Anchor, a banking-as-a-service platform joins Y Combinator’s Summer 2022 (S22) Batch, announces the launch of public beta

Anchor, a banking-as-a-service platform joins Y Combinator’s Summer 2022 (S22) Batch, announces the launch of public beta

Anchor (https://getAnchor.co/), a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform making it possible to seamlessly build financial products in Africa announces its public beta launch. The startup was also accepted into Y Combinator Summer 2022 Batch as the first African BaaS and embedded finance platform.

 

 

In recent years, there have been several reports about the size of the Africa financial inclusion opportunity (https://bit.ly/3pXguv2), particularly in reference to the provision of digital financial services.

 

These reports have brought about a spike in the number of companies and amount of investment activities in the fintech space in Africa. Yet, two things stand out; the minimal impact on financial inclusion, and the persisting difficulty in building and launching a fintech company on the continent.

 

For context, financial exclusion in Nigeria decreased by only one percent, from 37% in 2018 to 36% in 2020. Also, today, across Africa it takes an average of $500,000 and 18 months to build and go-to market with  financial products. This is because companies need to go through the hurdles of rigorous licensing and compliance processes, multiple integration layers, complex banking and third-party relationships, and invest in complicated core-banking infrastructure.

 

Anchor (https://getAnchor.co/) is launching its public beta API infrastructure to make it easier for African businesses to build, embed and launch financial products, starting in its first market, Nigeria.

 

Founded by Segun Adeyemi, ex-CEO of Amplifypay, Olamide Sobowale and Gbekeloluwa Olufotebi, Anchor provides API for offering accounts, money movement, savings and card products.

 

“We built Anchor to abstract away the complexities in building financial products, so businesses can get started in five minutes with a few lines of code”, says Anchor’s CEO, Segun Adeyemi.

We built Anchor to abstract away the complexities in building financial products, so businesses can get started in five minutes with a few lines of code

 

In May, Anchor released its private beta working with innovative start-ups like Outpost Health, Dillali, and Pivo. The BaaS platform has transacted millions, growing over 200% MoM, and is now set to launch its public beta (https://getAnchor.co/) for African businesses to embed finance into their offerings and for fintechs to build banking products. Already, the company has more than 40 other startups on its waitlist.

 

Anchor has raised over $1 million in pre-seed funding from Byld Ventures, Y Combinator, Luno Expeditions, Niche Capital, Mountain Peak Capital, and a host of angel investors including Emmanuel Okeleji (CEO, SeamlessHR), Ado Oseragbaje, Yinka Odeleye, and Sanmi Famuyide.

 

According to Ashutosh Desai, a Partner at Y Combinator, “Anchor’s embedded finance platform enables technology companies in Africa to build products that can rapidly expand access and improve quality of financial services. We’re excited to back Segun, Olamide, and Gbeke – a highly technical and experienced team – in building financial infrastructure that’s essential for Africa’s economic growth.”

 

“I believe BaaS will play a prominent role in the distribution of financial services in Africa. As a full stack baas provider, Anchor demarcates customer engagement from infrastructure – enabling its customers to focus on building differentiation as opposed to commodity infrastructure. We are really excited to be working with this determined and experienced team”, Founder of Byld Ventures, Youcef Oudjidane.

 

Anchor is a solution birthed by the insights garnered from the founders’ experience building and working with fintechs across Africa. The CEO, Segun Adeyemi founded Amplifypay; a payments company which he exited to Carbon (FKA OneFi/Paylater) in 2019. Segun proceeded to work with JUMO—a company that offers credit infrastructure to large mobile money operators across Africa.

 

Olamide, the CTO and co-founder, has worked at AppZone, TeamApt, Kuda, & Carbon. While at TeamApt he functioned as a Fullstack Engineer in the team that built the first virtual payments product in Nigeria. Gbeke, the Engineering Lead and co-founder, has been an IT Consultant and entrepreneur in Nigeria for over 10 years before joining Booking.com where he built financial operations software.

 

“We have seen first-hand the painful process of closing banking partnerships, negotiating third-party contracts, and obtaining regulatory approvals. And more generally, the extensive time and effort required to launch financial products,” Segun said.

 

He added that “considering the similarity in the underlying infrastructure, irrespective of the unique value propositions, companies should not have to wait for years and spend millions to go-to-market. That’s why we are excited to get Anchor into the hands of many more businesses via our public beta launch.”

