Focus of the GFRID 2023
Making migrants' financial contribution count more
Remittances and diaspora investments: key socio-economic forces in Africa
The summit will focus on the current reality faced by one billion people sending or receiving remittances around the world and investing back home. It will highlight the socio-economic contributions of African migrant workers and diaspora members to their countries of origin through an overview of the building blocks of the remittance market at national, local and household levels.
In line with the summit’s active engagement in the global migration and development agenda, the sessions will touch upon the digital revolution, as well as its opportunities and challenges for both the remittance and the diaspora investment ecosystems.
In conjunction with the International Day of Family Remittances (IDFR) on 16 June 2023, the last day of the summit will host the ninth IDFR observance, in recognition of the crucial contribution and the current reality of one billion people, sending or receiving remittances.
This year’s observance theme will focus on the benefits that digital and financial inclusion bring when linked to remittances in helping remittance families achieve their own SDGs.
The African remittance marketplace
Market strategies, technologies and innovative business models
The remittance markets in Africa are considered the cradle of some of the most innovative business solutions addressing person-to-person payments. While market intelligence remains weak, there is enough evidence to indicate that a large portion of informal remittances could be absorbed through the uptake of mobile money.
In the post-COVID-19 world, digitalization has marked a permanent shift in the market paradigm that will continue to grow in the years to come, as it increasingly integrates the distribution of adjacent financial services along the digital remittance transfer value chain. The summit will deep dive into current and future disruptive technologies and related business models, as well as analyze their revolutionary potential and ways they can be mainstreamed further into remittance business operations.
In parallel to market trends review, interactive panels will focus on the regulatory framework associated with current and new business models, and the need to maintain a sustained dialogue with accountable regulatory bodies.
Discussions will be structured around a customer-centric approach towards identifying trends, capacity needs and opportunities that can benefit both remittance senders and recipients.
Diaspora impact investment
Unleashing opportunities to invest back home
The summit will present a range of state-of-the-art investment vehicles and programmes set forth to allow diasporas to invest their resources back home. Diaspora capabilities and preferences to invest in their countries of origin are segmented according to their wealth, migration patterns and range.
Banks currently provide the main conduit for migrants sending money home. However, African governments, along with impact investing funds and crowdfunding platforms, are recognizing the importance of diaspora resources by proposing financial products ranging from donations/philanthropy to financial engagement.
The diaspora impact investment sessions will review existing and emerging government and private sector-led investment vehicles and discuss the challenges to reach out and cater to diverse diaspora profiles. This includes diaspora investment priorities such as agriculture and climate adaptation. Discussions will also focus on donor-led endeavours to blend diaspora resources with public or private ones, in order to scale up impact towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
