Insurance penetration in Nigeria currently stands at between 1% and 3%, among the lowest in Africa. At a meeting with regulators, FintechNGR leaders argued that innovation can transform product design, distribution, and uptake.

NAICOM Commissioner Olusegun Omosehin admitted that supervisory technology gaps have hampered oversight but pledged to work with fintech players to map the ecosystem and deploy digital solutions.

The push aligns with the newly signed Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025, which introduces stricter capital requirements, compulsory insurance enforcement, and digitization mandates to modernize the sector.

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TECHDIGEST – The Nigeria Fintech Week is set to host 15,000 financial and fintech executives, the Fintech Association of Nigeria has said.

It said the executives were set to attend from over 80 countries for the week-long event. It gave the theme of this year’s event as ‘Resilience, Innovation, and Diversification,’ adding that the programme would explore the compelling urgency to adapt and thrive in an ever-evolving landscape.

In a statement from FintechNGR, it said, “Attendees can expect an exceptional line-up of sessions, featuring renowned keynote speakers, interactive panel debates, thought-provoking workshops, exclusive roundtable discussions, unique product pitches, exhibition stands, and ample networking opportunities.”

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It noted that last year’s NFW event generated significant traction across multiple digital platforms, attracting brands from the fintech, technology, banking, investment, financial services, legal and consulting sectors, in addition to government officials and regulatory bodies, amongst other participants from 23 countries.

It added, “NFW has firmly established itself as a premier event, attracting decision makers from prominent fintech companies, banks, insurers, technology service providers, venture capitalists, media outlets, government representatives, and regulators.

“The event serves as a convergence, bridging traditional financial institutions with innovative fintech companies in one of Africa’s fastest-growing tech start-up hubs, Nigeria.

The event also provides opportunities for stakeholders from diverse industries with technology integration to actively engage in essential discussions regarding innovative solutions in the fintech sector.”

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TECHDIGEST – Mohammed Ibrahim Jega , the Co-Founder of Domineum has been elected a new member of the Fintech Association of Nigeria (FinTechNGR) Governing Council (GovCo), TechEconomy can report.

Through the keenly contested elections that took place digitally on Nov 30, 2022, the members of FinTechNGR have elected the third set of Governing Council (GovCo) Members of the Association from diverse sectors to spearhead the affairs of the Association for the next two years.

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Mohammed Ibrahim Jega was part of the twenty-one (21) new members of the GovCo sworn-in by the BOT of the Association on December 13, 2022.

At the inauguration of the new GovCo, Dr Segun Aina, Chairman of the BOT admonished the new GovCo members to build on success of past GovCos to position Nigeria as the Fintech destination for innovation and investment in Africa.

The new GovCo brings onboard several decades of combined experience in payment, lending, banking, legal, investment, education, insurance, consulting, IT/Digital and banking.

Mohammed Ibrahim Jega is an accomplished highly-organized Project Manager and Business Developer with an 18+ years of experience.

He is also a Serial Tech Entrepreneur, Startup Advisor/Mentor, Fintech Expert, Blockchain Advocate.

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TECHDIGEST –  Fintech Association of Nigeria (FINTECHNGR) has started a free Digital Empowerment project tagged DigiStuds for students of public tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

The Association in partnership with the University of Nigeria Technology Advancement Programme (UNTAP), has graduated the first set Cohort comprising 214 students.

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Officially launched on the first day of the 5-day Nigeria Fintech Week on Monday, October 25, 2021,the Digital Academy Project for students of public tertiary institutions in Nigeria (DigiStuds) is meant to deepen practical digital skills, combat brain-drain, reduce over-reliance on expatriates, reduce unemployment and create Digital/IT entrepreneurs through students of public tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

The 2020 edition of the Fintech Census Report for Nigeria done by EY & FintechNGR shows that one of the major headaches organisations especially those in technology businesses face is the inability to find and recruit top and qualified digital/IT talents in Nigeria which makes them outsource abroad, jobs that young Nigerians could benefit from.

To stem this worrisome tide, FintechNGR and UNTAP launched the DigitStuds project to empower five hundred thousand undergraduates, graduates and lecturers from the Nigerian public tertiary institutions with hands-on digital and IT skills.

The maiden edition which, lasted for 12 weeks had selected participants from twenty-nine (29) public tertiary institutions across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria that emerged through a rigorous selection process. The cohort had about 40% female and 60% male taking courses in web design, graphic design and python programming.

To further hone the skill acquired by the students, the organisers have created a community for the participants and established various job off-taking opportunities such as internship, freelance and advanced learning that would lead to starting a business or direct recruitment into organisations.

This first cohort was made possible by institutions like Access Bank, Flutterwave, VFD Microfinance Bank and Simon & Kusher (Egypt) that financed the project.

The second edition of the training will start in the second quarter of 2022.

Read more :  Techeconomy.ng

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FinTech: Nigeria Produces Five of Seven Unicorns in Africa

TECHDIGEST – As the Nigeria FinTech ecosystem maintains its steady growth within the African continent, three more unicorns – Flutterwave, Opay, and Andela- are joining Interswitch and Jumia as five out of the seven unicorns on the continent.

The term Unicorn refers to any startup company that reaches a valuation of over $1 billion.

FinTechNGR, Nigeria’s fintech association, which disclosed this, noted that Nigeria’s FinTech ecosystems stronger and improved brand appeal to global investors showed that the country is an economy positioned for growth, financial inclusion, and a narrowing poverty gap.

FinTechNGR, in a document, said Nigeria was ranked as sixth in real-time payments by Finshots, and also as one of the top crypto trading countries in the world by Statista, amongst other ground-breaking feats, which attest to the value of the country’s ecosystem.

The document, signed by President, FinTech Association of Nigeria, Ade Bajomo, revealed that in the year under review, Nigerian FinTech startups raised $1.37 billion out of $4 billion total raised by African startups, despite the effects of the pandemic.

According to the document, Nigeria raised the largest chunk, followed by other key FinTech hubs – South Africa ($838 million), Egypt ($588 million), and Kenya ($375 million).

Outside the big four, other proactive markets were Senegal and Tanzania whose startups raised $222 million and $96 million respectively, according to Connecting Africa.

One of the biggest success stories was Ghanaian FinTech Chipper Cash, which raised a total of $250 million in 2021. Without Chipper Cash, Ghana would have raised $48 million.

Also, FintechNGR said it will continue to develop robust venture capital and private equity channels to support innovators that have significant growth potential, stressing that simplifying and optimizing the process for raising capital would give more investors the opportunity to benefit from the growth of these companies and create wealth for the economy.

On the feat achieved in Nigeria, the association said it played a key role as an enabler, providing direction and support in various ways such as the formal launch and graduation of the maiden cohort of the DigiStuds project, a Digital Academy Project aimed at equipping 500,000 students of public tertiary institutions in Nigeria with relevant digital skills.

The association said the launch of the Nigeria FinTech Census, an aggregated data on FinTechs in Nigeria done in partnership with EY, is aimed at helping stakeholders to make informed decisions on the ecosystem.

According to the body, deepening of collaboration and technical skills through various training and knowledge events such as the Nigeria FinTech Week (NFW), World FinTech Festival (in collaboration with Singapore FinTech Week), Intercontinental Webinars, and various ad-hoc interventions on regulations, also contributed to the success of the ecosystem

“Therefore, it is no surprise that FinTechNGR membership grew by 24 percent, as we attracted new strategic members such as Facebook and many others, who are keen to take part in the critical role we play and the impact we have on the ecosystem as an Association.

“We also experienced the renewal of existing memberships and several upgrades of membership plans to a higher category,” Bajomo added.

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