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Interview avec Mathilde Bauwin, Responsable Gestion des connaissances chez ADA sur la conférence de la SAM 2025

This year, the topic of the SAM conference is (Re)focusing on vulnerable populations to meet upcoming challenges in inclusive finance. Why is this topic particularly relevant for Africa today?

Nowadays, societies and economies in Africa and elsewhere are undergoing a series of upheavals due to political change, the impact of climate change, conflict and technological transformation. These developments often require rapid responses by societies, institutions and sectors, which tend to leave little room for reflection on their consequences for the most vulnerable populations and on how to ensure that they are not left behind.
That is why SAM has chosen to refocus discussions on the end users of inclusive finance this year. The current changes are directly affecting the sector: artificial intelligence will inevitably transform the provision of financial services, and climate change poses a growing risk to the stability of financial institutions. The danger is that attention will focus solely on the adjustments required at the sectoral level and neglect the impact of these developments on end customers

By recentering the debate on end users, especially the most vulnerable, SAM aims to remind everyone that financial services can only be inclusive if they take the real needs of those they seeks to support into account.

The conference  kicks off with sessions on the changing needs of vulnerable populations. What are the main trends in your experience?

This is precisely one of SAM's central questions: what are the current needs of existing and potential customers of inclusive finance, and how are they changing as a result of ongoing transformations? More than obtaining definitive answers, the act itself of asking these questions is key: we must remain constantly attentive to the real and changing needs of vulnerable populations. This is what SAM will seek to encourage.

Even so, we can anticipate some discussions on this subject. The persistence and multiplicity of conflicts are leading to forced or voluntary migration, which is increasing demand for financial services. The conditions for access and use must be flexible and adapted to instability. This may not be a new need, but its scale and urgency are perhaps growing.

Similarly, as smallholder farmers face climatic changes, their need to access appropriate financing becomes more pressing, in particular to finance the transition to more resilient practices. It is therefore not just a question of obtaining credit to finance an agricultural season, but of gaining access to longer-term financing that can absorb potential losses caused by changes in production methods.

The emergence of new profiles of financial service users may also give rise to new needs. The growth of the gig economy, for example, is reflected in the increase in the number of self-employed workers operating via digital platforms. These workers require a range of digital financial services – current accounts and savings accounts, but also payment and transaction management solutions – tailored to the nature of their business.

Finally, according to the latest FinDex 2025 report, despite significant progress in financial inclusion, a portion of the population continues to be excluded from financial services. Unsurprisingly, these are the poorest people, isolated rural populations and, in some parts of the world, women. If these populations remain excluded, it is undoubtedly because their specific needs are not yet sufficiently understood. For these people, it is the offering that must evolve and we must innovate to better reach them.

Financial service providers face a number of challenges: technological innovation, regulatory change and customer protection. What sort of discussions does SAM wish to encourage in this area?

Financial service providers currently have to deal with a combination of major challenges, including technological innovation and regulatory changes, which are forcing them to transform their operations. In line with this year's topic, SAM 2025 intends to particularly focus on the consequences of these developments for end users.

For example, will the integration of artificial intelligence into financial services allow for greater personalisation and accessibility, or will it risk further excluding those who are furthest from the digital world? How can we strike the right balance between technological solutions and human interaction to increase inclusion rather than widen the gap?

Similarly, while stricter regulation can help professionalise and stabilise the sector, it can also weaken certain small financial institutions that are unable to comply. Their potential disappearance would jeopardise access to financial services for their customers, who are often among the most vulnerable.

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SAM therefore aims to stimulate collective reflection on how to ensure that the necessary technological and regulatory changes result in greater financial inclusion, rather than new forms of exclusion.

Financing remains a key challenge for financial service providers (FSPs). How does the SAM conference highlight the link between financing FSPs and serving the needs of vulnerable customers?

In addition to technological and regulatory developments, how the inclusive finance sector is financed can have a direct impact – positive or negative – on vulnerable populations. The priorities set by public and private funders can play a decisive role: when they are clear and targeted, they can encourage financial institutions to better serve certain population groups, provided that adequate funding is made available to them to do so. For example, financial institutions will only be able to finance the transition to more resilient practices for smallholder farmers if they themselves have access to long-term financing. SAM will therefore provide an opportunity to discuss financing models for FSPs that truly promote inclusion: innovative instruments, risk-sharing or risk-reduction mechanisms, as well as solutions for financial service providers to access local capital.

However, meeting the needs of the most vulnerable will not be achieved solely by financing the financial institutions that directly serve these populations. It also involves supporting other intermediaries, such as local banks, which can themselves finance financial service providers, or small and medium-sized enterprises that provide essential services to these populations. We can best respond to the diverse needs of vulnerable people by taking action at different levels of the financing chain, and it is this vision of a more inclusive financial sector that SAM seeks to promote.

What concrete benefits can participants gain from attending SAM 2025?

By attending SAM 2025, visitors will have the opportunity to learn from and exchange views with a wide range of organisations representing all facets of inclusive finance in Africa, who will speak about the latest developments in the sector, share concrete experiences and discuss solutions to strengthen financial inclusion for vulnerable populations.

Participants should therefore leave with a better understanding of the state of the sector and of emerging trends, together with new ideas and inspiration sourced from successful and more difficult experiences of other actors. SAM is also a great networking venue, where all participants will be able to develop their networks and identify potential partners. These are all useful tools that participants can use, each at their own level, to contribute to the advancement of financial inclusion.

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