NOVAFRICA Conference: Innovations and Challenges in Financial Development in Mozambique

On the 8th of July, NOVAFRICA, in partnership with the Central Bank of Mozambique and the International Growth Center, organized a conference on the innovations and challenges faced in promoting financial development in Mozambique.

View of the Conference Room

Conference Audience

The conference reported upon current initiatives and research projects that evaluate the impact of mobile money in rural areas and micro-enterprise development in the greater Maputo area.

Cátia Batista, Executive Director of NOVAFRICA and Professor of Economics at Nova SBE

The executive director of the NOVAFRICA knowledge center, Cátia Batista, gave an account of the first findings of a randomized control trial that has been conducted for the last three years on the introduction of mobile money in rural areas of Mozambique. Sandra Sequeira, professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, and Pedro Vicente, professor of Economics at the Nova School of Business and Economics, presented preliminary results from a randomized control trial on the role of technology, financial resources, and business skills in microenterprise development and the promotion of correct fertilizer use through information and commitment savings, respectively.

Sandra Sequeira, Professor of Economics at LSE

Pedro Vicente, Professor of Economics at Nova SBE

The keynote presentations given by Dean Karlan from Yale University and Dean Yang from the University of Michigan, approached financial inclusion as a tool in poverty alleviation and the role of bundled anti-poverty programs in rural Mozambique.

Dean Yang, Professor of Economics at the University of Michigan

Artemísia Gove from the Central Bank of Mozambique presented first results obtained through a pilot study on the determinants of the adoption of electronic payments in Mozambique. This study was run by NOVAFRICA in co-operation with the Central Bank during the last year in the capital of Mozambique, Maputo.

Panel of Discussants on the Determinants of the Adoption of Electronic Payments, presented by Artemísia Gome from Banco de Moçambique

Panel of Discussants on the Determinants of the Adoption of Electronic Payments, presented by Artemísia Gove from Banco de Moçambique

The event’s main objective was to divulgate the results that have been obtained in the above mentioned research projects, and to promote the discussion on the role of novel financial services to improve the living conditions of farmers, microentrepreneurs and the rural population in Mozambique. In this way, the findings obtained through rigorous research are sought to be made applicable to the daily needs of Mozambican families and micro-entrepreneurs, and to ultimately contribute towards economic development.