Financial Inclusion through Technology: The USSD Revolution in Africa

In the last decade, Africa has redefined what innovation means. It’s not just about cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence or some sophisticated technology platforms; it’s about solving real problems with accessible technology, particularly aimed at the financially excluded.

An example that demonstrates this better is the rise of USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data).

This simple, text-based communication channel has transformed how millions of Africans, especially the financially excluded with little or no access to internet services, can access financial services.

As someone who helped design and scale some of these systems, I have witnessed firsthand how low-tech solutions can deliver high-impact innovation. In a continent where smartphone penetration and internet connectivity remain uneven, USSD has quietly powered a digital revolution, bridging the gap between exclusion and opportunity.

The Challenge: Banking the Unbanked

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, while working with Access Bank, our product team faced a daunting reality which was to increase the number of digitally transacting customers with over 40% of Nigerians remaining unbanked, largely due to barriers such as smartphone costs, poor connectivity, and a lack of digital and financial literacy.

Traditional app-based banking, while effective for urban customers, excluded millions of potential users in rural and semi-urban areas.

Yet these same set of customers carried a powerful device, a feature phone.

A question that became the foundation of a journey that redefined how we thought about digital inclusion was ’What if we could turn that into a financial empowerment tool to increase the number of customers with access to financial services?

The Solution: Simplicity at Scale

We developed the USSD code *901*5#, a simple and easy channel that allowed anyone with a mobile phone to open and operate a simple digital savings account, no internet, no smartphone, no app required.

The backend was powered by API integrations that connected the USSD platform to the bank’s core systems in real-time. This seamless infrastructure enabled customers to check balances, open accounts, make transfers, and even participate in promotional campaigns, all within seconds.

The results were transformative, within a year, millions of customers who were previously financially excluded were able to open and operate their accounts using their feature phones.

More importantly, it brought banking access to communities where physical branches didn’t exist, directly supporting Nigeria’s financial inclusion agenda.

The project combined strategic marketing with simple technology, and the impact was both financial and social.

Thousands of small-scale traders and artisans joined the formal banking system, many for the first time, reflecting that the true legacy from this project was its impact on humans, proving that innovation succeeds when it meets people where they are.

Beyond Nigeria: A Continental Movement

USSD innovation wasn’t confined to one country. Across Africa, banks and FinTechs leveraged the same principle: deliver accessibility before sophistication. In Kenya, M-PESA built its empire on similar foundations. In Ghana, MTN’s Mobile Money service became a national financial infrastructure.

Key Lessons from the USSD Revolution

1. Innovation is contextual, not universal.
   Technology must adapt to the environment, not the other way around. What worked in Silicon Valley didn’t fit rural Africa but USSD did, because it was designed for local realities.
2. Accessibility drives adoption.
   The best digital product is useless if users can’t afford the device or data to access it. USSD’s success stemmed from removing those barriers entirely.
3. APIs are the invisible enablers.
   Behind every seamless customer experience was a robust API framework ensuring real-time data flow between banking systems. This architecture became the backbone of scalable inclusion.
4. Partnerships accelerate impact.
   Collaboration between telecoms, banks, and regulators created the ecosystem USSD needed to thrive. No single stakeholder could have achieved such inclusion on their own.

The Next Frontier: Merging Simplicity with Intelligence

While USSD remains powerful, the next chapter of financial inclusion will require integrating it with AI, voice interfaces, and localized language processing.

Imagine a voice-enabled banking assistant that works on basic phones, guiding users through savings, credit, or payment options in their native dialect. Or machine learning models that personalize offers based on transaction patterns, even through USSD data.

This fusion of simplicity and intelligence could create a hybrid financial experience that is low-cost, accessible, and data-driven.

Why Financial Inclusion Still Matters

The World Bank estimates that over 1.4 billion adults globally remain unbanked. In Africa, that’s not just a statistic, it’s a story of missed opportunities for growth, education, and security.

Technology has the power to rewrite that story. The lesson from the USSD revolution is simple but profound: innovation doesn’t need to be complex to be transformative. It only needs to be relevant, inclusive, and built with empathy.

As the global FinTech industry looks toward AI, machine learning, and digital currencies, we must not forget the humble technologies that brought millions into the financial system in the first place.

Sometimes, the next big thing isn’t new, it’s just newly appreciated.

About the Author
David Otukpe is the Team Lead, Consumer Digital Product, at Access Bank PLC. With over 7 years of experience in financial services and product innovation in Nigeria, he is passionate about building technology that drives inclusion, customer growth, and sustainable business impact.