PalmPay Hits 10 Million User Milestone in Nigeria

PalmPay Hits 10 Million User Milestone in Nigeria

PalmPay (https://PalmPay.com/), a fintech innovator aiming to make digital payment more accessible and flexible, announced that it has reached 10 million users in Nigeria. This represents a doubling in its user base within just six months and puts its customer numbers in the same league as major institutions only 3 years after the company launched in the market.

 

The fintech, which operates under a Mobile Money Operator license from the Central Bank of Nigeria, has gained significant traction with its payment’s app and nationwide agency banking network. Its proposition of instant financial account creation, fee-free bank transfers and cashback rewards on airtime and bill payments has appealed to Millennial and Gen-Z consumers, who are looking for more affordable banking options and prefer the convenience of a digital-first service.

Nowadays PalmPay is processing millions of transactions a day. And around 20% of the company’s customer base report that the PalmPay app was their first financial account, demonstrating that the Mobile Money Operator is contributing to driving progress towards financial inclusion targets in Nigeria, where 36% of the population remains unbanked.

Nigerians without smartphones can visit one of PalmPay’s 200,000 mobile money agents across the country, who can transact on their behalf or issue an innovative QR card that can be used to hold a balance. Consumers can also use PalmPay agents to deposit cash to their PalmPay accounts and to withdraw money using their debit cards through PalmPay-branded POS machines.

“We are delighted to be able to celebrate this growth milestone and are proud of PalmPay’s track record of making cutting-edge financial services accessible to every Nigerian – including the unbanked.”, said Mr Chika Nwosu, Managing Director, PalmPay Nigeria, “The pandemic has accelerated the shift from cash to digital payments and we are looking forward to continuing to work together with regulators and our partners to innovate to meet the financial needs of consumers.”

“Our significant growth in Nigeria demonstrates PalmPay’s ability to innovate to meet the financial needs of consumers, and we are looking forward to replicating this success as we scale in more markets across Africa.” said Sofia Zab, PalmPay Global CMO.

FINTRAK EASES FINANCIAL REPORTING WITH AN ADVANCED SOFTWARE

FINTRAK EASES FINANCIAL REPORTING WITH AN ADVANCED SOFTWARE

 

 

Covid 19 pandemic last year made a lot of disruptions in the global financial space, Nigeria included. The technique companies report their operations, financial condition, and cash flows during this crisis and after will be a little bit altered or rejigged. Having this in mind, Fintrak Software Limited, an indigenous financial technology (fintech) company is bringing to the knowledge of financial players like banks, insurance, mortgage institutions and other key players in the ecosystem their product known as FINSTAT. An innovative solution designed to ease the burden of financial reporting for the key players in the industry.

The use of technology in the automation of financial reporting eases consolidation and preparation of full set of annual financial statements according to the international financial reporting standards (IFRS). FINSTAT reporting solution is designed to be bespoke and fluid, this means that it is built to the specification of clients that desire a robust financial reporting tool. The solution has been described to meet and exceeds standard IFRS system requirements, as it is in compliance with the recent IFRS 9 s standard

The FinTrak Enterprise Performance Management consolidates finance processes using technology to resolve challenges faced by businesses in relation to Data integrity, delayed reporting, Relationship management, Back Office operations and Support, Cost allocation, External domiciled accounts and Transfer pricing. This solution has made it possible for organizations such as banks, insurance and mortgage houses to successfully reduce risks, increase efficiency, decrease cost of operations and free resources for more value-adding activities by business units. The solution presents the report such as Management Performance Reporting Solution, which is an analytical tool created for organizations’ supervisory, examination, and management purposes in a summarizing format making it easier to understand.

Speaking on the importance of the solution, The Group Managing Director, Bimbo Abioye said “FinTrak Enterprise Performance Management solution is a valuable tool for the business to empower Management with the right information to make critical business decision and inherently deliver business value (Revenue and profitability, customer retention and acquisition, operational efficiency), resource productivity, and IT effectiveness. Profitability based measurement can serve as a more robust and inclusive means to measure the performance by gauging the extent of operational efficiency as well as capturing the nuances of an organization’s diversifying earnings through non-interest income activities and management of their costs. Profitability-oriented performance management is necessary, both to know what a business can do to affect profits and to benchmark the effect of any such moves.”

