Fintech is shaking the foundations of the financial sector.The industry has made rapid progress as consumers embrace technology-led approach to personal finance and money management. The sector’s growth shows no sign of abating. There is a demand for specialised talent as financial services organisations of all types are struggling to fill the vacancies. DANIEL ESSIET reports.
Financial technology or fintech is creating new opportunities, and encouraging innovation as consumers embrace technology-led approach to personal finance and money management. This innovation makes it such an exciting industry.
A multitude of factors are driving this growth.These include rising expectations of the tech-savvy customer, increasing e-commerce activity, and aggressive smartphone penetration.
All this has led to the emergence of new trends in the fintech space. There is an increased demand for talent with niche skills that address the changes that are being fuelled by rapid digital transformation.
Speaking with The Nation, the Managing Director, Proten International, Ope Onaboye, said across the country, fintech startups are facing challenges in attracting the talent they need to grow and prosper in the future.
He said the firm, an international human resource consulting firm, has been at the forefront of providing manpower solutions for these startups. Having supplied over 5000 employees to various technology and fintech companies over the last two years, it has been called upon by various organisations to provide support with their launch and expansion plans.
Over the past years, he said there has been a surge in investment in the technology and fintech space in Nigeria and Africa.
His words: “Different organisations have sprung up in the market in the tech space. With the emergence of these companies comes the need for manpower to drive their objectives and activities.”
Onaboye said there is a widespread demand for talent, especially technology-based talent, across the financial services sector and organisations are struggling to fill the vacancies.
He said job creation within the fintech space has increased as Lagos strives to reposition itself as a hub for financial technology startups.
He said e-money firms have grown as the fintech boom has created uplift in job creation in places outside of Lagos.
Onaboye said the shortage of key technology skills is impacting on the rapidly burgeoning array of fintech-specific organisations.
He said Nigeria is emerging as business destination for international fintech sector startups. He said their presence has created a need for tech talent.
Since the space is becoming an ever more attractive landscape, Onaboye said fintech firms coming into the country focus on attracting the best talent, adding they find it challenging to get the best hands.
According to him, technology skills are among those that are highly sought for.
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He said fintech firms need expertise in data analysis; as such they are in the market for individuals with such skills as they seek to bring new products to market to help customers better understand their data.
Fintech firms, he added, need financial services experts with the skills to survive in a technology
Onaboye said the challenge for fintech startups when it comes to recruitment is that they look for technology experts – designers, developers and systems architects, who not only understand business, but also how to use technology to solve business problems.
He said this kind of resource is in short supply across the country.
While IT has continued to dominate the hiring agenda for fintechs, he said there were other vacancies within the fintech space.
He said what the firm is offering are fintech talents and that proactive engagement is critically important in positioning the opportunities of working with a fintech company.
According to him, fintech is a competitive recruitment market and that companies need people that are smart, talented, and innovative, with various skills.
He said the fintech startups need talent for a various business functions such as HR, marketing, finance, senior management roles and the more technical/specialist roles.
The firm has expanded its activities across Africa. He said the focus is to partner start-ups to help them build a highly productive and efficient workforce to remain sustainable and profitable.
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