The event, which saw the participation of 611 attendees, aimed at setting the tone for the industry in 2024 by retrospectively analyzing 2023 and providing valuable insights into the trends and forecasts that will shape the coming year.

The opening address by Mr. Ade Bajomo, president of the association, highlighted the resilience of the global FinTech landscape in 2023.

He said despite a 48% decrease in global FinTech investment, the spirit of innovation and digital inclusion persevered.

He expressed optimism for 2024, foreseeing advancements in AI, machine learning, and deeper integration with Web3.

Moderated by Yemi Keri, CEO of Heckerbella, the event featured speakers from diverse sectors, including payment, insurance, banking, fintech, and technology. Each speaker provided a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities faced by the fintech ecosystem.

The first speaker Chinwe Uzoho, regional managing director, Network International, discussed the impact of digital transformation post-COVID, emphasizing intelligent automation, collaboration, and the need for industry players to embrace technology and innovation in 2024.

Olayinka Oni, ED/COO, Sterling Financial Holdings Company, addressed challenges faced in 2023, including uncertainties during elections and the impact of COVID.

He emphasized the importance of digital transformation, financial inclusion, and collaboration between banks and FinTech’s in 2024.

Tomi Badejo, head strategic projects at NowNow, explored the economic challenges of 2023, the impact on the fintech ecosystem, and expectations for 2024. His focus was on open banking, generative AI, customer-centric solutions, and the importance of real financial inclusion.

Oti Iletanhem, Investment Principal at Alitheia, speaking from an investment perspective, analyzed the reasons behind investor pullback in 2023 and predicted an evolving investment landscape in 2024.

He highlighted the importance of fintechs aligning with financial inclusion, compliance, and regulatory aspects to attract investments.

Dr. Funmi Babington-Ashaye, MD/CEO of Risk Analyst Insurance, anticipated a surge in mergers and acquisitions in the insurtech sector in 2024.

She emphasized the role of AI in improving fraud detection and the importance of partnerships and ecosystem collaboration.

Ousseynou Beye, Senior Solutions Architect, Amazon, stressed the significance of understanding which type of AI solution would be useful for business challenges, cautioning that generative AI is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

The Fintech Outlook 2024 event concluded with Dr. Jameelah Sharrieff-Ayedun, Chairman, Connect Committee of FintechNGR & MD/CEO, CreditRegistry giving closing remarks, encouraging participation in the initiatives of Fintech Association of Nigeria, and Dr. Babatunde Obrimah, COO, FintechNGR announcing upcoming events, including the Nigeria Fintech Week scheduled for October 8th – 10th at the Landmark Event Center in Lagos Nigeria.

What you should know:

• FintechNGR is the premier national fintech association in Africa, dedicated to accelerating fintech growth, connecting stakeholders, and advocating for the adoption of regulatory supports and reforms.
• With a diverse membership base spanning various sector. FintechNGR aims to foster an innovation-driven environment and make Nigeria one of the world’s leading markets for fintech innovation and investment.

Mastercard has partnered with Nigerian digital payment startup NowNow, to help SMEs reduce the risk of cyberattacks.

There has been a significant increase in cybercrime in recent years. According to the Nigerian Communications Commission, Nigeria loses an estimated USD500, 000, 000 (Five Hundred Million United States Dollars) yearly due to cybercrime.

SMEs are a huge target for cybercriminals as they typically do not have the resources to defend themselves or to act accordingly once they have been breached.

NowNow supports SMEs with regular web application penetration tests to ensure that applications are not vulnerable to any cyber threats.

It is currently available in Nigeria and Angola and is expanding into several other markets (Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, and UAE).

As part of the Mastercard Start Path Global Program, which is designed to help later-stage startups innovate and scale, NowNow was provided with operational support, commercial engagement, and the opportunity for strategic investment.

“As Mastercard brings the next billion people into the digital economy, it is vital that business owners feel as secure and safe from cybercrime as possible. Our partnership with NowNow is key to achieving this. Whether large or small, businesses deserve the peace of mind to operate knowing that they are being kept safe,” said Paul Trueman, Executive Vice President, Product Optimization and Customer Advancement, Cyber & Intelligence at Mastercard.

The health and sustainability of SMEs is essential for economic prosperity.

According to this World Bank report, SMEs represent about 90% of businesses globally and employ more than 50% of the global workforce.

Recognizing the devastating impact of COVID-19 on SMEs, Mastercard committed USD250, 000, 000 (Two Hundred and Fifty Million United States Dollars) over a five-year period to help SMEs, including  establishing the Mastercard Trust Centre to address their cybersecurity needs.

