Dar es Salaam, Oct. 1 -- As the Tanzania Bankers Association concluded its Research and Financial Inclusion Conference in Zanzibar, Shehryar Ali, senior vice president and country manager for East Africa and Indian Ocean Islands at Mastercard, reflects on how banks, fintechs, mobile operators and technology companies are combining their complementary strengths to widen access to secure digital financial services, and why the next chapter of Tanzanias growth will be written locally.

Few markets have moved as quickly as Tanzania. The country now counts more than 75 million active mobile money accounts, served by close to two million agents. Formal financial inclusion has reached 76% of adults, up from 65% in 2017, and nine in ten Tanzanian...