Deputy British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Laure Beaufils, has lauded Africa’s increasingly impressive achievements in Fintech, while delivering a speech at the third annual Africa Fintech Festival, at the Landmark Events Centre, Lagos.
Beaufils said the UK’s plan to be one of the G7 top investors in Africa by the year 2022 would be achieved through investments in the continent’s Fintech industry.
The UK/Africa Fintech partnership was launched by the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, during her visit to Africa earlier this year with the aim of achieving the following goals: Seed funding for Fintech companies within and across Africa.
Others are UK’s financial sector authorities to work with African regulators to jointly create the right environment for indigenous and international corporations, and improving research knowledge across the continent.
Some of the structures the UK has put in place are the Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA), a financial sector development organisation that promotes financial inclusion in Nigeria. The UK is also funding the EFInA Fintech fund.
While speaking at the Africa Fintech Festival, Segun Akerele, chairman, EFInA Board, said: “In operating the Innovation Fund, EFInA has provided up to 32 grants to commercial banks, micro-finance banks, mobile money operators, and investment management companies that provide financial products and services to the low income population in Nigeria.”
Akerele pointed out that currently, the Nigerian FinTechs Ecosystem faced six key limitations, which were stringent regulations, access to funding, information inadequacy, corporate governance limitations, intellectual property rights and strategic partnerships.
He said going forward, Fintechs could support financial inclusion through four main axes in Nigeria, which include more involvement from telcos and banks, increasing micro-credit access, enacting regulations and more innovative but simple solutions.
Established in 2007, EFInA is poised to lead in facilitating the emergence of an all-inclusive and growth-promoting financial system.