He added that; The solution monitors the performance of the whole Organization as well as Individuals, Teams, Branches, Business units, and further compares actual with budgets, to evaluate productivity and profitability based on key standard performance metrics. Our solution communicates with your core business application, spools and analyzes all the required data, so you can have a holistic presentation of your business performance in one Executive dashboard. You are empowered with the ability to render full MPR reports on daily basis as the month progresses. The system presents a Multi-dimensional view of performance across Teams, Branch, Products and Individual’s income and Balance sheet statements. and also, all reports respond to changes in reporting lines, both current and past performance.

Having deployed in many countries of Africa such as Gambia, Ghana, Congo etc, the Fintech giant incorporated English and French in the solution making is easily untestable to French and English-speaking countries.  Loaded with features such as flexibility, the solution can handle complex transfer pricing based on your organization’s policy. The solution can also be customized to suit your unique business needs and sector. For executive on the go, the software has mobile versions that can be easily deployed in mobile devices. Other features such as Single and Multiple rate pool pricing, Risk based multiple pool pricing, Penal charges based on policy violations, Ability to handle relationship management tree, Cost breakdown showing details and sources of costs at all levels. With these features, the software has the ability to reduce significantly or remove human errors associated with reporting and at a reduced cost for the organizations

“Our software has the ability to empower users to control cost elements without sacrificing revenue. The ability to see how cost elements like depreciation, OPEX, CAPEX, Human Resource impact and can improve revenue potentials. Key users are able to understand what drives cost and value within their business segment. FinTrak Software will set up bespoke reports peculiar to the business to track profitability and performance of their Business Units and Segments. The system can extract codes from transaction description to allocate the expenses, drill down details available on all reporting lines both income and balance sheet items on click and get basis”, Ladi Ipaye, Executive Director, Business Development and Marketing Strategy concluded.

 

ANTHONY EMEKA NWOSU

The solution monitors the performance of the whole Organization as well as Individuals, Teams, Branches, Business units, and further compares actual with budgets, to evaluate productivity and profitability based on key standard performance metrics. Our solution communicates with your core business application, spools and analyzes all the required data, so you can have a holistic presentation of your business performance in one Executive dashboard. You are empowered with the ability to render full MPR reports on daily basis as the month progresses. The system presents a Multi-dimensional view of performance across Teams, Branch, Products and Individual’s income and Balance sheet statements. and also, all reports respond to changes in reporting lines, both current and past performance.

 

NCC Assures of Robust Digital Infrastructure for Improved Financial Services at WCRD 2022

NCC Assures of Robust Digital Infrastructure for Improved Financial Services at WCRD 2022

…Sets up TELCARE Desk for enhancing consumer protection

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has reaffirmed its commitment to accelerate deployment of robust broadband infrastructure accessible to all Nigerians. This is to enhance their access to the required resources to carry out seamless digital financial services, irrespective of their locations and circumstances.

The Commission gave the assurance at a programme organised to commemorate Year 2022 World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD). At the programme which took place at the Commission’s Head Office in Abuja on Tuesday, March 15, 2022, and implemented in the context of the global theme: ‘Fair Digital Finance’, the Management of NCC announced the establishment of a dedicate desk, tagged: “TELCARE” to be operated across the country to enhance telecoms consumer protection.

Attendance and participation at the event, operated in-person and virtually, was overwhelming. Board members, senior management and staff of the Commission, collaborating agencies and other critical industry stakeholders were among the participants. The event also ran concurrently with a roadshow carried out in Abuja and other NCC zonal offices in different parts of the country, to enlighten telecom consumers on the significance of the WCRD and to engage them on the NCC’s unwavering commitment to consumer protection.

Speaking at the event, the Chairman, Board of Commissioners of NCC, Prof. Adeolu Akande, said in line with NCC’s mandates, the Board and Management have been upbeat in implementing regulatory initiatives aimed at building a robust digital ecosystem to drive the frontier of digital economy with positive impacts on all other sectors in the nation’s economy.

Alluding to the theme of the WCRD 2022, Akande said considering the increasing number of telecom consumers who are also users of digital finance services, the Commission is working assiduously to ensure that all consumers, including the most vulnerable, are provided with access to manage their finances, and protected from scams, fraud, and phishing to safeguard their data.

Earlier in his keynote address, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said the theme of this year’s WCRD aligns with the emerging realities of the regulatory goals of the Commission. He informed the audience that the Commission is aware of the dynamic changes in the telecom industry, even as the Commission consolidated the growth in the telecommunication sector since the sector’s liberalisation in 2001.

