With the rise in digital financial services, mobile phones are the key to global financial inclusion. For women especially, mobile phone access is perhaps the single most important driver of access to financial services.
In the past decade, the percentage of women in low- and middle-income countries holding some type of financial account has jumped from 50% to 73%, according to the World Bank’s 2025 Global Findex Database. Worldwide, 86% of adults have access to at least a basic mobile phone.
Those who do not say it’s the cost of the device that is the biggest barrier. Most are in South Asia and Africa. “These adults tend to have low incomes and are more likely to be women than men,” according to the report.
Two companies tackling mobile phone affordability and ownership in emerging markets have secured new commitments from global investors.
UK and Kenya-based consumer finance company M-KOPA stands to raise a $160 million equity round led by Sumitomo Corporation to grow its pay-as-you-go finance services in Africa. The company, whose co-founder Nick Hughes helped launch Kenya’s ubiquitous M-Pesa mobile money system, pivoted from selling solar lighting systems to financing mobile phones.
San Francisco-based PayJoy secured $250 million from T. Rowe Price for its PayJoy Asset Fund, which allows investors to co-invest in consumer cell phone finance loans. The company has provided credit to 15 million people in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa. Nearly half are women who often use their devices for household income and gig work.
