May 21st-23rd, during an European University Institute – Universal Postal Union curated event 33rd Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics held in Cyprus, Sahana Arun Kumar shared her paper “Rethinking Postal Banks” with the global postal and academic community, reflecting on why postal organizations remain essential in advancing inclusive finance. The paper brings together mini-case studies from different parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, including Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Botswana, and makes a case for Posts to develop informed and tailored strategies involving hybrid banking models, based on partnerships with the public and private sectors.

Sahana reflects that despite 17+ years of innovation — from mobile money to fintechs and integrated digital finance — the inclusive finance landscape still operates in silos. With digital public infrastructure and instant, interoperable payment systems on the rise, stronger coordination across public, private, and multilateral actors is urgently needed.
At the heart of this opportunity is the modernized Post Office — trusted, locally rooted, and uniquely positioned to deliver inclusive financial, digital, and social services at scale.

🌐With experience across the globe – working with FIs, fintechs, funders, governments – she shared that its not just the innovation, but it takes sustained dialogue, alignment and inter-disciplinary implementation teams to build resilient, inclusive systems.

At this event, Sahana remained focused on advocating for collaborative solutions and inclusive growth, with gratitude to mentors and partners like John Samuel , Isaac GNAMBA-YAO and Dr. Sifundo Chief Moyo for their continued trust and leadership.
Amarante would also like to thank all the Posts that we collaborated with: Ethiopost ,BotswanaPost , LA POSTE de Côte d’ivoire , Posta Kenya👍 and a big shout out to UPAP PAPU, whose partnership and support is very much cherished and indispensable.

📄 Access the paper here