Sahir Berry, CEO of NowNow says, “Like Mastercard, NowNow is committed to driving financial and digital inclusion by building an ecosystem that digitizes payments and creates access to financial services for businesses, governments, and customers in rural and urban communities using simplified branchless banking initiatives. We are excited to partner with the Mastercard Trust Centre to help our customers improve the security of their cyber ecosystem, and better protect themselves from cyber criminals.”

The Mastercard Trust Centre is a microsite on the Mastercard.com site. It helps SMEs to defend their critical assets, business, and reputation by providing online access to trusted cybersecurity research, curated education, resources, and tools from Mastercard and trusted external sources. Recognizing that each business has unique needs, the Mastercard Trust Centre provides a tailor-made approach, whether they are entrepreneurs starting to learn about cybersecurity, or business owners expanding their knowledge or mastering cybersecurity.

Mastercard develops partnerships with external businesses such as NowNow, non-profit organizations, and governments to bring the Mastercard Trust Centre to its partners’ SME communities.

Fintech Association of Nigeria (FinTechNGR), saw over 25% growth in membership, with NowNow, Network International and many others joining the Association.

Mr. Ade Bajomo, the President of FinTechNGR, disclosed this in his goodwill message to stakeholders, this week in Lagos.

He said that, as an Association, they are faced with the dire need to galvanize the ecosystem; to respond positively and creatively to the sometimes-gloomy global economic outlook; support the growth of the businesses of the Stakeholders; and assist regulators and the government in creating an enabling environment for innovation, economic growth and employment.

Bajomo also highlighted the effect of “japa syndrome”  on the industry, stressing that this is leading to shortage of human talents coupled with the challenges of the cryptocurrency sector.

Despite the challenges, he said the Nigerian FinTech ecosystem maintained its growth trajectory within the African continent In the year under review, Nigerian FinTech startups raised a whopping $1.2B out of $4.6B total raised by African startups as of December 1, 2022, according to TechNext report.

“Major beneficiaries include Flutterwave ($250m), Interswitch ($100m), Moove ($105m), TeamApt ($50m), and Vendease ($30m).

“Nigeria’s FinTech ecosystem’s stronger and improved brand appeal to global investors shows that Nigeria is an economy positioned for growth, financial inclusion and a narrowing poverty gap.

“Nigeria was ranked as 3rd top crypto trading country in the world by Bloomberg, with 63.8 million active traders”.

This implies Nigerians trading in Crypto is higher than the number of financially inclusive people, which Bajomo said poses a major challenge “for us in the fintech ecosystem and demystifies the issue of illiteracy as a challenge”.

“What is obvious is that people want a return on investments, convenience and a regulated DEFI environment”.

He said FintechNGR must continue to develop robust venture capital and private equity channels to support innovators that have significant growth potential.

“Simplifying and optimizing the process of raising capital would allow more investors to benefit from the growth of these companies and create wealth for the economy.

Without a doubt, FintechNGR played a key role as an enabler of these feats; the Association provided direction and support in various ways such as:

• Holding its first Annual Outlook webinar
• Holding its first Annual Award event “Fintech Platinum Award”
• The second graduation of the DigiStuds project, a Digital Academy Project aimed at equipping 500,000 students of public tertiary institutions in Nigeria with relevant digital skills.
• The sustainability of the Reguvators’ Forum, a platform of interaction between regulators and innovators in Nigeria created to enable the stakeholders to collaborate and co-create solutions for balancing innovation and regulation.
• Deepening collaboration and technical skills through various training and knowledge events such as the Nigeria FinTech Week (NFW), Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF), Intercontinental Webinars and various ad-hoc interventions on regulations.
• FintechNGR Stakeholders engaging with CBN on solutions to improve eNaira adoption.
• MOU with CIBN and FSI on Fintech certification in Nigeria.
• The NFW2022 was a major success and the NFW2023 will be even better.

“Therefore, it is no surprise that FintechNGR Membership grew by 25%, to 343 as we attracted new strategic members such as NowNow and Network International and many others, who are keen to take part in the critical role we play and the impact we have on the ecosystem as an Association.

“We also experienced the renewal of existing Stakeholders and several upgrades of membership plans to a higher category. For this, I want to say thank you for aiding the improved visibility of the Association. Because of you all, we fostered more strategic alliances and deeper engagements such as more meaningful roundtable discussions with Regulators and wider industry participants.

“I would also like to thank our Board of Trustees, Governing Council, GovCo and the very able management team for providing exemplary leadership and direction in 2022.

“More importantly, was that 2022 was an election year leading to a new crop of GovCo members to steer the Association for the next two years. I do not doubt the quality of people in the newly constituted GovCo and its ability to scale the Association to a new level”.

