Denis Opudo
South Africa has been lauded for the modern inculcating digital world to boost its economy. However, from the statement released by Digital Frontiers Institute – the 2017 FiTech Talent Africa Compensation Report and the 2017 FinTech Talent Africa Leadership and Employee Engagement Report, it shows that South African professionals are paid lower than some of their counterparts in other countries like Kenya.
The report is expected to help business leaders and entrepreneurs across Africa’s competitive financial technology industry who are struggling to attract and retain enough talent to meet current. The report was obtained from 400 leaders, managers and professionals within 69 organizations and ten sub-Saharan African countries.
According to Gavin Krugel, CEO of the Digital Frontiers Institute, there is far too little fintech talent in Africa, and companies within the industry are affected. This human capacity gap is leading to deterioration of human capital costs and hiring delays, bringing standstill to business progress within the Fintech industry.
Just like he presents trends in technology and finance industries globally, women are less than expected at fintech companies across Africa, both in leadership and operational roles. Among the more than 400 professionals who participated in the survey, only 12.5% were women, and on average, women made up 39% of teams in Fintech. The report showed that countries such as Kenya and Nigeria consistently rank the highest when it comes to salary payment for staff within the whole categories of professions. However, developed digital economies such as South Africa, with the largest pool of respondents, always rank in the middle and lower tiers of compensation packages.
