As more Nigerians focus on wealth creation through businesses, real estate investments, and other income-generating assets, experts are emphasizing that building wealth is only one part of the equation. Equally important is creating structures that ensure those assets remain protected, properly managed, and seamlessly transferred to succeeding generations in accordance with the asset owner’s wishes. Importantly, Estate Planning is not solely for the wealthy, it is a prudent step for anyone with assets, dependants, or a business to protect, regardless of age, profession, or net worth.

Speaking on the importance of Estate Planning, Ereifemi Akeredolu, managing director/CEO, First Trustees Limited, noted that Estate Planning should be considered a core pillar of every long-term financial strategy.

“Many people focus on creating wealth but give litle thought to preserving it. Estate Planning is a wealth protection strategy that helps individuals safeguard their assets, secure their family’s future, and ensure that the value they build today continues to benefit future generations.”

Using tools such as Trusts, Wills, and advanced succession plans, individuals can build structures that support wealth preservation, business continuity, asset protection, and intergenerational wealth transfer.

For entrepreneurs and business owners, Estate Planning serves as a powerful tool for ensuring business sustainability, helping organizations remain stable and operational regardless of unforeseen circumstances.

First Trustees continues to emphasize and educate on the importance of Estate Planning as a comprehensive strategy for proactive planning. It remains one of the most important financial decisions an individual can make: it provides clarity, minimizes uncertainty, and protects assets from unnecessary erosion and disputes. It also creates financial security for loved ones, supports business succession and continuity, and facilitates long-term investment and legacy planning.

The post First Trustees: Estate Planning Should Start Long Before Retirement appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The rally saw the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) advance by 1,121.33 points, or 0.46 per cent, to close at 242,870.44 basis points, while total market capitalisation rose to ₦155.849 trillion.

MTN Nigeria’s shares gained 1.23 per cent to close at ₦820 per share, providing one of the strongest boosts to market performance.

Investors Return to Equities

Market breadth remained positive, with 24 gainers outperforming 22 losers, signalling sustained investor confidence despite recent profit-taking.

Among the day’s top performers:

• Learn Africa appreciated 10 per cent to close at ₦9.90 per share.
• First HoldCo climbed 9.98 per cent to ₦72.15.
• Thomas Wyatt Nigeria gained 9.80 per cent to settle at ₦2.69.
• R.T. Briscoe rose 8.68 per cent to ₦13.15.
• Transcorp Hotels advanced 8.37 per cent to ₦242.00 per share.

On the losing side:

• International Energy Insurance shed 9.86 per cent to close at ₦4.66.
• Legend Internet fell 9.18 per cent to ₦4.45.
• Fortis Global Insurance declined 7.67 per cent to ₦2.77.
• FTN Cocoa Processors lost 7.55 per cent to ₦8.21.
• International Breweries dropped 4.79 per cent to ₦13.90.

Trading Activity Surges

Investor participation also strengthened during the session.

Total trading volume rose 21.25 per cent to 634.775 million shares, valued at ₦53.336 billion, across 42,494 deals.

First HoldCo dominated the activity chart with 326.922 million shares worth ₦22.332 billion. It was followed by:

• GTCO – 22.469 million shares valued at ₦2.821 billion
• Access Holdings – 18.532 million shares worth ₦461.613 million
• FCMB Group – 16.118 million shares valued at ₦166.836 million
• Zenith Bank – 15.923 million shares worth ₦1.729 billion.

Outlook

Market analysts said the rebound reflects a quick recovery in investor sentiment following recent profit-taking, with demand returning to fundamentally strong, large-cap stocks.

Looking ahead, analysts at Cowry Asset Management Limited expect the positive momentum to continue, supported by ongoing portfolio rebalancing and strategic positioning by investors. However, they cautioned that intermittent profit-taking in recently appreciated stocks could temper the pace of further gains.

The post MTN Lifts Nigerian Stocks as NGX Gains ₦719bn in One Session appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The Nigerian naira recorded mixed performance against the United States dollar on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, as movements in both the official and parallel foreign exchange markets reflected evolving liquidity conditions and market demand.

At the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM), the naira traded at an indicative exchange rate of approximately ₦1,382 per US dollar, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The latest rate represents a slight depreciation from the previous trading session, when the local currency closed at around ₦1,380.50/$.

Meanwhile, the parallel market recorded an improvement in the naira’s value, with the exchange rate strengthening to approximately ₦1,412 per dollar, compared with about ₦1,420/$ traded a day earlier. The development reduced the spread between the official and unofficial markets to roughly ₦30 per dollar.

