Current situation
The microfinance industry in Africa is younger than in other continents such as Latin America or Asia, which were forerunners. Although it has its origins in the eighties, the sector has really taken off in the last 10 years, with the consolidation of some markets like Kenya, Uganda or Senegal, among others; and the burst in activity in countries which have seen how their industry has quickly grown to make them leaders in the continent, like South Africa, Ethiopia or Morocco. In these last two countries, for example, companies in the microfinance sector now have over one million credit customers.
African financial systems are among the smallest in the world, implying a very low level of banking penetration. Nevertheless, and in general terms, it could be said that there are two different scenarios: on the one hand are the countries in which the financial system is extremely weak and have practically no companies doing business with microenterprises, and the countries in which banking penetration stands at between 2% and 10%. On the other hand, there is a number of countries in which the regulated financial sector has reached a considerable degree of development within the African context. In these countries, the level of banking penetration ranges from 10 to 35%, with the notable exception of South Africa, where the percentage of the population with access to financial services has reached 60%.
