The Electronic Moni Matta (EMMA) Campaign

Enhancing access to digital and financial payment services for women in semi-rural areas of Nigeria

We focus on women market traders because women informal sector workers such as market traders are particularly vulnerable. They often live in poverty, and working in the informal economy is the only means of survival.

The participants work (or used to work) in the private, informal sector.  We used a highly structured, anonymous questionnaire to extract information on:

• demographics
• financial and Banking practices
• digital and financial literacy awareness levels of the respondents

Levels of financial access

Our data show that participants fall into a wide spectrum of financial access. At one end are those who are financially excluded and marginalised. They have no bank account and cannot access banking services because they do not own a mobile phone. At the other end are participants who are financially included but underserved. They own a bank account and use banking services regularly.

However, 74.8% have bank accounts and 74.2% use banking services. 60.3% of the Nigerian women use their mobile phones for banking services. Therefore, most surveyed participants fall between these two extremes. Some are financially excluded but show strong potential for inclusion. Others are financially included but remain underserved. They own bank accounts but do not use their phones frequently for financial payments.

Our data shows that many participants are financially included but still prefer using Unstructured Supplementary Service Data rather than banking apps. Esusu informal savings and credit groups are more popular than mobile agents. This suggests that trust in informal savings is higher than trust in mobile agents or banks.

Previous studies show that mobile money accounts can improve financial and digital inclusion. We recommend campaigns that feature women who use mobile money and share their experiences and its benefits. Women champions, village leaders and community leaders, both men and women, should take part in open discussions about mobile money. Government officials should also be involved. These discussions can help change perceptions and attitudes towards women using mobile money.

Importance of digital and financial literacy

We found strong demand for digital and financial literacy support across all three regions of Nigeria. This was true regardless of education level. The results showed a clear skills gap in the informal economy, most visible in the north-central region. This region has the highest number of women with tertiary education.

We believe financial and digital literacy training is essential. It supports both personal and national economic development. With better skills, women may find formal sector jobs. They may also improve their incomes and living standards.

For this reason, we ran financial and digital literacy workshops for 120 female market traders in 2023 and 2024.