Trading activity also picked up at the official market, as interbank turnover increased from the previous session, signalling stronger participation and improved liquidity in the foreign exchange market.

The CBN continues to maintain that the NFEM rate is determined through a volume-weighted average of completed foreign exchange transactions, making it Nigeria’s official benchmark exchange rate.

Market analysts say the naira’s short-term trajectory will largely depend on the pace of foreign exchange inflows, liquidity across the market, import-related demand, and the effectiveness of ongoing monetary and fiscal measures aimed at sustaining exchange rate stability.

The post Dollar to Naira Exchange Rate Today, July 15, 2026 appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The move marks a major milestone in the company’s regional expansion strategy and reinforces its ambition to accelerate digital transformation in the insurance sector across Africa.

The company’s entry into Zambia forms part of a broader strategy to transform motor insurance claims management across the continent.

By leveraging cutting-edge technology, FastClaims Solutions enables insurers to deliver faster, more transparent and highly reliable claims settlements.

It previously expanded into the Ghanaian market with its flagship FastClaim application, an artificial intelligence-powered platform designed to automate and simplify motor insurance claims processing.

According to the company, the expansion was made possible through seed investment and technical support from Olla Systems.

FastClaim eliminates bottlenecks that delay claims payment by enabling policyholders to initiate claims instantly through their mobile devices. Using a guided interface, users capture images and videos of damaged vehicles, which are then analysed by the platform’s AI engine.

The AI system automatically assesses the severity of damage, validates it against the insurance policy, detects potential fraud and generates accurate repair estimates within minutes. This eliminates the need for physical inspections and manual reports, significantly reducing turnaround time while ensuring objectivity and fairness.

New features introduced are Fast Policy Enterprise (FPE) which unifies insurance operations into one intelligent ecosystem; it is a Comprehensive AI – Powered insurance intelligence operation platform built for insurance companies in Africa.

It covers the full operational lifecycle- policy administration, claims management, billing, HR, Technical provision, IFR 17, STP Engine Fraud Detection System and Risk Assessment Management, Ai Analytics that shows the performance of an insurance company and the data layer for Actuarial Valuation.

Speaking on the company’s expansion plans, the Executive Director, African Operations, FastClaims Solutions, Mr. Maybin Mudenda, said:

“I have started chatting with operators in Mozambique, and we want to also enter the Kenyan market. We are planning to go into Tanzania and Botswana.

“From Zambia, we’re going to Tanzania, Botswana and Zimbabwe. We have already started chatting with officials in Zimbabwe to adopt FastClaim. I am currently drafting the strategic plan for these countries. We want to grow it even bigger in Africa, targeting 40 to 60 per cent of English-speaking African countries before venturing into French-speaking markets.”

Mudenda said Africa is ready to embrace home-grown technology, although regulatory frameworks remain a major challenge.

“Africa has accepted that we have to use African solutions and go digital. Digitalisation is the key. A major problem we have now is that regulators are still slow. Most don’t understand digitalisation and AI.”

On the issue of claims settlement, he added:

“Prompt claims have been an issue. By law, the claims period is 30 to 60 days. That is old. With our digital online platform, it takes two to three hours or less once the required documents are completed. Zambian insurers are incredibly excited to process claims through an app instead of waiting to collect physical documents.”

Mr. Uche Okugo, the founder and chief executive officer, FastClaim Partnering Insurtech, expressed optimism about the platform’s growing acceptance across the region.

He noted that the platform has already recorded significant adoption among members of the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), reflecting increasing market confidence in digital claims management solutions.

The post FastClaims Accelerates African Expansion with Landmark Launch in Zambia appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

In a keynote address delivered on his behalf at the 11th edition of the Nigeria Energy Forum (NEF) 2026 in Lagos, the company underscored the inextricable link between reliable energy, digital infrastructure, and inclusive prosperity.

Elegbe delivered the keynote address titled “Rewiring Financial Inclusion, Infrastructure & Investments,” through , Adeyinka Adekoya, vice president, Energy Ecosystem, emphasising that reliable energy is the foundation upon which digital transformation, financial participation and inclusive economic development are built.

Addressing policymakers, regulators, development partners, investors, private sector leaders and innovators, Elegbe observed that while Africa has made significant progress in expanding access to digital financial services, sustainable financial inclusion will remain out of reach for millions without reliable access to electricity.

He explained that energy powers the digital infrastructure underpinning payments, commerce and financial services, making it indispensable to building resilient economies, expanding opportunities for underserved communities and enabling broader participation in the formal economy.

