AI Innovation Took Center Stage at Third Knowledge Series to Boost MSMEs and Smallholder Farmers
On August 14, 2025, over 300 senior policymakers, bank executives, fintech innovators, young entrepreneurs, and development partners gathered in Addis Ababa for the third Knowledge Series. They explored how artificial intelligence and market-creating innovations were creating new opportunities for underserved markets, particularly micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and smallholder farmers.
Participants called for the scaling of inclusive credit infrastructure and financial institutions, building on tested models to serve more youth, women, and MSMEs across Ethiopia.
The Knowledge Series was part of the Sustainable Access to Finance to Enable Entrepreneurship (SAFEE) program, a partnership between the Mastercard Foundation and Kifiya Financial Technologies, which led the way in designing and deploying inclusive, AI-powered digital credit models.
Since its launch, the SAFEE program had already:
Enabled credit access for over 358,000 MSMEs (99% women-led).
Sustained more than 1 million jobs.
Disbursed over 16 billion ETB in loans.
Too many of our entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers remained excluded, not because they were unbankable, but because systems hadn’t been built with their realities in mind. At Kifiya, we committed to reimagining financial models and building systems that worked for the many, not the few. The Knowledge Series became part of how we turned that commitment into shared insight and action.
Building on experiences like the SAFEE program, the Knowledge Series aimed to:
Bring regulators, financial institutions, and innovators together to design inclusive, tech-driven financial systems.
Showcase African-led AI and data science solutions in credit access.
Feature leaders who shared how they navigated systemic constraints to drive innovation.
A central highlight of the event was the keynote by Professor Efosa Ojomo, Director of the Global Prosperity research group at the Clayton Christensen Institute and co-author of the influential book The Prosperity Paradox. In his address, Professor Ojomo illustrated how solving nonconsumption unleashed new demand, enabled MSMEs and smallholder farmers to access financial services, and created opportunities to serve vast, previously untapped markets profitably and sustainably.
“Prosperity was being unlocked when institutions intentionally built solutions for people who had long been left out. Innovation became most powerful when it targeted those overlooked by traditional markets,” said Professor Ojomo.
The event hosted engaging panel discussions focused on the role of alternative data and artificial intelligence (AI) in bridging gaps in Africa’s credit infrastructure.
Beza Ayalew, a young entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of BeSingularity—a company that provided digital sales solutions, outsourced sales services, and training for junior sales professionals—shared her experience at the panel on access to finance for emerging businesses like hers and called on the financial sector to respond to their needs.
“Our business benefited from AI-powered digital credit models. Through this model, we grew our loan from ETB 300,000 in 2024 to 800,000 by July 2025. This helped us fill our cash flow gap. Emerging businesses like mine required financial services tailored to their unique operating models. Access to such services significantly accelerated their growth and scalability,” noted Beza.
In recent years, the Mastercard Foundation and Kifiya Financial Technologies enabled partner banks to transition from collateral-based to AI-driven uncollateralized lending, broadening access and reducing barriers for MSMEs. By leveraging AI and innovation, we helped unlock inclusive financial services, new market opportunities, and scalable business models to empower young entrepreneurs and small enterprises, especially in underserved and informal sectors.