Danbatta stated that the growth in the telecom industry has led to convergence in different sectors, especially between telecoms and financial service sector. According to him, there is no greater demonstration of this than the fact that financial transactions that were once conducted in-person at banking halls are now undertaken on consumers’ mobile devices. “Financial and commercial activities have been digitised, and the most common of this is the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), which has brought ease to financial transactions,” he said.

Danbatta declared that NCC embarked on various initiatives including the licensing of Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos), effective utilization of spectrum, industry collaboration to address operators’ challenges, increased collaborations with relevant government agencies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria. A central objective of these initiatives is to ensure availability, accessibility and affordability of ubiquitous broadband services to drive growth in all sectors, including financial services sector.

The EVC explained further that the Commission has been working hard to ensure that broadband penetration gets to every part of the country. He asserted that the number of active mobile subscriptions reached 195.4 million while Internet subscription has exceeded 141 million, because there has been increasing broadband penetration which stood at 40.88 per cent as at December 2021.

“Despite some of the challenges confronting the sector, telecommunications remained an enablers of growth in the Nigerian economy, in the year 2021. The Information and Communications sector contributed over N17 trillion to the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics,” Danbatta said to put the contribution of telecom and ICT in context that the audience could relate with.

Also, consistent with NCC’s focus to ensure that consumers get satisfaction, Danbatta disclosed that the Commission had finalised arrangements to establish the Telecom Consumer Assistance, Resolution and Enquiries (TELCARE) Desk. The Desk, he said, will be strategically located in different parts of the county to serve as an additional platform to receive and facilitate the resolution of consumer complaints.

According to him, the Desk will also provide a means through which consumers and citizens can make inquiries on consumer issues; provide a platform for advocacy on any topical consumer issues and concerns, and further enhance awareness of the Commission’s activities. He said the Desk will complement other existing initiatives of the Commission aimed at protecting the interest, privileges and rights of the consumers.

The EVC’s submissions were underscored by the Commission’s Executive Commissioner Stakeholder Management, Adeleke Adewolu, who declared that the theme of the WCRD is a reminder that “we all have the responsibility to protect the consumer from market abuses, exploitation, and injustices that erode the consumer’s rights, especially with respect to using digital financial services.”

Representatives of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), CBN, Association of Licensed Telecom Operators (ALTON), the Industry Consumer Advisory Forum (ICAF), National Disability Empowerment Forum (NDEF), telecom operators, among other stakeholders, commended the Commission for all its consumer-centric initiatives and assured of their continuing collaboration towards creating a safer cyber space for digital service users in Nigeria.

Earlier, as part of the activities slated for this year’s commemoration of the WCRD, the NCC had, on Monday, March 14, 2022, organised a debate for secondary school students in Abuja. The debate focused on how the students use mobile devices to enhance their academic performances. The Commission seized the opportunity of the debate to enlighten the students on their rights and privileges, and to discuss other activities of the Commission.

Five things to do immediately to address payments fraud

Five things to do immediately to address payments fraud

The social and economic impact of Covid-19 has led to a marked increase in opportunistic crimes of desperation, particularly in digital payments fraud as consumers flock to digital channels to replace or supplement in-person interactions. This rapid shift to digital, which is providing necessary solutions during a time of crisis, is fuelling a surge in payments fraud worldwide. And the threat to companies isn’t only coming from the outside; internal fraud in departments responsible for supplier payments is on the rise, especially with staff working remotely.

Ryan Mer, CEO at eftsure Africa, a Know Your Payee™ (KYP) platform provider says that while the amount of business transactions taking place online is constantly growing and remote working has become standard, business controls have not kept pace with digital transformation.

“Companies need to beef up their cybersecurity and anti-fraud solutions. While implementing internal controls takes time, it is imperative that strict controls are in place to mitigate opportunistic as well as organised fraudulent activities.”, says Mer.

From advanced digital security to straight-forward invoice numbers, here are five ways to make your Accounts Payable department the best it can be.

Always use invoice numbers

Often, simple tools are very effective, and invoice numbers are no exception. In fact, invoice numbers should be essential for both your Accounts Payable team and your suppliers. This not only helps everyone involved to quickly identify which invoices have been paid and which remain outstanding, but it also helps avoid duplicate payments. Ideally, your Accounts Payable team should use the invoice number as reference when making a payment, otherwise suppliers will find it almost impossible to track their incoming payments – and query it with your team or issue duplicate invoices.

