In this TED Talk, Kosta Peric, deputy director of financial services for the poor at the Gates Foundation, presents a vision for inclusive financial infrastructure around the world. He talks about how expensive it is to be poor, and how new financial infrastructure can help improve the lives of poor people.
The barriers to this vision are:
- The difficulty of reaching the poor geographically and financially
- The risk of opening new markets and reaching new customers
- Monopolies are keeping customers captive
- A mental barrier to seeing the poor as customers
Key Takeaways:
- We have the technology to reach the poor, including new mobile money networks.
- The risk is manageable. Companies like PayTM are growing large enough to lower the risk.
- Interoperable platforms like Mojaloop can help overcome monopoly issues, creating the internet of payment.
- A shift is happening to see the world’s poor as a large customer base.
Peric’s vision underscores the opportunity of reaching the poor and the transformative power of inclusive financial systems to achieve global economic participation.