L- R Segun Akerele – EFInA Board chair, British High Commissioner – Paul Arkwright, Alderman Charles Bowman – Lord Mayor city of London, Laure Beaufils – British Deputy High Commissioner and Tunji Eleso- Managing partner CcHub Growth Capital Fund at the FinTech Roundtable on Wednesday, 27th June 2018.
Enhancing Financia& Access (EFInA), Nigeria’s leading financial sector development organisation, and CcHub, hosted FinTech roundtable session with the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Charles Bowman, financial sector regulators and financial technology (FinTech) companies and other stakeholders, last week.
As part of its mission to promote financial inclusion in Nigeria, EFInA desires to improve the existing infrastructure in the financial sector so that FinTechs can play an increasing role in the efficient delivery of financial services to the under banked in Nigeria.
Giving the welcome address, EFInA board chair, Segun Akerele, emphasised the importance of the company’s partnership with the Department for International Development (DFID) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, while identifying foreign collaborations and regulatory principles that could catalyse and accelerate local growth in the financial service sector.
Furthermore, he said the difficulties associated with access to financial services had led to a large population of unbanked adults, and encouraged FinTechs and financial service providers to develop more innovative financial inclusive products. He also appealed to regulators to take lessons from the UK’s regulatory principles.
Speaking at the event, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Charles Bowman, highlighted the need to promote bilateral ties between Nigeria and the UK and also establish a business of trust between the two countries.
“This roundtable session will help to work out different modes of collaboration, provide reassurance for Nigeria as an international FinTech hub of the future, and also identifying the opportunities for growth in our countries. In addition, we intend to build on this opportunity to support and promote innovation in financial and professional services,” the Lord Mayor said.
During a presentation on ‘Financial Inclusion, The Regulatory Landscape and Opportunities for FinTechs to promote Financial Inclusion in Nigeria,’ the e-Payment specialist for EFInA, Folasade Agbejule, said, “EFInA’s mission is to spur growth in the financial development sector by providing grants to financial services operators through the Innovation Fund.
“EFInA targets the economically deprived population by sharing risks with Financial Service Providers (FSPs) through its Technical Assistance Grant and the Innovation Grant subsidies to the amount of $250,000 and $2,000,000, respectively.”
Tunji Elesho, managing partner, CcHub Growth Capital Fund, commenced the roundtable discussion by saying, “Our goal today is to explore the immense opportunities for growth in Nigeria’s FinTech ecosystem and that way, allow users improve their lives and take control of their financial situation.”
Riby and Flutterwave identified Scale, Funding and current Regulations in the financial sector as some of the current challenges when the Lord Mayor asked about factors hindering growth in the Fintech ecosystem.
Tunde Kehinde, co-founder of Lidya, focusing on the need for strategic partnership, explained that more projects in the financial development sector would help the growing rate of FinTechs in Nigeria as he also raised the importance for collaborations between financial technology companies, telecommunication service provides, banks, government and other stakeholders in Nigeria.
The event ended with closing remarks from Bunmi Lawson, a director of EFInA and former MD of ACCION Microfinance Bank, encouraged stakeholders to work closely for the greater good of the country’s economy.
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