Make sure your team follows a system to standardise invoice numbers from different suppliers, such as encoding leading zeros, using uppercase or lowercase letters, and adding or removing spaces.

Embrace technology

Even your most trusted team members will likely make a mistake at some point, as they’re only human. Automate as many manual procedures as you can to minimise human error in your systems. A good web interface also saves time. A KPMG study, commissioned in  Australia, showed that eftsure’s web interface, can save a business 29 minutes every time they add or change a supplier and 59 seconds each time they check a single payment. Such savings become very significant over time.

Don’t compromise on security

Financial institutions don’t match business names with account numbers, and fraudsters exploit this at every opportunity. It’s essential that your Accounts Payable team has measures in place to verify account names with numbers. Furthermore, ensure that your Accounts Payable web interface has security measures to mitigate fraud and other digital threats. And never compromise on security when it comes to your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. One popular ERP system had to issue a warning earlier this year after there had been 300 successful exploit attempts on its systems in the preceding six months. Make sure your ERP system is not leaving you exposed to a dangerous security breach.

Keep receiving on track

Have electronic record keeping systems in place so that your Receiving Department can keep track of any physical goods that have been purchased by the organisation – whether large amounts of stock or a small pack of pens for the office. Then, streamline all communications between Accounts Payable and your Receiving Department – and monitor that this communication remains continuous. If receiving records are logged in your ERP system, it’s a simple case of checking which items were requisitioned according to the purchase order, facilitating three-way matching so that the Accounts Payable team knows that an invoice is legitimate and accurate.

Ensure strategic alignment between Accounts Payable (AP) and Procurement departments with approval processes in place. Any new supplier onboarding, whether recurring or once off, should require an approval process when being onboarded. Although Procurement is often responsible for the onboarding of new suppliers, there needs to be an oversight between Procurement and AP. It is important for the AP department to be involved in the approval process of new suppliers and to have real time access to supplier data. By doing this, processes are tightened and the loading of fictitious suppliers can be prevented.

Segregate duties

One of the most important and effective internal controls in Accounts Payable is to ensure that different people are responsible for completing different components of a task. No single individual should have the responsibility of completing an entire task. Not segregating duties could compound losses caused by errors, as busy staff members can easily make data entry errors. Segregation of duties will allow your team to identify most errors before a payment is made. Even more concerning than human error, is the risk of internal fraud. Ask any auditor and they’ll tell you that segregating duties is the most effective way to manage the risks associated with both human error and internal fraud.

“Following these easy steps in your Accounts Payable department, will allow for efficiency, streamlined processes and prevent fraud from impacting your bottom line,” concludes Mer.

NIGERIAN FINTECH P2VEST RECORDS 100,000 USERS ON ITS PLATFORM

NIGERIAN FINTECH P2VEST RECORDS 100,000 USERS ON ITS PLATFORM

The P2vest lending platform offers quick disbursement of loans and flexible payback plan where people can begin to have an ecosystem of lending and borrowing.

P2vest Technology Limited, today announced that its peer-to-peer lending application, P2Vest has hit 100,000 users with access to quick loans. This achievement underscores the organisations’ role in transforming the way people access credit and lend money by bringing borrowers and lenders together.

The foremost peer-to- peer lending platform has over the past 15 months used technology to serve its users with quick disbursement of loans and flexible payback plan. To bridge the gap of access, P2Vest connects authorized lenders with borrowers, while helping them take control of their debt, grow their businesses, and invest for the future.

According to the Founder and CEO of P2vest Technology, Mr Austin Abolusoro ‘’Our goal at P2vest is to build a platform that delivers on ease of access to credit while also building a credit history. Our approach is different, we are using Artificial Intelligence to ensure credit worthy Nigerians have access to quick loans. Since we launched, we have provided access to quick loans to over 105,000 Nigerians. This is a big achievement for us as we have availed people the chance to access loans for their different needs like setting up of businesses, house renovations, Car loans, paying rent, school loan, medical bills on the platform faster and without delay. While also creating an opportunity for people to borrow more as long as they continue to pay back’’

The fast rise of fintech Industries and massive digital transformation in the provision of financial services has brought about the sharing economy- a new model of consumption, sharing, collaboration between individuals of goods, services, resources, with or without monetary exchanges via dedicated platforms. With the adoption of the sharing economy technology by businesses, the model which has grown in leaps and bounds allows for the peer-to-peer economy to thrive as they cut out the role of third parties. Users on P2Vest can borrow money and also lend to others and make some interest.