“Financial inclusion extends beyond providing access to financial services. It is about creating the conditions that enable people and businesses to participate meaningfully in the economy. Energy is one of those critical conditions. Where energy is unavailable or unreliable, economic opportunities are constrained, digital services are limited, and financial exclusion persists. In many ways, energy poverty is financial exclusion in disguise,” Elegbe said.

Highlighting the role of innovation in shaping Africa’s future, Elegbe also stressed the importance of empowering young people to develop solutions that address pressing societal challenges while creating sustainable economic value.

“Africa’s greatest competitive advantage lies in the ingenuity of its young people. By creating an enabling environment where innovation solves real problems and attracts investment, we can accelerate inclusive development across the continent. The future is youth-driven, innovation-led and investment-enabled,” he added.

For more than two decades, Interswitch has remained at the forefront of building payment infrastructure that powers commerce, expands financial access and accelerates digital transformation across Africa.

Beyond enabling seamless payments, the company continues to invest in strategic partnerships and ecosystem collaborations that strengthen critical infrastructure, foster innovation and unlock shared value for businesses, governments and communities.

As Africa’s economies become increasingly digital and interconnected, Interswitch believes that sustainable progress will depend on resilient infrastructure, forward-looking investments and strong cross-sector collaboration.

Through platforms such as the Nigeria Energy Forum, the company continues to advocate for integrated solutions that connect energy, technology and finance, creating the conditions for broader financial inclusion and long-term economic growth.

By enabling the infrastructure and partnerships that power opportunity, Interswitch remains committed to helping build a more inclusive, resilient and prosperous Africa.

The post Without Reliable Power, Financial Inclusion Will Stall, Interswitch CEO Warns appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The product addresses a problem Elsie Godwin, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Cashwise says she kept encountering: staff members using personal fintech accounts to pay for company tools, company funds being exposed to multiple platforms and team members on one card, and finance teams reconciling business spend from WhatsApp screenshots because no dedicated business card infrastructure existed.

Godwin has said the idea crystallised after watching a remote staff member at a Lagos startup unable to run the company’s Google Ads campaign because she couldn’t reach her line manager to verify card details tied to a single shared account.

“You didn’t build a business to become a human ATM,” Godwin said.

Orbit by Cashwise gives each team member their own dedicated virtual dollar card, with spending limits set by the business, visibility into real-time spend, and centralized control, designed for recurring business expenses such as Google Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, and subscription tools including Notion, Figma, Adobe, Canva, AWS and various AI platforms.

Built for Businesses, startups, Marketing agencies, exporters and global businesses, Godwin said the product was shaped by direct feedback from businesses rather than formal research, and that its development was further validated through her acceptance into the Entrepreneurs for Global Change LeapX Bootcamp and Entrepreneur-in-Residence programme.

How Orbit by Cashwise Works

Per Cashwise, Orbit is structured around three core steps:

1. Business sets up a central account. A company registers on Orbit and manages the account from an admin/finance dashboard rather than through an individual’s personal card.
2. Dedicated cards are issued per team, department or project. Instead of one shared card routed through a single person, each team member or use-case gets its own virtual dollar card, funded from the business’s central balance.
3. Role-Based access for teams – assign multiple user roles so finance teams, administrators and employees can access the platform based on their responsibilities
4. Spend limits and visibility are set centrally. Admins define how much each card can spend, monitor transactions in real time, and adjust or revoke access without needing to track down whoever is holding the card.

The result, according to Godwin, is that a marketing campaign or software subscription no longer stalls because one person is unreachable; spend authority sits with the business, not with an individual’s personal account and reconciliation can be done by a click of a few buttons.

The post Cashwise Launches Orbit, Giving Business Teams Their Own Virtual Dollar Cards appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Market checks showed the naira remained relatively stable in both the official and unofficial foreign exchange markets, although exchange rates continued to vary across cities and currency dealers depending on demand, supply, and transaction volumes.

The NFEM rate, which serves as Nigeria’s official benchmark for eligible foreign exchange transactions, is determined through completed trades in the formal market. In contrast, rates in the parallel market are influenced by prevailing market conditions and are not regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Analysts say the relatively narrow premium between the official and parallel markets suggests improved price convergence compared with previous periods, although demand for foreign currency outside the formal banking system continues to sustain the unofficial market.

Businesses, importers, travellers, and other foreign exchange users are advised to confirm prevailing rates with their banks or authorised dealers before completing transactions, as exchange rates can change during the trading day.

Exchange Rate Snapshot

Note: Parallel market (black market) exchange rates are unofficial and may vary by location, dealer, and transaction size. The official NFEM rate remains the benchmark exchange rate recognised by the Central Bank of Nigeria

The post Dollar to Naira Exchange Rate Today, July 10, 2026 appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Every civilisation has been built on one invisible infrastructure. The Romans built roads. The Industrial Revolution built electricity. The Internet built information. The next economy may be built on something far less tangible.

