There is an underlying shift through the expansion of forex brokers into small towns and rural areas all over South Africa in an otherwise dynamic South African financial environment. Over the years, foreign exchange trading was perceived to be a preserve of people who had access to sophisticated technology and the financial centers of big cities. But nowadays, with the increasing internet access, and online financial instruments, people living in rural areas are starting to have access to a market that was previously considered closed to them. The change is bringing about new opportunities to people who are keen to diversify their source of income as well as empowering local economies which though were based mainly on agriculture or some small type of trade.
Many firms have realized that the desire for financial inclusion is not limited to urban centers. These companies are establishing forex education and awareness programs in communities that would otherwise not have thought of trading forex are doing this by establishing regional offices or by collaborating with local institutions. The fact that one is not required to travel a long distance to access financial instruments and strategies through traveling to cities such as Johannesburg or Cape Town, is enabling more people to attend the training sessions. Furthermore, regional alliances have enabled merchants to know the way the global financial flows can affect the local business practices which provides more viable practice of the knowledge that can be applicable to real life.
The availability of a forex broker in South Africa has assumed a new definition to the smaller communities. What used to be an image of a corporate office in a skyscraper now symbolizes local agents that assist traders to open accounts, check documents, and understand how to deal with their risk responsibly. Another trend that is being capitalized by many brokers is multilingual support where they are also investing in the diversification of the language of South Africa in order to make sure that financial literacy is not hampered by language barrier. This is a personal approach that has been adopted as a pillar of gaining confidence between brokers and their rural clients who might not be used to digital trading.
Rural traders are also able to easily deposit their account, withdraw money and get market updates in real-time as mobile banking keeps growing. The cheap mobile phones and better access to data have made the mobile phone a portal to financial empowerment. The flexibility and attractiveness of the forex participation has been achieved by the ability to participate either at home or even when attending to other jobs. Other brokers are even rolling out lighter trading applications that use less data, which is an essential modification to customers in low-coverage regions. This emphasis on availability is changing how rural communities engage with the global markets.
One of the main pillars of this movement is education. It is also becoming common that training programs are being held in community centers and schools and are usually sponsored by local leaders who have realized the importance of financial literacy. The workshops are not only teaching technical analysis, but also responsible trading and the need to learn risk. This is the education that is contributing to keeping new traders entering the market and doing so with realistic expectations at least as opposed to speculative ones. This would eventually bring about a breed of more enlightened players who would treat forex trading as a professional monetary activity and not a roll of dice.
The increasing role of the forex broker in South Africa to the rural areas does not only represent business expansion. It provides a national initiative to bridge the digital divide and geographic isolation. Through technology, education and local-level involvement, brokers are changing forex into a domain of inclusion as opposed to an exclusive field. It is because with the increase in connectivity and the dissemination of knowledge that rural communities are starting to not only view trading as less of an abstract financial analysis, but trading as a concrete source of expansion and empowerment within the overall South African economy.
