Africa and Middle East Alternative Finance Benchmarking Report

Abstract

This report, jointly produced by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) and Energy 4 Impact with the support of UKAid and CME Group Foundation, is the first study of its kind that systematically and comprehensively reports the size and growth of crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending markets in Africa and the Middle East. This is the fifth in a series of impactful industry reports that the CCAF, based at the University of Cambridge, has published in 2016 together with its regional research partners, including those in the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, Europe, and the UK.

The new report, covering 46 countries in Africa and 12 countries in the Middle East, gathered survey data from over 70 alternative finance platforms between 2013- 2015. The study details the types of online alternative finance, ranging from reward-based crowdfunding to peer-to-peer business lending, that are prevailing in African and Middle Eastern countries. It captures the industry volumes in key markets, documents the growth of alternative funding for start-ups and SMEs, analyses the latest market trends and explores the changing regulatory landscape in Africa and the Middle East.

Unlike our other regional reports, this study includes additional chapters on the emerging alternative payment systems (e.g. mobile payment and cryptocurrencies), crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending regulatory landscapes in Africa and the Middle East (drawing on our recent regulatory research with the FSD Africa) and on renewable energy crowdfunding, with insights from the DIFD funded CrowdPower Programme, carried out by Energy 4 Impact.

Keywords: FinTech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, P2P lending, Africa, Middle East

JEL Classification: G23, G28, G38, F65, F63, G18, O19, O33, O38, O55, Q01, Q28, Q42