Bogotá. Nairobi. Jakarta.
What do these cities have in common?
For one thing, they are growing economic powerhouses. For another, they are poised to become the main protagonists in fintech’s story over the coming decades.
What drives that momentum? Small and medium-sized businesses or SMBs. Emerging markets are home to vibrant SMB ecosystems that fuel employment, innovation, and local resilience.
For too long, SMBs have been treated as the “in-between” customer in financial services. Too complex for consumer tools. Too small for enterprise solutions. But that is starting to change. A wave of fintech innovation is building infrastructure tailored to their specific needs—and emerging market SMBs stand to gain the most.
Next-Gen SMBs Need CFO-Level Insights
SMBs are not only the backbone of local economies, but also one of the most dynamic forces in the global software market. Their adoption of cloud-based tools is accelerating, driven by a need for cost savings, scalability, and operational flexibility. But challenges remain. These include regulatory complexity, supply chain disruptions, and heightened data security concerns still slow progress.
Many SMBs operate without a CFO or other adequate accounting support. For example, SMBs make up 99.5% of all firms and employ 60% of the labor force in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, they contribute only 20% of the region’s GDP. This disparity hints at limitations driven by scarce operating resources and inadequate financial infrastructure. Tools that simplify forecasting and decision-making could be transformational for business owners, by allowing them to anticipate problems, make strategic pivots, and scale with confidence.
Visa’s latest SMB-focused product rollout highlights the kind of intelligence small business owners urgently need. Real-time cash flow forecasting, automated spend categorization, and financial health alerts, delivered through a simple dashboard, can be game changing. Notably, Visa’s geographic focus was on emerging markets in Asia and Latin America.
Tools like this can close the resource gap. They offer SMBs the kind of visibility and foresight typically reserved for companies with full finance teams. In a landscape where open-source providers continue to appeal to cost-conscious users, fintechs and incumbents alike will need to focus on delivering secure, tailored, and easy-to-integrate solutions.
SMBs Deserve Simpler Onboarding
Opening a business account or applying for a loan is still a frustrating experience for many SMBs. Paperwork is redundant. Approval timelines are vague. And for many companies, the underwriting process can feel like a dead end. These factors combined generate a $5.2 trillion financing gap, representing the scale with which SMBs continue to be overlooked by traditional banking systems.
Early stage fintechs and incumbents alike are helping address this gap. Visa’s new infrastructure tools allow banks and fintechs to verify, underwrite, and onboard SMBs quickly. No more back-and-forth for weeks. The goal is to make access to capital feel more like signing up for a subscription—and less like applying for a mortgage.
This matters most in places where traditional infrastructure is lacking. In many emerging markets, entrepreneurs are running full-fledged businesses via WhatsApp, mobile money, and Shopify storefronts. They should not be excluded from formal banking simply because the system was not designed with them in mind.
SMBs Need More Than Payments
Perhaps the most surprising byproduct of the renewed emphasis on building fintech solutions for SMBs is the diminished innovation gap between large incumbents and early stage fintechs. Conventional wisdom among venture capital circles has long been that while early-stage startups may lack the resources and headcount of established players, they compensate with speed, agility, and rapid product development cycles.
However, recent moves like Visa’s latest product announcements challenge that narrative. It is no longer enough for startups alone to drive innovation—large technology and financial firms are increasingly leveraging their own tech capabilities to build cutting-edge solutions. These incumbents benefit from deep pockets, vast data sets, and established customer bases, enabling them to innovate at scale. They have also started to invest in early stage companies themselves. Visa’s investment in Moniepoint and Stripe’s acquisition of Paystack are two notable examples.
Moreover, big firms enjoy powerful flywheel effects. Their extensive distribution networks and existing client relationships allow them to rapidly deploy new products across wide audiences, accelerating adoption far faster than many startups can. Rather than stifling innovation, this convergence creates a dynamic ecosystem where incumbents and startups both push the frontier of fintech innovation for SMBs.
SMBs Are Fintech’s Most Underserved Power Users
In the post COVID era, SMBs have become major economic engines. Yet they have never had tools designed specifically for their realities. Until now.
The most meaningful fintech innovation will not come from another sleek card app. It will come from building systems that help small businesses grow, hire, and stabilize.
SMBs are not just a segment. They are the backbone of global economies. And they are finally getting the fintech tools they deserve.
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