Collaborative Open Innovation through an Open API Approach to Enable the Development of Financial Technology Infrastructure: Case of Botswana

The current digital financial services ecosystem in Botswana does not have policies facilitating an open banking environment, i.e., lack of public or Open APIs, leading to the financial technology infrastructure not being interoperable. This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework that will enable the development of an interoperable financial ecosystem through collaborative open innovation in Botswana. A literature review was used to identify developments towards open banking or open APIs in other countries. The National ICT Policy Review and E-commerce Strategy for Botswana were reviewed to identify developments in Botswana regarding the financial technology infrastructure. The literature review showed the need for collaboration between banks and fintechs as they can both benefit from that relationship. The results of the study achieved all the objectives whereby (i) an Open API conceptual framework that will enable the development of an interoperable financial ecosystem through collaborative Open Innovation was developed, (ii) a mobile payment architecture based on the Open API conceptual framework and (iii) a mobile application as a proof-of-concept based on the developed Open API conceptual framework. Business benefits of the study were discussed.