OLD Mutual Group says it is leveraging fintech to promote financial inclusion and drive economic growth as the technology has potential to extend financial services to the unbanked.
Group chief executive Jurie Strydom, during a recent media engagement in Harare, said Old Mutual had made significant investments in fintech through its Next 176 initiative, a group-wide programme that has invested in fintech ventures.
“In Zimbabwe, the company is scaling fintech solutions and incubating emerging start-ups, and this approach is part of the company’s efforts to harness technology to improve customer experience and promote financial inclusion,” he said.
Mr Strydom said fintech development was a group initiative within the countries the group operates in.
“Zimbabwe is actually an excellent example of where we are both scaling fintech in the form of OMARI—a mobile-based financial services provider—and incubating a number of fintechs that are emerging,” he said.
Mr Strydom made Zimbabwe his first port of call since his appointment in June, after he jetted into the country last Tuesday to take stock of the group’s operations, underlining the pan-Africa financial services group’s high regard for the country as a premier investment destination.
He was appointed CEO on June 1, 2025, replacing former boss Iain Williamson, who took early retirement and stepped down as group CEO and executive director of the company on August 31, 2025.
Old Mutual Zimbabwe chief executive Samuel Matsekete said fintech provides an opportunity to reach more customers in an affordable and reliable manner, particularly in an economy with a large informal sector.
“By leveraging technology, Old Mutual aims to bring more people into the formal financial system, promoting financial inclusion and economic growth,” he said.
Mr Matsekete noted that the group is prioritising efforts on digitisation also as a way to serve its customers.
“One of our underlying themes is to promote financial inclusion, and with an economy that is informalised to a very large extent, it becomes important to use fintech to reach more customers in an affordable and reliable way, and that way, you bring more people into the fold.
“Therefore, fintech is a tool for achieving a greater measure of financial inclusion,” he said.
Mr Matsekete also highlighted that the company’s innovation hub has been instrumental in developing solutions that benefit both the core business and customers.
“One of the products from the innovation hub has been a benefit back to the core business in terms of some of the solutions being created and deployed in the core business,” he said. – Herald
