Nigerian fintechs urged to treat trust as biggest investment for global acceptance, credibility

Babs Ogundeyi, the Group CEO of Kuda, has urged Nigerian fintechs to treat trust as the biggest investment in their drive to push for global acceptance, on the back of building a ‘London-Lagos’ bridge for credibility.

Ogundeyi made this known while outlining the three rules for globalising Nigerian fintech during the recent GITEX Nigeria conference, highlighting the three-part philosophy for building an enduring, international company from Nigeria, beyond the usual talk of funding and user growth.

The Kuda CEO’s vision distilled from years of operating in both Lagos and London, offering a strategic playbook for the next generation of founders.

While the fintech industry often obsesses over technology, Ogundeyi argued that the real currency in a market like Nigeria is trust. He believes the primary challenge is overcoming the inherent scepticism of a ‘faceless’ digital service, especially when it involves people’s money.

According to him, the solution is not a bigger marketing budget, but a deep, foundational investment in reliability. “It’s really important to invest in trust as a brand. That’s probably our [Kuda’s] biggest investment,” Ogundeyi stated.

He stated Nigerian fintechs must prioritise consistency, transparent communication, and relentless customer education. According to him, the first wave of fintech was a tech race; however, the next is a trust race, and the winners will be those who have painstakingly built an unbreakable reputation.

Ogundeyi also disclosed that African startups need a playbook that addresses the realities of international capital to scale globally. “This means building a strategic bridge to a globally recognised financial hub like London.”

According to him, the ‘dual-citizenship’ strategy is not about leaving Nigeria, but about leveraging the UK’s regulatory and financial credibility to de-risk the venture for global partners.

“Most of our investors are European, and they prefer to invest directly into the UK.”

Ogundeyi stated that by anchoring the company’s governance and capital structure in a market with a strict, well-understood framework, founders can solve one of their biggest hurdles. According to him, this allows African founders to access the capital and talent needed to compete on the global stage while keeping their product engine firmly focused on the African market.

Kuda group CEO also urged African founders to export ‘Afro-tech’ like Afrobeats. He drew analogy between the rise of Nigerian tech and the explosion of Afrobeats, arguing that technology is Nigeria’s next great cultural export.

He also expressed confidence that as Nigerian firms begin to acquire UK companies, the cultural and economic export is already well underway. “We’ve been able to export our culture to a large extent. We’ve seen it in the music.

“The vision is for Nigerian fintech to become a household name not by imitating Silicon Valley, but by being unapologetically authentic, exporting its unique solutions, grit, and understanding of complex markets to the world,” Ogundeyi stated.