies operating in the digital finance segment. Its objective is to build an ecosystem that allows communication and transfer of fintech knowledge. It also aims to set up an innovation and experimentation center to develop the fintech industry in Côte d’Ivoire and provide keys to understanding the industry.

 In that regard, the whitepaper provides a complete list of players in the ecosystem and reviews the legal and regulatory literature. It also identifies the challenges facing the sector, suggests solutions to improve its performance and drive its development. It also lists public-private collaboration opportunities.

"We hope that this white paper will be a founding act to accelerate the emergence of fintechs in Côte d'Ivoire and Africa," added Paul-Harry Aithnard.

Let’s note that the launch of the whitepaper is scheduled for the end of this year.