Take advantage of AfCFTA, Fintechs urged

By Lucas Ajanaku

Players in the financial technology (Fintech) sector have been advised to take advantage of the opportunities that provided by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) by developing intra-African payment solutions to ease trade.

Speaking on Thursday at the 7th Edition of PoS Innovation Summit organised by Global Accelerex at Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, said African countries stood to gain a whole lot by doing business with each other.

Represented by the Director-General, Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations, Liman V. Liman, the minister said the pact, which has a goal to create a single market that allows free ?ow of goods and services across the continent, would expand intra-African trade through harmonisation, liberalisation and facilitation of trade instruments across Africa.

The theme of the forum was: “African Continental Free Trade Agreement: Driving Borderless Trade Through Fintech”.

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In his welcome address, the Managing Director, Global Accelerex, Tunde Ogungbade, set the tone for the event with thought-provoking questions which centered around how Fintechs can facilitate easy and seamless payment across Africa in this new era of borderless trade and how the former bottlenecks and barriers can translate to breakthroughs and possibilities for continental commerce.

Senior Partner, KPMG Nigeria and Chairman, KPMG Africa, Mr. Kunle Elebute, who gave the key note address explained that the non-existence of automated, secure, real-time and cost effective payment settlement systems across the African region leads to high cost of transactions and increases the viability of trading options outside the continent.

Represented by Senior Manager, Technology Advisory at KPMG, Mr. Hilary Daudu, he urged Fintechs to leverage the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System to enable their customers send and receive fast, real-time retail and large value payments across Africa in their local currencies.

Also speaking, the Chairman of Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Senator Ibrahim Musa, reiterated the government’s support to exporters, citing the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) as one of the initiatives available to help them.

A panel discussion session which addressed the concerns raised by participants about impediments faced in their business transactions across Africa was organised.

Panellists included the Lagos State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Sam Egube; ED, Shared Services and Products, Fidelity Bank, Chijioke Ugochukwu; a member of NACCIMA, Kunle Eyitemi; a representative of the NEPC, Samuel Oyeyipo; and an exporter, Yetunde Adekunle.

As the conference came to a close, the burden of curiosity that rested on the faces of the participants at the beginning had lifted. In its place, hope and excitement were easily palpable. It was obvious that the summit had served its purpose, as attendees were eagerly looking forward to taking new territories with seamless payment processes on the wider African continent, a possibility that the AfCFTA guarantees.