Trust.

That sounds counterintuitive because we have spent centuries believing that money is the foundation of every economy. It isn’t. Money has never been the foundation; it has simply been the mechanism through which trust is exchanged.

Every major financial innovation, from coins and paper notes to credit cards, online banking and blockchain, has been humanity’s attempt to solve the same problem: “how do we help strangers trust one another without ever meeting?”

Seen through that lens, today’s financial revolution looks very different.

Most discussions about digital finance revolve around whether cash will disappear. We debate mobile wallets, central bank digital currencies, cryptocurrency, real-time payments and digital banking. Yet these conversations often mistake the visible change for the actual transformation.

The real shift is not that money is becoming digital. The real shift is that trust is becoming programmable. That single idea explains why the financial landscape is changing faster than many people realise.

For decades, finance has depended on institutions to create confidence. Banks verified identities, governments authenticated currencies, contracts relied on lawyers, payment networks validated transactions and every exchange involved an intermediary whose primary role was to reassure two parties that the system could be trusted.

Technology is quietly rewriting that arrangement.

Today, identities can be verified digitally. Transactions can be authenticated within seconds, smart contracts can execute agreements automatically once predefined conditions are met, and artificial intelligence can detect suspicious activity before humans notice it. Increasingly, confidence is being built into the infrastructure itself rather than added afterwards.

This is why I believe we need a new way to think about the evolution of finance, not as a journey from cash to digital payments, but as “three generations of financial trust”.

The first generation was Physical Trust. Trust was tied to tangible assets like gold, paper currency, handwritten signatures and face-to-face interactions. Confidence came from what people could physically see and hold.

The second generation was Institutional Trust. As economies expanded, institutions became the guarantors of financial confidence.

Banks, regulators, payment networks and financial intermediaries enabled transactions at a scale impossible through personal relationships alone. Trust shifted from physical objects to established organisations.

We are now entering the third generation: Programmable Trust.

Here, trust is embedded directly into technology. Verification happens automatically. Payments settle in real time, financial services become integrated into everyday experiences instead of existing as separate destinations. Increasingly, people interact with trusted systems rather than trusted institutions alone. That distinction is more profound than it first appears.

Many organisations still measure digital transformation by counting how many services have moved online, but digitising an existing process is not the same as redesigning how trust flows through an economy. Converting paperwork into an application does not automatically create a digital financial ecosystem.

This explains why some economies process millions of digital transactions every day yet continue to face friction, inefficiency and limited financial inclusion.

The missing ingredient is rarely another payment platform. More often, it is interoperable infrastructure, trusted digital identity, consistent regulation and systems capable of working together seamlessly.

In other words, the future of finance will not be determined by who builds the fastest application. It will be determined by who builds the most trusted ecosystem.

This has significant implications for Africa. The continent has rightly earned global recognition for accelerating digital financial adoption.

Yet the next opportunity extends beyond increasing transaction volumes. The greater challenge is designing financial infrastructure where payments, identity, data, compliance and commerce interact intelligently rather than operating in isolation.

That is where long-term competitive advantage will emerge.

Perhaps the greatest irony of all is that the more advanced finance becomes, the less visible it will appear.

People rarely think about the internet protocols that power a video call or the cloud infrastructure supporting an online purchase. Likewise, future generations may hardly think about payment rails, settlement networks or blockchain architecture. Financial experiences will simply happen securely, instantly and almost invisibly.

History suggests that successful technologies eventually disappear from our attention not because they become less important, but because they become so reliable that we stop noticing them altogether.

So, are we entering a fully digital financial economy? Perhaps that is no longer the right question.

A more useful question is whether we are entering an economy where trust itself becomes digital infrastructure because if that is true, then the organisations shaping the future of finance are not merely moving money more efficiently.

They are redesigning how entire economies create confidence at scale and that may prove to be the most valuable innovation of all.

*Bidemi Oke is the Chief Executive Officer of FlashChange, a fintech platform focused on secure digital asset exchange. He is an entrepreneur and vibrant leader, recognised for driving innovation and redefining access in the financial technology industry.

The post Are We Entering a Fully Digital Financial Economy? appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The United Nations Development Programme and the Stellar Development Foundation have signed a new agreement that carries their joint work on blockchain-based digital payments into its next phase, moving from a set of proven pilots toward a standing capability that UNDP country offices can draw on as a regular part of how they deliver programmes.

