NIGERIA AT THE CUSP OF A MASSIVE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ACROSS BOARD
Earlier in the month, I had the privilege of taking a presentation on behalf of my organization at the recent Digital Pay Expo 2024; a visionary digital payment fair that Intermac Consulting has sustained for the last 23 years.
On the back of cerebral keynote addresses by the MD/CEO NIBSS, DG National Identity Management Commission, National Communication Commission, MasterCard & the Commissioner for Finance Lagos State, my task was to speak to expected Digital Payment Trends (2024 – 2027)
Just take a look at the images & sheer diversity of the audience from federal agencies, the paramilitary & the academia alongside lots of youthful innovators
In projecting into the next 5 years, I opted first to remind the audience of the unique Nigerian spirit that got us here in the first place namely:
What began around 2004 as ä growing appetite for retail banking, saw banks move for the first time away from Broad Street & VI into such neighborhoods as Ojuelegba, Ogunlana Drive, Yaba as mini banks - led mainly by the likes of Diamond Bank, Oceanic, Zenith & STB (now UBA), GTB and a host of others
At about the same time, with the return of the middle class under President Obasanjo, the retail explosion took off & competition for market share was driven deeply by retail outlets across the nation
Next around 2006, conversations began about “the bottom of the pyramid” which dovetailed into the term financial inclusion despite limited technology at the time.
Then sometime in 2007, MPesa's success story in Kenya, began to trickle into our ecosystem & in our typical daring fashion Nigerian entrepreneurs took the bull by the horns & today fintechs , local payment processors and switching companies have so re-defined financial services that the drive to open new "brick & mortar” has almost disappeared – driven by the continued evolution of consumers ‘ minds, demographics, appetite & lifestyles
During the same period, the Central Bank also displayed uncommon agility with its landmark policy in 2012, allowing multiple variants of banks as “channels” (ATM galleries, Cash Centres, Teller Implants, mini-banks etc)
In 2010, NIBSS also created the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa & still a reference point globally today. Add to that the Biometric Verification Number (BVN) in 2014 also domiciled at NIBSS and still a leading model in Africa to date
In closing, I had to make the point that innovators who will be relevant in the next 5 years are those who are open-minded enough to:
· Read the pressing consumer pain points of today (beyond the walls of traditional financial services)
· Go beyond the hype of “technology” & create real hands-on solutions to these pain points
We really do have a country to be proud of and clearly Nigeria shall remain a leading light in Digital Payment Innovation now & into the future ....