About:
Founded in 2020, P2vest is a peer-to-peer lending platform known for providing lending solutions for lenders and borrowers through its platform. Utilising technology, P2vest is committed to ease of access to credit for borrowers and ensuring competitive returns for lenders. For more information about the P2vest, visit its website at www.p2vest.com

CHRIST EMBASSY’S PARALLEX MICRO-FINANCE BANK TRANSFORMS TO FULL BLOWN COMMERCIAL BANK

CHRIST EMBASSY’S PARALLEX MICRO-FINANCE BANK TRANSFORMS TO FULL BLOWN COMMERCIAL BANK

The latest entrant into the commercial banking industry in Nigeria, Parallex Bank has officially launched on Friday, January 14, 2022, with the promise to redefine the banking landscape in Nigeria and Africa at large. According to Church Gist sources, the bank launch was graced by several dignitaries from both the private and public sector. Also in attendance were several celebrities who witnessed the unveiling of the bank’s logo.

Introducing the bank to the gathering at the bank’s headquarters in Victoria Island Lagos, the chairman of the bank, Dr. Pastor Adeola Phillips, CEO of Loveworld Nation said Parallex Bank is here to make a unique statement about what innovation can do in an industry that is constantly reinventing. She further stated that the bank will operate broadly with a competitive mindset, to disrupt the market and delight customers with very attractive offers. The goal is to empower the banking public and to drive convenient and efficient commerce through the bank digital platforms.

She added that the Parallex mobile app offers customers the freedom to do much more. The app will eliminate inconveniencies and hardships often faced by customers while carrying out transactions.

Corroborating the Chairman’s claims, the Managing Director of Parallex Bank, Mr. Olufemi Bakre, popularly known as Mayor, said the bank’s promise to its customers is to be an enabler of limitless banking. He established that Parallex Bank is the first bank in Nigeria to migrate from a microfinance bank to a commercial bank. He is convinced that Parallex Bank limited will achieve more as the bank partners with customers to explore more business opportunities.


Mr Olufemi said the vision of Parallex Bank is to be the preferred financial solution provider redefining customer experience through innovation. He assured customers of excellent banking products and services stating that the bank offerings are designed to address the yearnings of Nigerians. With a strong ecosystem anchored around the customer, Mr Femi informed the guests that the bank has a robust product portfolio that is customer focused, innovative and simple.


According to him, the Parallex mobile app has unique features and benefits that are quite rare in this market. On the app, customers can choose to create their unique account numbers, increase their transfer limits, make five free transfers per day to any bank in Nigeria. They can request for free debit cards, which will be delivered to them for free. They will receive prompt responses to enquiries.
Beyond the app, Mayor added that customers will enjoy zero maintenance fees while current account holders will further enjoy up to 5% interest rate provided, they maintain a minimum average balance of N100,000 ($200).

The bank which began as a micro-finance bank is now a full blown commercial bank.

Sunday Ọbasi

OBINNA APPOINTED BY RWANDA TO PILOT THE BANK OF KIGALI’S FINTECH DEVELOPMENT

OBINNA APPOINTED BY RWANDA TO PILOT THE BANK OF KIGALI’S FINTECH DEVELOPMENT

Rwanda, one of the major Sub Saharan Africa’s reference point and a country that has demonstrated that it can rise out war seamlessly and building a resilient economy appoints a Nigerian , Obinna Ukwuani to pilot critical portfolio in their apex bank, Bank of Kigali. A testament of a nation putting square pegs in square holes which is rare in sub Saharan African nations riddled with tribalism and nepotism. No wonder Rwanda is making tremendous strides more than nations that have access to sea.

Obinna Ukwuani’s appointments would be the Chief Digital Officer of the Bank of Kigali. According to the announcement, he is replacing Regis Rugemanshuro at the new role.

This can be described as the Digital Factory division for product innovation and development in digital banking at the country’s apex bank. A core financial technology (fintech) space he would be in charge of churning and developing world class digital products and also upgrading their digital wallet called Ikofi.

Through Ikofi, the Bank of Kigali offers financial services that farmers, agro-dealers, Agri-businesses and other stakeholders in the country’s agricultural space and Obinna would be making (in)direct impacts on these sets of people and also deepening the good security of the Central African Nation.

With a degree in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and fantastic interest in Robotics. Obi is the founder of Exposure Robotics Academy where STEM programs were taught to secondary school pupils.

Anthony Emeka Nwosu