Winners have emerged in the maiden edition of the FSI Cashless Campus Innovation Challenge held virtually, recently.

Financial Services Innovators (FSI), a non-profit organisation committed to discovering tech talents in tertiary institutions and enabling start-ups within the technology and financial services space, organised the hackathon challenge.

The Cashless Campus Innovation Challenge is aimed at proffering solutions to digitize micropayments in tertiary institutions and their environs, including cashless transportation, cashless commerce, etc.

Team Techies defeated 10 other contestants to emerge as the winner, smiling to the bank with N100,000 while Teams Prodigies and Tap & Go emerged as the 1st and 2nd runners-up respectively.

The teams that emerged first in each participating school also went home with N100,000 each, a certificate of participation and internship opportunities.

However, all the finalists’ teams were given a slot each to attend the FSI’s business incubation programme.

Team Techies, which represented Al-Qalam University, Katsina, won with QRide, an innovative campus trip-booking app for students, staff and other residents.

Team Prodigies, also from Al-Qalam University, Katsina, pitched an app, Macco, aimed at providing faster payments and easy transactions for students and others on campus, using the student’s registration number as a unique identifier for processing transactions; while Team Tap & Go presented an app that authenticates individuals with their biometrics to effect payment for seamless transactions without cards or individual’s mobile phones on campus. Other winners of the competition are Teams Jafos, Cool Nerds, Bytecode, Cyberbros, WireMe, Painkil and Iconic Codes. 

According to Dr Aituaz Kola-Oladejo, the Executive Director, FSI, the cashless campus innovation challenge has shown that Nigeria is blessed with a minefield of talents, yet to be harnessed. 

“Until we harness this minefield of talents, we cannot change the narrative of Africa. I want to appreciate our partners, MFS Africa, Future Africa, Flourish Ventures, and most especially, Mr Iyin Aboyeji, chairman, FSI’s Board of Trustees, for their support. I also thank our judges, Eniola Boluogun, Binta Moustapha, and Salami Abolore for taking time out of their busy schedules to support this initiative,” she said. 

In his keynote address, Mr Aniedi Udo-Obong, a US-based Nigerian Program Manager and Software Developer with Google, counseled the participants that ideating is the next big thing, therefore the students should continue to innovate and not rest on their oars. 

“Don’t rely on your mental capability alone, ask for help. Use all resources available to you. Know the depth of the problem with the technology available to you. Do not run away from problems because money and value flow to where solutions are proffered,” he stated.

Moderated by Derek Nwafor, the Campus Cashless Innovation Challenge had 67 teams comprising 130 students drawn from six higher institutions spread across the country. They include Mountain Top University (MTU), Lagos; University of Nigeria (UNN), Nsukka; Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife; Al-Qalam University, Katsina; Federal University of Technology (FUTO), Owerri, and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi.

‘Cashless’ has probably become one of the most popular words in Nigeria in the last few months. While it can be defined in different ways, it has one universal meaning and is characterised by the exchange of funds for goods and services by methods other than the use of cash.

This little or no dependence on cash is not forced by an inability to queue for hours at an ATM or unwillingness to pay an exorbitant fee to a PoS or mobile money agent.

No, this little dependence on cash is because of the ability to meet financial obligations without necessarily needing to handle cash.

You are probably thinking about the western world and the level of development that makes this their reality but some very solid examples of cashless economies also exist in Africa.

One of the easiest ways to identify a Nigerian in Kenya for example (excluding the Naija-ness) is by how they transact. As a Nigerian visitor, you are very likely to pay in cash when you buy food, shop at a neighbourhood market, buy things from the roadside or visit a tourist centre.

This alone – paying in cash everywhere – is more likely to scream “foreigner” than if you had worn a green-white-green Ankara at that time.

When the M-Pesa platform marked its 15 year anniversary last year, it had grown to more than 51 million customers, 465,000 businesses, 600,000 agents, and 42,000 developers across Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Ghana, and Egypt, as reported by Business Insider.

Ghana, our neighbours, digitised their economy with Mobile Money. The Bank of Ghana in its payment systems annual report for 2021, reported that its volume of Mobile Money transactions increased to 4.25 billion in 2021, representing a 47.1 percent growth, compared to 2020. Similarly, the total value of transactions increased to GH¢ 978.32 billion in 2021, from GH¢ 571.80 billion in 2020.

In dollar terms, the value of transactions in 2021 was $75 billion (based on current exchange rates). For perspective, Ghana’s GDP was $77.59 billion that same year.

This essentially shows us mobile money transactions could cover the entire economic activities in Ghana (when currency devaluation over the past year is factored in).

The Carnegie endowment for international peace also referencing a BOG report, said in recent years, Ghana has been identified as one of the biggest mobile money markets and the fastest-growing one in Africa with 40.9 million accounts as at February 2021. Again, for context; the population of Ghana is 32.8 million.

A Business Day report in 2019, noted that in Ghana, the utilisation of Mobile Money has become so ubiquitous, that it no longer has a wow effect, and is just a part of their everyday life.

