TECH DIGEST– MTN Nigeria, the largest mobile telecommunications provider in Nigeria with over 74 million subscribers and a subsidiary of MTN Group Limited, has added its name to the growing list of prestigious businesses supporting the Insurance Meets Tech (IMT2022) Conference, which is scheduled to take place on September 29, 2022, in Lagos, Nigeria.

On Thursday, September 29, 2022, the Insurance Meets Tech Conference (IMT2022), with the theme “Leveraging Insurtech to disrupt the customer acquisition journey,” will bring together leaders in the industry to discuss how the players in the insurance sector can use technology and digitalization to increase access and market penetration.

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In addition to Ecobank, Microsoft Nigeria, aYo Holdings Ltd, Old Mutual, Curacel, Leadway Assurance, AXA Mansard, MediSmarts, ActivEdge, ETAP, MotoMarket, Paddy Cover, and Interswitch Group, whose leaders will address the delegates or make presentations, the leading ICT company joins the list of organisations.

Microsoft Nigeria, MTN, Active Edge, and MotoMarket will all present at IMT 2022, and Marius Botha, the Group Chief Executive Officer of aYo Holdings Ltd. in South Africa, whose company has operations in five African nations, will share insights on how technology has facilitated their expansion and adoption across the continent. The insurtech summit will be the first Nigerian event to stream over MTN’s recently launched 5G internet network now that MTN Nigeria has confirmed participation and is providing full internet speed for the industry debate.

“We are poised to disrupt West Africa’s insurance and insurtech industry, and it will be an exhilarating experience for those who would join in person for this era-defining dialogue,” IMT2022 Convener Odion Aleobua, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Modion Communications, stated. “The delegates who would join virtually on www.insurancemeetstech.com would be streaming via a first-of-its-kind 5G internet broadband at a connection speed of over 900 mbps. Interestingly, virtual conference organisers need about 100 mbps for a superior streaming experience, but with 900 mbps 5G internet broadband, we have an outstanding internet connection plan that will be the first to be put in place in Nigeria,” Aleobua said.

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TECHDIGEST – Ecobank Group, the leading Pan-African banking Group, is committed to developing and supporting Fintechs to transform digital finance and banking, and today announces a partnership with AMA Academy, which is the only free-to-use pan-African online learning platform dedicated to upskilling journalists in Africa.

Ecobank Group and AMA Academy will work together to develop customised fintech training modules for business, finance, and tech journalists across the continent. Modules will be available in two languages: English and French.

The five-module curriculum will be taught online by industry experts and will culminate in recognition and other awards for Africa’s top fintech journalists. It will cover topics including the history of financial services in Africa, its transformation, blockchain, AI in fintech and Open Banking. It will also cover security, regulation, governance, inclusion, and future trends of the fintech market in Africa.

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The partnership aims to provide a deeper knowledge and understanding around the fastest-growing industry on the continent and to improve the quality of reporting and have more effective public awareness.

Eloïne Barry, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of African Media Agency and AMA Academy, said “We are delighted to partner with Ecobank Group, which is at the forefront of fintech transformation and progression in Africa. Our Academy is equally committed to enhancing the skills of journalists by creating access to experts and training. Journalists are often faced with several beats to cover, and our aim is to help support the quality and effectiveness of their reporting.”

Africa is responsible for an astonishing 45.6% of mobile money activity in the world – a phenomenon made possible by the rapid growth in access to the internet and smart phone devices, and further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

According to tech industry researchers, in 2021 fintech companies received 60% of the over $4 billion investments in the tech industry, surpassing total investments made into the broader tech start-up ecosystem in previous years. An estimated 6 million young Africans gain access to the internet every year, delivering ripe growth prospects in budding fintech sectors like agriculture, insurance, healthcare, clean energy and education; in addition to relatively unexplored areas such as crowdfunding, blockchain technology, artificial intelligence and augmented reality.

“In the midst of all the positivity around growth in the African fintech industry, there is a deficiency and imbalance in how this story is told and understood. The narrative today is driven from international media sources. We lack a strong homegrown narrative with in-depth analysis of what is really taking place in Africa, by Africans. This course will give journalists the confidence, skills and understanding required to become as relevant and competitive as journalists operating within the same space globally,” Eloïne Barry added.