Coordinated by the UNDP Alternative Finance Lab (AltFinLab) at the Istanbul Regional Hub, the agreement shifts the focus from testing the technology in specific contexts to putting in place the institutional conditions under which it can be used at scale.

The decision to scale follows sixteen months of joint work, during which the two partners researched the use of digital payments across seventeen countries, consulted UNDP country offices and stakeholders, and implemented live pilots in Haiti, Syria, Kenya, Guatemala, and The Gambia, with two further solutions developed to a working prototype in Colombia and Papua New Guinea.

In parallel, the Sustainable Development Goals Blockchain Accelerator, strategically led by UNDP AltFinLab, matched a cohort of payment solutions built on the Stellar network with real UNDP programme challenges, producing a portfolio of graduated solutions with documented pathways to scale within existing country office programmes.

These pilots produced concrete evidence rather than promising projections. In Aleppo, UNDP delivered Cash for Work stipends to beneficiaries digitally and recorded every transaction on-chain, which reduced the estimated cost of distribution from about 10 percent of funds under conventional methods to about two percent, with every participant receiving and cashing out their payment.

In Haiti, a pilot built for low connectivity continued to function with a 100 percent success rate, even when the cellular network failed entirely during testing, settling payments almost instantly under the conditions that communities actually face.

Across all of the pilots, programmes gained something they had not had before, which is a traceable record of where money went.

Earlier in 2026, UNDP featured part of this work in the report New Tech, New Partners: Transforming Development in the Digital Era, which set out why reliable digital payment infrastructure matters for financial inclusion, for remittances, and for reaching people in fragile and conflict-affected settings that traditional financial systems sometimes fail to reach.

The new agreement turns these results into a capability that does not depend on any single project or funding cycle.

Over the coming period the two partners will establish the governance, onboarding, and safeguards that allow UNDP to adopt digital payments responsibly, move validated solutions from the existing pipeline into active use, extend the same infrastructure across different categories of UNDP programming, from humanitarian response to social protection and financial inclusion, and consolidate the evidence and operating guidance that the service needs to continue and grow within the development system.

Throughout this phase, the Stellar Development Foundation will provide technical advisory support and coordination across the Stellar ecosystem, including expertise on the network and its protocols, and engagement with the solution providers operating within the UNDP pipeline, while UNDP will retain responsibility for delivery and implementation.

Robert Pasicko, UNDP Alternative Finance Lab, said:

“We have shown that digital payments can reach the people that conventional systems miss, and in some of the hardest places to operate. The work now is to make that capability ordinary, so that a country office can use it with confidence as part of how it already works, rather than treating each deployment as an experiment.”

Candace Kelly, Chief Legal Officer, Stellar Development Foundation, said:

“These pilots showed what open, public blockchain infrastructure can do when it is built around the realities of the last mile. We are proud to continue this work with UNDP and to help turn a set of successful pilots into a durable part of how development and humanitarian finance is delivered.”

The agreement runs through 2027 and will conclude with a consolidated evidence base, a scaling playbook, and a formal handover, so that the capability outlasts the partnership that created it.

The post UNDP and Stellar Development Foundation Extend Deal to Scale Proven Digital Payment Solutions appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company, today announced a strategic investment from Circle Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Circle Internet Group, Inc. (Circle).

This follows Flutterwave’s participation in the launch of Circle Payments Network in 2025. The investment supports Flutterwave’s effort to embed USDC settlement directly into the payment flows businesses already use today.

Merchants can collect locally and settle in USDC, reducing delays and costs while enabling near-instant settlement beyond traditional banking hours.

At the core of this investment is Flutterwave’s strategy to position stablecoins as critical financial infrastructure to provide reliable and fast settlements in Africa.

By supporting USDC settlement within a compliance-first framework, Flutterwave enables blockchain-based payments that align with existing regulatory requirements and enterprise operating standards.

Commenting, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, founder and CEO of Flutterwave, said:

“This support from Circle Ventures is about backing the rails that will power the next era of global money movement from Africa. Stablecoins like USDC are no longer an experiment; they are becoming core financial infrastructure. By embedding USDC settlement into our current payments infrastructure, we are building a system that lets businesses move money at the speed of the internet. This fundamentally changes how payments from Africa connect to the world and it positions Flutterwave as the default stablecoin gateway for the continent.”

Global stablecoin circulation currently exceeds $300 billion, with Africa emerging as one of the fastest-growing regions for its adoption.

By expanding its platform into a multi-rail payment system that includes fiat, cards, bank transfers and stablecoins, Flutterwave is enabling businesses to choose the fastest, cheapest and most reliable settlement option for their needs.

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