Nigeria Fintech Week 2024 which took place at Landmark Event
Center in Lagos from 8th to 10th, October brought together African talents and
players from the fintech industry to deliberate on issues defining the
continent’s future. Speakers for the three-day conference held engaging debates
with subjects covering guidelines for the marketplace, digital human resource
management, funding issues, and security. Let’s look at the points of interest
of the event.
The Role of Smart Regulation in Accelerating Inclusive Growth
The session was on Smart Regulation; a Key to the Right
Placement of Africa’s Fintech Ecosystem for Inclusive Growth. The Nigeria
Communications Commission Executive Vice Chairman, Dr Aminu Maida, opened the
event by stressing the need for more flexibility in the regulation. He
emphasized that the regulation should not avert technology but rather enable
it.
Key Takeaways:
Inclusive Growth: Citing socio-economic sectors, Dr. Maida discussed
the importance of developing sound policies which would promote growth in each
of the sectors. This can be done with a focus on delivering relevant fintech
compounds to marginalized groups of people especially those in the countryside.
Collaboration Between Regulators and Innovators: Dr. Maida
also urged the growing synergy of fintech companies and the authorities in
addressing the issue of regulating such services adequately to meet the
requirements of the financial market while guaranteeing the consumer’s rights
and interests.
Smart Regulation: Stressing ‘smart regulation,’ he described
how frameworks should adapt to the dynamics of the pace of technological
advancement, proposing sandboxes and Non-restrictive state policies to make
fintech startups in that part of the world experiment while adhering to some of
the least legal requirements.
Shaping Africa’s Digital Workforce and Adapting to Remote Work
With digital transformation now on the ascendency in the
global economy, the second day of the Fintech Week focused on offering
solutions that can enable the growth of a skilled digital workforce to support
the growth of fintech in Africa.
Shaping the Future of Africa’s Digital Workforce
During the opening plenary, Mrs Mary Chao, Secretary of ICT,
E-Government & Digital Economy from Kenya discussed aspects of talent
management. According to her, for Africa to foster a healthy fintech space, the
continent needs to commit to training its talent.
Talent Development and Retention
Training and Education: According to Kerema, there is a need
to have cadet-based training programs in emerging technologies areas like data,
analytics, cybersecurity, and digital-led blockchain. She also advocated for
increased collaboration between the education centers and the financial
technology organization.
Retention: In his words; David Afolayan, the founder of
Technext, began his speech by explaining the economic implication of having a
good stock of young educated persons. He said that most African countries
struggle to keep their skilled human capital because people prefer to move to
other countries. Ideally, local fintech companies can only attract talented
employees by providing employees with better salaries than the industry
average, opportunities for professional growth, and favorable working
conditions.
Remote Work and Hybrid Models: Adapting Talent Management in Africa
Employers’ Forum on new ways of working was moderated by
Ashley Immanuel, COO of Semicolon, During the Employers’ Forum, it became clear
that remote work and hybrid model became critical in the modern fintech
industry. Immanuel looked at these new realities of how African companies can
approach them, mentioning that while working from home is flexible, new
strategies need to be considered for talent acquisition.
Securing Africa’s Fintech Future Through Funding and Cybersecurity
Two important topics on funding pipeline development and
fraud and cyber threats were addressed:
Safeguarding the Funding Pipeline for Fintechs in Africa
A leadership dialogue with Temi Popoola, the Group CEO of
NGX and Bemi Idowu and Dr. Patrick Conteh, Fintech experts discussed how we can
better understand investment and funding across Africa. He and other speakers
briefly highlighted some of the major bottlenecks including regulation issues,
high transaction costs, and foreign capital.
Key Points:
Funding Gaps: That said, fintech funding in the continent
has not been fully flooded with capital with new aged startups still having to
really look hard for capital.
Strategies for Growth: Solutions regarding the primary
challenge of how some fintechs can attract and retain investors were brought up
based on the four agenda points above.
Dealing with Fraud and Cyber-Attacks: Barriers to Expansion
However, with the growth of digital platforms, the issue of
fraud and various types of cyber threats remain an active problem In discussing
fintech, Dr. David Isiavwe, President of ISSAN, Abiola Jimoh and Kari Tukur
spoke about the role of cybersecurity.
Key Insights:
Emerging Trends: During the conference, participants
highlighted the fact that modern threats in cyberspace are becoming more
complex; this concerns not only traditional fields such as banking or
telecommunications.
Cross-border Cooperation: That is why they stressed the
importance of joint actions and the creation of a singular set of data
protection legislation in the course of combating cyber threats.
Fraud Detection Tools: Fintechs were encouraged to deploy
superior fraud mitigation instruments and conform to best global practices
concerning the security of consumers’ information.
Conclusion
Feedback from the Nigeria Fintech Week 2024 opened the
opportunity for the continent to be considered as having capabilities of
becoming a hub for fintech in the coming future. In a world where financial
technology investments are rapidly increasing, the African Fintech ecosystem must consider smart regulation that enables talentcap
investment, funding pipeline access as well as address cybersecurity concerns
geared towards sustainable inclusion.
The key takeaway from the successful corporate event is clear: As highlighted
earlier for Africa to continue the trend of economic growth the government must
work together with fintech firms and global players. The future of the
continent, however, can only be actualized if all stakeholders embrace the
thrust towards the development of the digital economy.
