The management of Kuda Bank has said it had plans to open its United Kingdom (UK), Ghana and Uganda operations in its latest expansion drive.
The pioneer digital banking platform equally disclosed that it hoped to grow its customer base, which currently stands at 4.6 million in three years to five million by year end leveraging its technology adoption.
“Nigeria has a very important part to play on the African continent. There is huge potential, not just in the size of the population – the location, we have ports, and we have resources, though things are especially difficult, but when it comes to investing in technology, investing in FinTech, Nigeria still carries a lot of weight in Africa. Kuda is part of that,” Babs Ogundeyi, managing director and co-founder, Kuda Bank said during a recent media briefing in its office in Yaba, Lagos. .
According to him, Nigeria, like other emerging markets, has huge potential in the Fintech ecosystem leveraging technology adoption for growth. He stated that since its emergence in 2019, it has invested hugely in Nigeria’s economic environment, as the country occupies a major position in the continent.
“Our focus is to be a financial institution for all Africans, all over the world. We started from Nigeria, where we have, apart from being patriotic, domain experience, we understand people; we understand the terrain. It is a very important market in Africa. So, it made sense for us to start from Nigeria. When we started in 2019, there weren’t as many foreign investors as we have today,” Ogundeyi said.
Read also: FCMB MD, Yemisi Edun, Bags Chartered Institute of Bankers Fellowship
He stated that Kuda has benefited from being daring and innovative, regardless of the challenges in the financial sector. “In spite of all the challenges, we were able to come into the market and offer something different. Customer adoption is good and people use our products. Really the ethos is all about simplicity; it is not like a certain magic wand or something that we’re doing. We just wanted to do something and build something that was very simple and easy to understand for the majority of people and continuously improve,” Ogundeyi said.
Accordingly, he said that the financial service is one of the hardest sectors, based on its regulatory and competitive nature. However, he said there is still room for a lot of improvement which made him believe there is more opportunity for Kuda and other players in the Fintech space across Africa.
“Two things have happened; we have been part of the growth and belief in Nigeria and Africa. Our growth I believe has sort of fueled not just our belief but also other technology companies as well. I would say we are part of that bracket and it has just kind of demonstrated the potential of leveraging technology,” Ogundeyi said.
