…urges Nigerian youths to key into fintech
One of the key sectors of the Nigeria Economy which potential are still not well harnessed by many youths is the Financial Technology Business.
This is the opinion of a Fintech expert who is also the Business & Partnership Manager at Teamapt Limited Michael Olaitan during a chat with newsmen.
Michael Olaitan revealed that the Nigerian fintech industry has the capacity to employ many youths if embraced.
According to him, the sector is faced with some regulations which must be looked into by government to enable Nigerians adop and take advantage of the business.
The industry veteran said while so many people in the country still don’t know what the financial technology is, the system have not yet enjoyed full adoptions from Nigerians. He also said some Nigerian startup are facing hiccups from the existing Nigerian fintech regulations
“Adoption is one of the biggest challenges as we still lot of people who are not yet financially included, because one Musa somewhere in Jigawa still doesnot even have a bank account.”
“The Second challenge is navigating regulations especially with innovative products.”
Olaitan said that although the regulations is not all doom to the industry. Citing the introduction of the sandbox policy, he said regulatory bodies in one way or the other aid fintech start-ups in the country.
“I think the regulatory body can do more. For example the introduction of sandbox as part of regulatory standards gives more Fintech a ample of time to test their product in the market before launch. The key things regulators can do is to keep engaging Fintech ecosystem to shape the outlined policies and the ones in pipeline.”
While speaking further, he also revealed that blockchain is the next big thing in the sector, and startups should start appreciating its adoption, emphasizing that it will help greatly in solving continental cross border payments.
“Though Nigerians are innovating on a daily basis to see some of this issues resolved intelligently. Today, there are increasingly number of startups who are building fraud prevention solutions and the likes. But One of the things that will happen in Fintech which should be appreciated is the adoption of blockchain to solve continental cross border payment.“
While giving some revelations about his exploits in the industry, Olaitan said he has been working in the banking and payment industry for the past 10 years and was part of the wave of evolution that built sustainable payment ecosystem and distribution channel.
He said he choosed tech 10 years ago during the revolution of cashless policy implementation in Nigeria because of his quest to always solve problems and the hidden future he saw in it.
“I chose Fintech during the revolution of cashless policy implementation in Nigeria, I mean that was like 10 years ago. I saw that financial technology was the thing for the future. And the quest to solve challenges and provide solutions has always motivate me.” He said