Thursday,November 25, 2021 / 06:30PM / FintechNGR / Header Image Credit: FintechNGR

On 11^th of November 2021, the Fintech Associationof Nigeria, (FintechNGR), hosted the World Fintech Festival (WFF), Nigeria, inpartnership with the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF). The event was one of thebreakout events held by key FinTech hubs across the globe and was themed, TechSpark3.0, Leveraging Emerging Technology for Digital Economy.

Giving the opening address, Ade Bajomo, President, FintechNGR,emphasized the essence of the theme and its potential to scale the fintechecosystem as the digital economy is being embraced globally at record speed. Inhis own words, "The emergence of Nigeria and indeed the rest of Africafintech communities is showing the forces of economics at play… and leveragingemerging technology for the digital economy would determine where Nigeria sitsin the global financial spectrum for now and many more years to come."

Some of the speakers at the event were Michale Natusch, ChiefScience Officer, Prudential Plc, Nkem Nweke, Innovation Lead, Microsoft, IniAkpan, CEO oPay, Simon Chantry, CIO Bitt, Toju Duke, AI Program Manager,Google, Ray Youssef, CEO, Paxful, Dr. Abdourahmane Faye, Chief Data Officer,Access Bank, Elizabeth Rosiello, CEO Bitpesa, and a host of others.

The event, sponsored by Access Bank Plc and Africa FintechFoundry, also featured presentations from regulators; Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)on The eNaira and the Nigerian Economy and Nigeria InformationTechnology Development Agency (NITDA) on The Nigerian Digital Architecture.Delivering the presentation on the eNaira, Uhmar Ahmed Bello, Director,Currency Operations, CBN, expressed optimism that the eNaira launched bythe CBN would improve monetary and financial stability. He also addressed thevarious challenges the apex bank had faced since the launch of the eNaira andmentioned other phases in the pipeline. Talking on the Nigerian DigitalArchitecture, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, Director- eGovernment Development &Regulatory, NITDA, spoke extensively on the processes and key factors anorganization had to consider before embarking on a digital transformationjourney, he also touched on the subsidiaries of the agency that innovators inthe fintech ecosystem could leverage on.

Key Takeaways

• Impact of money laundering andfeatures of eNaira that can help combat money laundering
• The Digital economy thrives ondata, and NITDA has come up with NDPR to protect data privacy. It also supportsthe development of a National Digital economy policy
• Data, algorithms & managingdata are critical for transiting into the emerging economy
• Africa specific training data iskey for the emerging economy e.g., Kenya which has become a strategic data leveler
• Compliance with internationalstandards, cloud security and development of appropriate policies to guideoperations are very important in building a resilient cybersecurity program
• Stakeholders should rally round usingthe platform of the Association to accelerate the ecosystem
• The thrust of the Central BankDigital Currency is empowerment, poverty reduction and financial inclusion, andfour phases of the eNaira are expected to be completed by September 2022
• Youthful population, increasingsmartphone penetration, and enabling regulatory frameworks are increasing theactivities in the digital economy

In his closing remarks, Dr. Babatunde Obrimah expressedappreciation to the sponsors, attendees, and speakers and the SFF for choosingto partner with the Association in bringing the 2021 edition of the WorldFintech Festival to Nigeria. He rounded off by saying, "the analoggeneration cannot implement the digital economy, it is up to you: the youths".

Kindly follow us @FintechNGR across social media to getupdates on events like this organized by the Association, and if you areinterested in sponsorship or partnership for future events, send us a mail at [email protected] or call+2349030003013.

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