December 21, 2020
2020 has been an intriguing year with the effect of COVID-19 and its multifaceted impact on all spheres of life, both positively and negatively. While the negative impacts of COVID-19 cannot be underplayed, it has also played out positively in accelerating digital adoption journey across divides, fostering re-thinking of business models to serve the insatiable taste of consumers. Above all, brings to fore the resilience spirit in all of us, hence, we all survived the year. During the year, the Association had to also rejig the approaches to serving its members and the ecosystem at large as it took a holistic approach to addressing issues that commonly affect players in the ecosystem such as regulation, funding and skills drought, through; 1. DigiStuds Project – An academic-based initiative aimed at growing 500,000 industry required and relevant digital skills among undergraduates, graduates, and lecturers across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. It is also targeted to produce digital entrepreneurs and startups during the training. 2. Reguvator Forum – brings representatives of regulatory agencies and fintechs in Nigeria to foster engagement towards balancing innovation and regulation. CBN, SEC, NITDA, NAICOM, NITDA, NCC, NFIU, NDIC, and NIPC all are represented at the directorate level. 3. Fintech Funds Advisory Team – set up to help to develop an ecosystem approach to harnessing, harmonising and harvesting various funding initiatives in Nigeria towards the take-off of an indigenous fintech fund for startups. Has top fintech players in Nigeria in the team Yemi Keri, CEO, Heckerbella making a presentation during the inauguration of Fintech Fund Advisory Team & Akeem Lawal, Sectional CEO, Interswitch Group making presentation during the inauguration of Reguvators Forum 4. Startup Marketplace – mapped out a strategy to offer soft support through volunteering services by members and partners to startups in the areas of business development, governance/audit, data privacy, cybersecurity, legal advice and shared infrastructures amongst others. The startup marketplace is due for launch in 2021. 5. Nigeria Fintech Census – concluded the data gathering phase of the project aimed at providing important data on fintechs in Nigeria to aid regulators, investors, and other ecosystem stakeholders to make intervention decisions. 6. Membership growth and retention – The membership grew from 130 in 2019 to 202 comprising 170 corporate institutions from 16 sectors of the economy. 7. Training and Programmes – Fintech Masterclass, Mobile Money Masterclass was done with Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, Digital 101 (Basic element of Digitisation) training was done in partnership with The Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators, NICArB for lawyers, arbitrators and legal professional, also done in partnership with Nigerian Insurers Association, NIA, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, CIIN for insurers and insurance professionals. 12 webinar sessions took place covering subjects such as data privacy & compliance, force majeure, open-source and emerging technology, Intercontinental regulatory session that had speakers from Monetary Authority of Singapore, Bank of Lithuania, Bank of Mauritius amongst others. Images from NDIC Masterclasses Images: Various Scenes at the Digital Skills 101 8. Events – the 3rd annual general
Recent Comments