Demola Sogunle, CEO, Stanbic IBTC has said Nigeria must go beyond “pay and receive” money to achieve financial inclusion.
Sogunle, who noted this at the launch of Zest, a Fintech subsidiary of Stanbic IBTC said, “Financial inclusion in Nigeria should go beyond pay and receive. We are talking about bringing the totality of financial transactions, financial services, financial solutions, financial products into the hands of average Nigerians.
“We are talking about insurance, whether micro or Nano. We are talking about pension, consumer credit at a very ground level, investment, mutual funds. When we are able to do this at every level, that is when we can accomplish financial inclusion,” he further said at the event in Lagos.
He added that Zest by Stanbic IBTC is meant to orchestrate the above including the area of e-commerce, buy now-pay later, working capital solutions and other value-added services.
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However, Zest (formerly Stanbic IBTC Financial Services) started commercial operations in May 2023, functioning primarily as a Payment Service Provider, having received all the relevant regulatory approvals to commence operations. The event themed Universe 1.0 marks the introduction of the brand to the public.
Basil Omiyi, chairman, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, explained that Zest was setup to execute a solution-driven platform orchestration strategy that will serve consumers, businesses, application developers, and other financial services providers.
Stanley Jacob, CEO of Zest added the key design principles, which bothers on the delivery of a multi-railed platform strategy that enables businesses to collect payments in any form that the customer wants to pay, human centered design, growth powered by e-Commerce and operational excellence.
