Bank on poor women and phones to drive growth in Africa, experts say

A woman repairs phones in front of a building during the Osun State governorship election at Ifofin village, Ilesa, southwest Nigeria August 9, 2014. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Mobile phone technology can help to bring financial services to the 80 percent of African women who do not have a bank account and bolster the growth of the world's poorest continent, Nigeria's finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said on Monday.

Okonjo-Iweala was one of a dozen government, finance and business leaders who met in Nairobi on Monday to roll out a plan to bring financial services to more poor African women.