2023:

The FinTechNGR President expressed optimisms about the new year. He said:

“As we look forward to consolidating our gains and sustaining the momentum as an ecosystem in 2023, I would like to you everyone to leverage the platforms created by the Association in scaling the Nigerian FinTech ecosystem and further increasing our visibility on the global scale, having earned a worthy seat on the table when it comes to advancements in FinTech related matters in our country and beyond. This year, we will continue to drive the relentless growth of innovative solutions and start-ups within our ecosystem and membership network.

“I know we can count on each other to drive our industry to much greater heights in 2023. Let’s make this happen”.

Organized annually in Dubai by Entrepreneur Middle East, a leading market intelligence organization, the award recognizestop companies, technologies, and products in the global fintech market that have proven exceptional in areas of innovation, creativity and hard work.

Mr Sahir Berry was awarded the highest honour in acknowledgement of his innovative and leadership skills that have driven NowNow to deliver high-capacity services through its digital payments services, security innovation, and SME ‘Business in a Box’ solution; with the goal of boosting financial inclusion across Africa.

Expressing his gratitude and appreciation for being awarded such a prestigious honour, Sahir Berry said: “It brings me immense pleasure and honour to receive this distinguished award, on behalf of not only myself but the entire NowNow team.

Since we began our journey, NowNow has championed innovation and operational excellence, working relentlessly to carefully construct a dynamic ecosystem of financial solutions, products, and services for our consumers.

We are thrilled to see our work and achievements being honoured for its innovative technology solutions, a clear testament to how much NowNow resonates with consumers, enterprises, and agents in pushing the boundaries of financial inclusion.

As we go on, we promise to continue creating solutions spanning digital banking, personal finance, lending, payments, and investments that revolutionise our financial ecosystem,” he concluded.

The award comes a year after NowNow’s emergence as the “Best Mobile Fintech Solution” at the 2021 Leaders in Fintech awards, in recognition of its exceptional results in helping the financial services industry move forward through innovations with proven fintech solutions.

NowNow Nigeria is a mobile payment solution whose mission is innovating and creating the largest fintech ecosystem in Africa.

NowNow seeks to bridge the gap between the banked and unbanked and to see that the use of cash and leather wallets are completely eliminated.

NowNow is advocating and re-enforcing the need to use e-wallets as the wallet for the future, available on iOS and Android.

Recognized as an emerging leader in Africa’s fintech sector, NowNow is among the eight startups and the only African startup selected to participate in the latest Start Path class. The program provides opportunities to co-innovate, gain expert knowledge, and reach a global customer base for the brightest startups in the world.

Mastercard Start Path is an award-winning startup engagement program within the Mastercard Developers portfolio which aims to support startups on their scaling journey across financial services industries globally. 

The Mastercard Developers portfolio provides the services and tools fintech innovators need to iterate at each stage of their journey, transform bold ideas and achieve scale at pace to bring more people into the digital economy. 

Through Start Path, Mastercard will provide NowNow with operational support, commercial engagement, and the opportunity for strategic investment. NowNow aims to deliver best in class financial services in Nigeria and Africa would benefit from the opportunity to collaborate with other innovative startups across the globe.

Sahir Berry, Chief Executive Officer of NowNow Digital Systems, said, “It is a pleasure to be recognized as an emerging leader in the fintech sector, and our participation in the Mastercard Start Path engagement program reinforces our commitment to enabling innovative financial solutions. This opportunity means that NowNow can scale its solutions while learning from the leading global payment technology company. Combining this expert guidance with our innovative solutions, we are confident in the future.”

“At Mastercard, we are proud to collaborate with businesses that are committed to the development of the local digital payments landscape which directly results in the growth of the economy. The Start Path program was designed to enable high-potential fintech startups to take advantage of Mastercard’s resources to co-innovate and quickly scale up operations. As the digital economy increasingly becomes the economy, enabling NowNow to achieve its vision only brings us closer to our financial inclusion commitment to connecting a total of 1 billion individuals and 50 million micro and small merchants (MSMs) to the digital economy by 2025.” says Ebehijie Momoh, Country Manager & Area Business Head, West Africa at Mastercard.

Mastercard creates bespoke training programs for each Start Path participant and provides access to its product teams, customers, and channels to help each startup unlock the potential of Mastercard’s network. Since founding Start Path in 2014, Mastercard has provided mentorship and support to nearly 300 startups globally. 

The latest cohort of the Start Path program will tackle challenges and take advantage of opportunities across Mastercard’s ecosystem of digital transformation, biometrics, cybersecurity, small business, open banking and more.

NowNow Digital Systems Limited provides reliable, best-in-class financial services technology to small and medium-sized businesses, agents, and consumers to drive financial empowerment for its customers.