Stakeholders at the MSME Dialogue Reiterate the Importance of Technology and Digital Transformation

Friday, April 03,2021 / 08:40AM /MSME Africa/Header Image Credit: MSME Africa

Stakeholdersat the third edition of MSME Dialogue have reiterated the importance ofpowering businesses, whether big or small, with technology and digitaltransformation to guarantee growth.

MSMEDialogue, a quarterly event which took place on April 24, 2021 is organized byMSME Africa, a multi-faceted resource platform for Micro, Small, and MediumEnterprises (MSME) in Africa providing capacity development, news,opportunities, business articles and other resources for MSMEs, entrepreneurs,and startups. The event seeks to seeks to address and proffer solutions toissues affecting Micro, Small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Speakersat the event, which had hundreds of owners and managers of Micro, Small andMedium Enterprises, Entrepreneurs and Business owners from different sector inattendance was held virtually. The speakers included Rex Mafiana: CEO, FPGTechnologies, Fatma Nasujo, Global Head of Operational Excellence at Sokowatch,Kenya, David Lanre Messan, CEO, FirstFounders, Bisoye Coker, CEO/Co-founder, KiakiaFX and Jeffrey Williams-Edem, GroupBusiness Head, Merchant Acquiring at Interswitch Group. The session wasmoderated by Solape Akinpelu: CEO/Founder, HerVest.

Accordingto Bisoye Coker "Digitisation is the key to fixing several of the numerouschallenges faced by businesses; embracing technology helps business owners totake smarter decisions by helping to collect, store and process data".

Inthe words of Rex Mafiana "Technology is a behavior tracker, and it can helpMSMEs leverage minimal capital in very effective ways". He also added "Purchaseconvenience and personalization are some of the advantages technology gives tobusiness and at the heart of digital transformation is customer experience".

Whileresponding to a question, David Lanre Messan stated "Technology is an enabler;you don?óÔé¼Ôäót build a business solely on technology; you use technology to powerand enable your ideas and innovations".

FatmaNasujo of Sokowatch, Kenya made a case for technology education in our schools,according to her ?óÔé¼?£being intentional about technology education will help ininnovation and technology adoption".

JeffereyWilliams-Edem believes that innovation must stick to continuous creativity andadvised MSMEs to start their technology journey by first identifying theirsales objectives.

Whilecommending the speakers for providing so many insights on the subject ofdiscussion, the convener of MSME Dialogue, Seye Olurotimi, also expressed hisappreciation to all attendees and the brands who supported the event - AccionMicrofinance Bank and Quickteller Business.

Thenext edition of MSME Dialogue is expected to take place in July 2021.