The average Ghanaian can go about his or her day and be productive without ever needing to transact with cash, just like their peers in Kenya and other countries where cash is increasingly less important.

Somalia’s journey to a cashless economy is perhaps the most inspiring. It is recorded that between 1990 and 2013, Somalia received no foreign direct investment, and the monetary system broke down with the collapse of the Somali Central Bank.

The Somali government installed its first ATM in 2014, but the progress of its wider digital economy has been astonishing.

The Somali Central Bank introduced a central payments system in August 2021 which connects the nation’s 13 lenders, and formalises digital payments, making payments easier for people across the country.

According to a report by the World Bank published in 2018, almost three-quarters of the Somali population aged 16 and older use Mobile Money.

Somalia’s Gross Domestic Product, grew by an estimated 2.9 percent in 2019 and by 3.2 percent and 3.5 percent in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Eight years after the installation of their first ATM, Somalia is now recognized globally as a cashless economy.

Today, in its urban centres, Mobile Money penetration is over 80 percent. Even in rural areas, it has become the currency of choice, with a penetration rate of 55 percent.

Need we add examples of the western world? Maybe just a few.

In 2022, Merchant Machine ranked Norway on the list of 10 countries closest to a completely cashless society, with cash accounting for only 2 percent of all payments in Norway, 100 percent of its population owning a bank account, and 71 percent also owning a credit card.

It was followed by Finland with the same small percentage of cash-based payments ( 2 percent) and none of its citizens going without a bank account, then New Zealand also having two percent cash-based payments but a very slightly higher unbanked population of one percent.

The UK ranks lower at number eight due to a slightly smaller percentage of credit card users (65 percent) and higher percentage of unbanked population (3 percent). However, it sees less cash-based payments overall, with just 1 percent of all payments being made with notes and coins.

Now imagine a scenario where you navigate the city of Lagos without worrying about “change” or whether the cash in your hand is not counterfeit or too worn out. Imagine not worrying about making any payments, not because you are a Dangote or because Otedola is your daddy, but because you have various payment options in your pocket or at your disposal; cards, phone, apps, USSD codes etc. More importantly, imagine that your transactions are happening within the banking ecosystem, your bank therefore has visibility into your spending patterns and is able to adequately profile you to access credit.

Despite the promising future a cashless economy offers, the experiment in India has offered the rest of the world some lessons on how not to go about it.

The Economic Times of India for instance, noted that after invalidating 86 percent of the currency in circulation (the 500 and 100 notes), the government started scrambling to promote digital payments, yet, only about half of Indian adults had bank accounts, and only about a quarter had internet access. Mobile payments were rare and even if everyone had wanted to go digital, they couldn’t have.

The lesson? Before going cashless, alternatives should not only be in place, but reliable too. India’s move towards going cashless has not been a complete failure but it came at huge human and economic loss.

An article on The Balance Money describes a cashless society as one where all transactions are electronic, using debit or credit cards or payment services like PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, and Apple Pay. In Nigeria, we have companies like OnePipe, offering technologies that digitise and simplify payment processing to downplay the dependence on cash.

Although not a lot of societies are truly cashless, many economists believe that consumer preferences, competitive pressures on businesses, profit seeking by banks, and government policies designed to facilitate cashless transactions will soon lead to more cashless societies which eventually lead to economic growth.

This was revealed on Sunday in an interview with NAN in Lagos by ABCON President Aminu Gwadabe.

The Naira has been mostly constant over the previous few weeks when compared to the dollar, trading between N740/$ and N750/$ on the black market.

As the date for the demonetization of old naira notes, January 31, draws near, he discussed the future of the Naira.

“The Naira redesign and the security surveillance of the financial system have stemmed the volatile demand pressure in the parallel market,” Gwadabe said.

“This explains the stability witnessed at the retail end of the parallel market.”

According to the President of ABCON, since the start of the strategy, the local currency has fluctuated within a stable range of N750 to the dollar.

In spite of the market’s lack of supply of dollars, he said that the exchange rate had held steady.

According to Gwadabe, the lack of the new naira notes has persisted in instilling apprehension and worry among typical Nigerians.

To guarantee a smooth transition from old notes to new ones, he asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to maintain its advocacy and stakeholders’ participation.

Parking is one such industry, where the rapid uptake of cashless, paperless, digital parking solutions is changing the face of something we have all just taken for granted for generations. 

Demand for parking solutions, such as Parket, is driven by consumer demand and landlords’ need for efficiency and increased revenue.

This results in an old paradigm industry – which, let’s be honest, makes money for a number of stakeholders off sheer inefficiency – being disrupted at an increasingly rapid pace. This is a global trend, and one we are seeing gaining momentum in South Africa. 

When the World Health Organisation announced that handling of money may contribute to spreading the Covid-19 virus, the drive towards a cashless society got a huge shot in the arm. Naturally, a country like South Africa that has a large and vibrant informal sector still depends heavily on cash, but one need only look around at the sheer number of tap payments, QR code payments, and more, to see that consumer behaviour has certainly evolved, and that there is less and less suspicion about the safety of technology.

