Africa’s financial-inclusion agenda rests on two implicit promises: that deeper financial systems automatically expand affordable
access for firms and households, and that access, once granted, will be used. Using new cross-country and firm-level data, we show
that neither promise holds universally. Financial deepening widens the supply of services yet often fails to lower price or tailor
products to the realities of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises and low-income households; conversely, expanded access
does not guarantee active usage. These twin ambiguities imply that inclusion strategies must move beyond aggregate depth
indicators and embed user-centred design, cost-lowering technology and consumer-protection safeguards. Financial inclusion is
therefore a necessary—but insufficient—condition for closing Africa’s persistent access/usage gaps; without deliberate product and
market innovations it risks becoming an empty accounting exercise.