23 including everything from driving taxis to day labor to specialized work in technology. As the global digital economy grows rapidly, digital payments provide a more convenient, low- cost way for individuals and businesses to take advantage of new opportunities. The spur to innovation that digital finance can give is one argument among many for adopting it, and its rapid adoption. Examples are mounting of the countries that have benefited from harnessing digital finance. As a developmental tool, it seems indispensable, a means to securing many ends from reducing poverty and hunger, to improving health, creating good jobs and inclusive economic growth, and reducing inequalities. Digital finance is not a miracle cure for all the world’s ills, but it is within reach, and available now to emerging economies willing and ready to seize its many benefits. ••• Economic development is usually a long journey, but digital finance solutions can radically speed the progress, and at a relatively affordable cost. Imagine the person in a rural area winning back the time spent traveling many miles on foot or by bus to a cash agent, and being able to work instead. Think of how many more small businesses might expand if they had access to credit. Picture the smallholder farmers who can finally get loans to buy the seeds, fertilizer, and farming tools needed to improve crop yields and boost incomes. And imagine, too, the enormous new business opportunities for banks, telecoms companies, fintech players, retailers, or any company that harnesses the low costs of transacting digitally to serve a much broader customer base of individuals and businesses profitably. Digitizing finance will be a multiyear effort for many countries but the sooner they start, the faster the rewards will come, in the form of higher growth, greater innovation, and more inclusion. The good news is that the digital infrastructure needed already exists and is being further improved. Billions of people across emerging economies possess the mobile handset that can connect directly into the national payments system. They are just waiting for governments and businesses to wire up the infrastructure and create the products they need. 23 A labor market that works: Connecting talent with opportunity in a digital age, McKinsey Global Institute, June 2015. McKinsey Global Institute Digital finance for all: Powering inclusive growth in emerging economies 15