FintechNGR Hosts 2021 Edition of World Fintech Festival, Nigeria, with CBN and NITDA Discuss Digital Economy

The Fintech Association of Nigeria (FintechNGR) organized the World Fintech Festival (WFF), Nigeria, on November 11, 2021, in collaboration with the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF). The event, TechSpark 3.0, Leveraging Emerging Technology for Digital Economy, was one of the breakout events held by important FinTech centers around the world.

Ade Bajomo, President of FintechNGR, gave the inaugural presentation, emphasizing the core of the theme and its potential to develop the fintech ecosystem as the digital economy is being accepted globally at breakneck speed. “The growth of Nigeria and indeed the rest of Africa’s fintech community is showing the forces of economics at work,” he says, “and utilizing emerging technology for the digital economy will define where Nigeria sits in the global financial spectrum for now and many years to come.”

Michale Natusch, Prudential Plc’s Chief Science Officer, Nkem Nweke, Microsoft’s Innovation Lead, Ini Akpan, CEO oPay, Simon Chantry, CIO Bitt, Toju Duke, Google’s AI Program Manager, Ray Youssef, CEO Paxful, Dr. Abdourahmane Faye, Access Bank’s Chief Data Officer, Elizabeth Rosiello, CEO Bitpesa, and others spoke at the event.

Access Bank Plc and Africa Fintech Foundry sponsored the event, which also included presentations from regulators, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on The eNaira and the Nigerian Economy and the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) on The Nigerian Digital Architecture. In his presentation on the eNaira, Uhmar Ahmed Bello, Director, Currency Operations, CBN, expressed confidence that the CBN’s eNaira will strengthen monetary and financial stability. He also discussed the many obstacles that the apex bank has experienced since the debut of the eNaira, as well as subsequent phases that are in the works. Dr. Vincent Olatunji, Director- eGovernment Development & Regulatory, NITDA, spoke extensively on the processes and key factors that an organization must consider before embarking on a digital transformation journey. He also touched on the agency’s subsidiaries that innovators in the fintech ecosystem can leverage.

Key Takeaways

• Impact of money laundering and features of eNaira that can help combat money laundering
• The Digital economy thrives on data, and NITDA has come up with NDPR to protect data privacy. It also supports the development of a National Digital economy policy
• Data, algorithms & managing data are critical for transiting into the emerging economy
• Africa specific training data is key for the emerging economy e.g., Kenya which has become a strategic data leveler
• Compliance with international standards, cloud security and development of appropriate policies to guide operations are very important in building a resilient cybersecurity program
• Stakeholders should rally round using the platform of the Association to accelerate the ecosystem
• The thrust of the Central Bank Digital Currency is empowerment, poverty reduction and financial inclusion, and four phases of the eNaira are expected to be completed by September 2022
• Youthful population, increasing smartphone penetration, and enabling regulatory frameworks are increasing the activities in the digital economy

In his closing remarks, Dr. Babatunde Obrimah extended gratitude to the sponsors, participants, and speakers, as well as the SFF, for partnering with the Association to bring the World Fintech Festival to Nigeria in 2021. He concluded, “The analog generation will not be able to execute the digital economy; it is up to you: the youths.”

Please follow us on social media at @FintechNGR to receive updates on future events conducted by the Association, and if you are interested in sponsoring or collaboration for future events, please contact us at [email protected] or call +2349030003013.