Beyond that, the convenience that digital transformation brings cannot be ignored. Can you imagine sitting at a restaurant five years ago with no menu? Time and effort was spent on flashy menus that needed to be maintained, lest they got worn and looked old. Today a QR code takes you to the website menu. Advertisements in magazines and newspapers, products you buy – they all entice the user – who is most likely equipped with a smartphone – with a single click to visit their digital platform for more information – where data is no doubt used to curate an experience. 

We all use applications daily. An app for this, and an app for that. Often, they are integrated and read information from various sources to deliver the experience we demand – in real time. To say that the world has changed, would be an understatement. 

So, what then of the typical parking experience from the eye of a customer, or the person who uses the parking? It usually starts with placing a paper parking ticket somewhere and then trying not to lose it. If you do, you know there are penalties to pay. If it has been bent in your wallet or pocket, it might not work when you do eventually locate a paying station – which, if we are honest, may or may not work when you need it to. 

If it doesn’t work, there is a button which calls a person who either helps you or annoys you, and this has a large impact on your overall experience of using the parkade. If it does work, you either pay cash, which is a pain for those who don’t enjoy carrying money, or you use a debit or credit card – if the unit works. 

You then place the ticket back in a safe space, walk to your car and unpack groceries and deal with children as fast as possible to ensure you exit the parkade before the leeway period has passed. Once more you need to locate the ticket you put away amidst doing everything else.

Compare this to the experience of using Parket, for example. You drive up to the boom, your number plate is recognised and the boom lifts. You drive to the parking you booked with a few clicks. When you are finished doing your business, you go to your car and leave – and you are digitally charged for the time you used. No paper. No people. No fuss.

The second scenario is clearly more in touch with how our world has evolved from a convenience and customer experience perspective. We live in an age where time is literally money. But beyond that, the rapid uptake of cashless and ticketless parking platforms is driven by more than just the customer experience it delivers – which, make no mistake, is vital (we have picked up a remarkable return-use of the application by end customers).

On the landlord side, a key driver is the ability to efficiently manage empty parking bays in real time. For example, if there is an empty bay in a parkade and a driver en-route to the area in need of a parking space, who would not want to connect the two? This type of efficiency is only possible with technology. Vacant parking bays do nothing. Occupied parking bays make money. This is an important opportunity for landlords to earn extra revenue off an asset they already own. This cannot be discounted in an age where the habits of customers and employees have changed dramatically from pre-Covid patterns and there is an increased build to draw a simple and effective bridge between supply and demand. 

Another factor driving the uptake of platforms such as Parket is the general trend away from Capex. If one considers a business moving to the cloud – essentially, they are rewriting the rule book: before, there was a huge Capex investment to set up data centres, while the Opex was dominated by maintenance and enough skilled people. Today, businesses can forgo the Capex investment and utilise various subscription services to do the same task more affordably, more securely, more efficiently and more safely.

There are similarities with parkade management. There would be a large initial investment in the payment stations and ticket machines at the booms. Then there would be substantial Opex required to keep it all going – maintenance of the machines, paper for the tickets, and people to manage various stations. People, as we know, come with a quantitative and qualitative cost: what do they earn, and what are you paying in terms of customer experience? 

Earlier, I referenced money being made out of inefficiencies: think about the service costs, replacement costs, raw material costs, and more. For each of those costs, someone is making money and someone is spending money. 

While customer experience, increased revenue opportunities and a drastically reduced Capex and Opex are currently the main drivers of the rise of cashless and ticketless parking platforms, there are other considerations which are going to become increasingly important and accelerate the uptake further. 

The first is the impact on the environment, from discarding paper to eliminating fruitless idling, the lower impact on the environment is obvious for all to see. Another is the move towards smart cities – within time, buildings, parkades and roads will all be fitted with sensors that need to be integrated into various platforms that deliver a smart city experience. There is no place for dinosaur technology in this world. 

Data-driven insights already mean that a platform such as Parket can deliver an experience, for owners of buildings, tenants and drivers, that is unmatched in terms of efficiency and revenue-generating potential. It’s this very ability to use real-time and historical data to improve the service that will see platforms such as Parket being built into a broader smart city network. 

Another trend we are likely to see, in the not-so-distant future, at least from Parket’s perspective, is automated pricing based on demand. This is where real-time occupancy levels will determine pricing of individual bays to achieve a desired revenue target. This is not possible without the power of real-time data. Don’t be surprised to see pedestrian access, through turnstiles or the like, become integrated into the parking solution to offer corporate clients a single view of all their access points. 

The horse has bolted, so to speak. It’s only a matter of time before everyone joins the party because the future has no place for acting like the past. For instance – if you want to share this article, will you print it, and fax it, or print it or photocopy it, scan it and then email it? The answer is a resounding no to both, because the world has evolved and there is no need to go through those laborious steps. Expect the same to occur with parking lots in a city near you, very soon.