Djiba Diallo, Senior Fintech Advisor at Ecobank Group, commented on the partnership saying “The continent has seen the rise of ‘challenger markets’ outside of the traditional strongholds of Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa to include Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, Senegal, and Uganda, just to mention a few. These are countries in which Ecobank is present and where the fintech media training course will have real impact. As a pan-African banking Group, we are committed to growing local fintech solutions, many of which have the potential to become global solutions, and to empowering our local media partners.”

Fintech Journalist of the Year Award

Journalists who attend the full training modules will also stand the chance of being awarded the top Anglophone and Francophone fintech journalist at an awards ceremony following the training.

Journalists based in Africa covering business, Finance and Technology, should visit https://amacademy.io/ecobank to register for the fintech masterclass.

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TECHDIGEST – Mastercard and Ecobank Group have partnered to connect millions of smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa to Mastercard’s Farm Pass – a digital platform that makes it safer and easier for farmers to sell their produce at a fair price.

Under the partnership, Ecobank will extend the reach and impact of the Mastercard Farm Pass platform leveraging its Pan-African network of 33 countries. Many smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa face several challenges. These include limited access to markets, working capital to finance activities or secure quality inputs, and relevant financial tools to pay and get paid efficiently. This has led to insecurity, inefficiencies, and a waste of resources and food, preventing farmers from running sustainable businesses.

Farm Pass brings together various agri-sector stakeholders from the supply and demand sides, in one agricultural marketplace, amplifying the collective positive impact on farming communities. Smallholder farmers can sell their produce at a better price, access quality inputs and farming information, get paid and pay digitally and develop a financial profile that can unlock financing opportunities for working capital and inputs.

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According to McKinsey and Company, more than 60% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa are smallholder farmers, with the agricultural sector contributing an estimated 23% of the continent’s GDP. Yet only 3% of the sector receives banking credit, limiting the farmers capacity to grow their business or mitigate poor harvest losses.

By integrating their businesses with payment systems, Farm Pass enables smallholder farmers to build a digital transaction record that can facilitate formal credit or other financial services from banks and other financial institutions.

“Food security is a critical and urgent need in these times. We must therefore rise to the task by creating growth opportunities across the agriculture value chain in Africa. Our partnership with Mastercard has come at the right time to accelerate smallholder farmers’ access to urgently needed financial services, which are vital to realising Africa’s full agricultural potential.

“It will also help deliver value across the farming and agricultural value chain to make farming in Africa more profitable, competitive, and resilient, thus contributing to the economic growth of the continent,” says Ade Ayeyemi, CEO of Ecobank Group.

“When we empower people, we can power economies and support economic growth that is truly inclusive. Mastercard Farm Pass contributes to this by offering a digital platform that makes it easier for smallholder farmers to move from subsistence to commercial farming. This, in turn, will stimulate agricultural growth, increase competitiveness, and improve food security in Africa.

“Through close collaborations with important partners like Ecobank, we can create even more impact, putting the digital economy to work for everyone, everywhere,” says Michael Froman, Vice Chairman and President, Strategic Growth at Mastercard.

“The Mastercard Farm Pass collaboration with Ecobank Group fits well with the intent of the African Development Banks’s recently approved Africa Emergency Food Production Facility (AEFPF), which is to support countries to boost production and productivity on the continent for key staples. One of the key activities of AEFPF is to connect farmers through e-wallet systems, i.e. digitizing the procurement of agro inputs and at the same time allowing for reaching farmers in a transparent manner, which will truly revolutionize the transformation of agriculture,” says Solomon Quaynor, Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, African Development Bank Group.

Since its launch in 2015, Mastercard Farm Pass has reached nearly one million smallholder farmers in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and India, enabling them to command 25%-50% higher prices and increase harvest productivity. Farm Pass is part of Mastercard’s strategy to connect underserved communities to essential services through Community Pass, a shared interoperable digital platform that supports the company’s commitment to connect one billion people and 50 million small and micro businesses to the digital economy by 2025.

Source : ITedgenews

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