Mobile Wallet Adoption and Microenterprise Growth: Empirical Insights Supporting SDG 8 and SDG 9

Abstract

This paper explores how mobile wallet adoption leads to the growth of microenterprises, particularly how it fulfils sustainable development goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and sustainable development goal 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure). Based on empirical information on 420 microenterprises in urban and semi-urban areas, the research uses econometric regression and propensity score matching to evaluate adopters and non-adopters of mobile wallets. The results indicate that mobile wallet enabled companies had an average annual revenue growth of 27.8 %, a 22.4 % greater efficiency of transactions and an 18.6 % lower operating cost than cash based business. The number of jobs created among adopters rose by 15.32, and business survival rates went up by 19.12 through a period of three years. Using SDG 9 lens, the use of digital payment resulted in a rise in formal financial inclusion by 31.7 percent and the access to credit and digital services by 24.9 percent. Comparative study also reveals that female microenterprises with mobile wallets in use had 12.6% greater productivity gains than their male counterparts, which is evidence of inclusive effects of innovation. As indicated by outcome analysis, mobile wallets consolidate market linkages, decrease the financial friction, and bolster enterprise resilience to the economic shocks. By and large, the article shows that the use of mobile wallet is a scalable digital infrastructure intervention, which scales technological access into quantifiable economic growth, employment, and innovation capacity at the microenterprise level thus offering excellent empirical evidence on why policy is aligned with SDG 8 and SDG 9 goals at the global level.