Browsing: FinTech

• Nigeria will now benefit from the yearly $4.7 trillion exportation of digital services.
• National Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) have forged an alliance to enable the benefits.
• The alliance is in line with the Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Pillar of the agency’s 2021-2024 Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan.

Nigeria is set to benefit from the yearly $4.7 trillion exportation of digital services.

This follows an alliance that was forged between the National Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).

NITDA’s Corporate Affairs Department, headed by Hajiya Hadiza Umar in a statement said the alliance was in line with the Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Pillar of the agency’s 2021-2024 Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan.

The immediate past NEPC Executive Director, Segun Awolowo in a a press briefing to commemorate the consolidation and partnership between the two organizations lauded the …

Financial technology (FinTech) is a major force shaping the structure of the financial industry in sub-Saharan Africa. New technologies are being developed and implemented in sub-Saharan Africa with the potential to change the competitive landscape in the financial sector.

In an area that traditionally suffered limited access to financial services such as Credit, insurance, and banking Financial technology [FinTech] has aided in accelerating financial inclusion in this sub-Saharan Africa region.

While the bell has long been chiming for businesses to rapidly adapt, harness the power of data and streamline their digital processes, COVID-19 reprioritized the need for these capabilities. It made these elements of digital strategy essential, and at a frightening pace.

The Fintech sector in Africa has since rapidly emerged with more and more startups coming up as compared to other years. As consumers avoided touching cash or point of sale devices, digital payment usage increased dramatically and continues …

In partnership with the SaveApp Group, through their newly launched product, Octagon Africa is working to improve their services whereby customers will be able to save their spare change at Naivas till payments and channel this towards their savings for retirement under the Octagon Personal Pension Scheme.

“Our drive is to work with strategic partners such as SaveApp in a bid to improve the quality of life for our customers in their sunset years,” Simba said.

Ukonga app is a collaboration between SaveApp Group, a Kenyan technology company that creates solutions to solve real-life problems, UBA Kenya as the banking partner, Octagon Africa as a pension partner and Naivas Supermarket as the retail partner.…

The Ghana.gov platform also serves the digitization and revenue-collection needs of other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs)

As of mid-July, 2021, about 624,000 users have logged in to pay for 37 government services, comprising taxes, levies, royalties and stamp duties, directly into Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) accounts. …

With over billion mobile money accounts Africa continues to lead the way in transaction value and volume thanks to M-pesa a Kenyan based mobile money service, that is largely used in East Africa. Other regions all-round the Continent are also registering massive growth.

In 2019, West Africa reported the most live mobile money services in any region, with 56 million active accounts. In Ivory Coast, one of Francophone Africa’s largest mobile money markets, 75% of the population own a mobile money account, compared to 20% who own bank accounts. The difference is staggering and clearly shows the region’s huge appetite for the service.

While telecom operators have largely dominated mobile money services across most of sub-Saharan Africa, a few startups are trying to change the mobile money experience for customers. Ivory Coast-based fintech startup Julaya a digital account for African small and Medium businesses is one such company, that has …

Over 250 top-level speakers and panelists including a huge range of Africa’s most important investors, dealmakers, and business leaders, have been confirmed ready to attend the Annual AFSIC-Investing in Africa forum that is scheduled for October 11^th and 12th in London, These Key Figures in the Corporate world will unpack the increasing global investment momentum into Africa’s growing public and private sectors as well as highlighting new growth opportunities across the continent.

The agenda of AFSIC 2021, remains investment-focused, with several of the most experienced and successful asset management firms investing in Africa sharing insights into where the smart money is investing, and business leaders running some of Africa’s most exciting growth companies showcasing new investment opportunities, with focused streams in Banking, Building, Healthcare, Agriculture, Fintech, Education and Sustainable Growth.

With ABSA Corporate Investment Bank heading up an impressive group of supporting sponsors, the conference will also feature …

I ended my May 2021 essay with the hypothesis “…leading fintechs might turn around and start acquiring the banks” and, sure enough, on the 12^th of May 2021, the Competition Authority of Kenya in a gazette notice approved the acquisition of 84.89% stake in Century Microfinance Bank by Branch International Limited – a leading global fintech with operations in Kenya[1]. One of the signs of a maturing ecosystem is home grown ventures mature into unicorns[2], gazelles and zebras[3], increased mergers and acquisitions[4] and the entry of global tech giants hungry for a piece of the action – the subject of this essay. So, whilst the Branch acquisition was unexpected, it was unsurprising when Twitter announced on 14^th April 2021 that they are setting up their Africa HQ in Ghana[5]. On the very same day Amazon announced an investment of …

On 1^st of April, as I was publishing my Uniconization of African Fintech piece[1], Mastercard was busy announcing their $100 million investment into Airtel Money (Airtel Africa’s mobile money subsidiary) to acquire a minority position – half what TPG Capital did[2]. Even though I had gotten wind of the transaction knowing that Mastercard was already in bed with Airtel Money[3] – some part of me thought of it as an April fools joke…. On the 12^th of April 2021, Mobile Telecom Network (MTN) announced the valuation of their mobile money business at $5 billion making it the 7^th African fintech unicorn with plans to bring in minority shareholders before going public[4]. Given that Visa is already in bed with MPESA (Vodacom and Safaricom’s mobile money business)[5], it is a matter of time before Visa also invests. The unicornization …

Over a couple of decades, cash and mobile app money transactions such as M-Pesa have dominated the financial space, but with its growth, there is a new collaboration with Fintechs set in place to capture the price-sensitive market with improved innovation and open-loop digital solutions in East Africa.

Financial technology (Fintech) is used to describe new technology that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services. ​​​At its core, fintech is utilized to help companies, business owners, and consumers to better manage their financial operations, processes, and lives by utilizing specialized software and algorithms that are used on computers and, increasingly, smartphones.

The International President of Ukheshe Technologies Mark Dankworth, firmly believes that the region is poised for a surge in digital banking growth, with the likes of MCQR and virtual cards likely to make the biggest impact.

This follows the Kenyan retail-tech startup, Tanda which …

Africa has a sustainable development opportunity for business valued at US$7.7 trillion by 2030.…