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April 20, 2021
On the web
Nigeria’s $155b E-transactions
Techpoint Africa
“Nigeria continued to witness steady growth in electronic transactions in the first quarter of 2021. According to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) , Nigeria processed ₦58.8 trillion ($155 billion) worth of electronic transactions between January and March 2021. Launched in 2011, the NIBSS is a consortium of all Nigeria’s licensed banks and the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
March 19, 2021
On the web
Backed by YC, Vendease Is Building Amazon Prime for Restaurants in Africa
TechCrunch
“For small and mid-sized restaurants in Nigeria and most of Africa, food procurement can be a complex process to manage. The system is such that a business can easily run out of money or have considerable savings. Most restaurants don’t have access to deal directly with farms to get better deals because they lack the staffing to chase them. Besides, they also don’t have the aggregation pull as single entities to directly get good value from the farms. Nigerian startup Vendease solves this problem by building a marketplace that allows restaurants to buy directly from farms and food manufacturers.”
March 15, 2021
On the web
Nigerians Turn to Stablecoins for Protection Against Inflation – CoinDesk
CoinDesk
“Okeke Leticia Chigozie, a 28-year-old Nigerian logistics worker, dreams of opening her own shoe store in Nigeria. Having no credit history, she does not qualify for a bank loan to fund her enterprise. Instead, she joined a traditional savings group in her community, sometimes called esusu. These savings circles allow those without access to traditional banking services to save money and acquire loans or credit. The problem is that in inflationary countries like Nigeria and Zimbabwe, the value of savings could plummet. Stablecoins – cryptocurrencies pegged to a strong fiat currency like the U.S. dollar or a basket of assets to keep their prices stable – could be a solution to Leticia’s problem.”
March 11, 2021
On the wires
Epos Now Launches Major Push Into Nigeria
“Epos Now, a global software and payments technology company, supporting over 35,000 retail and hospitality locations across 71 countries, has launched its cloud point of sale (POS) solution in Nigeria , making its first entry into the African market…Nigeria has been chosen as the launchpad for Epos Now’s entry into Africa due to its status as a rapidly expanding market for fintech and payment technology. Nigeria has recently established itself as the primary location from which to launch wider expansions into Africa, and Epos Now will be looking to satisfy a growing demand for affordable point of sale and merchant services technology in sub-Saharan Africa. In preparation for the expansion, Epos Now has partnered with Epos Solutions Nigeria, a leading provider of point of sale technology in the country.”
February 24, 2021
On the web
Open Banking Is Coming to Nigeria
TechCabal
“Last week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released draft regulations for the open banking framework in Nigeria. It’s in line with the prediction by Stears Business that conversations around open banking regulations would move forward in Nigeria in 2021. What’s all the fuss about? Open banking, often described as the future of banking, is the idea that traditional banks should share the transaction data of customers with fintechs, challenger banks and other third parties. It sounds simple but the implications are far-reaching. With shared transactional data, customers can compare banking services easily and decide between banks.”
February 1, 2021
On the web
Nigerian Digital Bank Carbon Hit $240M in Payments Processed Last Year, up 89% From 2019
TechCrunch
“In 2018, Carbon , a Nigerian fintech startup, made its financials public for the first time. Although typical for foreign private startups, it’s almost an anomaly in Africa. There have been rare cases in the past, for instance, when Rocket Internet had to include Jumia’s financials in its yearly reports after going public. At the time, the German investment outfit was a founding shareholder in the African-based unicorn.”
January 6, 2021
On the web
Aella, Amazon Partner on Underbanked Empowerment
Latest Nigeria News, Nigerian Newspapers, Politics
Single point financial service and payment solutions firm, Aella App, said it is working with Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) to empower underbanked individuals to have quicker access to credit and other financial services using Amazon Rekognition for identity verification.
October 15, 2020
Top Post
Stripe acquires Nigeria’s Paystack for $200M+ to expand into the African continent
TechCrunch
“When Stripe announced earlier this year that it had picked up another $600 million in funding, it said one big reason for the funding was to expand its API-based payments services into more geographies. Today the company is coming good on that plan in the form of some M&A. Stripe is acquiring Paystack , a startup out of Lagos, Nigeria that, like Stripe, provides a quick way to integrate payments services into an online or offline transaction by way of an API. (We and others have referred to it in the past as “the Stripe of Africa.”)”
September 9, 2020
On the web
Nigeria Fintech Sparkle Announces Partnership with Visa
Tech in Africa
“Nigeria’s digital banking platform Sparkle partnered with Visa in a collaboration aimed at entrepreneurs, consumers, and SMEs throughout Nigeria. Sparkle is a digital financial services platform supporting Nigerians across the globe. The new partnership will equip Sparkle with greater flexibility and freedom on how in-app payments are made. Users of the Sparkle app can make eCommerce payments through visa virtual cards and visa branded plastic cards attached to their profiles.”
How Bitcoin Met the Real World in Africa
Reuters
“Four months ago, Abolaji Odunjo made a fundamental change to his business selling mobile phones in a bustling street market in Lagos: He started paying his suppliers in bitcoin. Odunjo sources handsets and accessories from China and the United Arab Emirates. His Chinese suppliers asked to be paid in the cryptocurrency, he said, for speed and convenience. The shift has boosted his profits, as he no longer has to buy dollars using the Nigerian naira or shell out fees to money-transfer firms. It is also one example of how, in Africa, bitcoin – the original and biggest cryptocurrency – is finding the practical use that it has largely failed to elsewhere.”
August 17, 2020
On the web
Leveraging Digital Channels to Deepen Financial Inclusion
This Day Live
“Speaking on the app, the Founder, Samuel Muoto said: “Waya PayChat is a digital payment solution that addresses the issue of unbanked and underbanked, while digitalizing payment solutions in Nigeria.” The app is the new fintech app in Nigeria which combines financial inclusion and social solution. It offers safe and secure transactions for the banked and unbanked. It allows merchants to send and receive money. The app provides an easy way to pay merchants and bills, make transactions through Waya agents while allowing friends and family to socialize through chats, calls, and sharing personal moments.”
July 20, 2020
On the web
TradeDepot adds $10 million to add financial services to its supply chain services for African SMBs
TechCrunch
“Nigeria’s e-commerce startup TradeDepot, which connects international brands to small businesses in Africa, has raised $10 million in a new round of funding to expand its business into financial services and credit offerings for retailers. First launched in 2016, TradeDepot has built up a network of 40,000 small businesses in Nigeria and connects them to local distributors of global consumer brands like Nestlé, Unilever, GB Foods and Danone, according to a statement.”
May 15, 2020
On the web
Opera’s OPay still plans Africa expansion on Nigerian super app
TechCrunch
“Opera’s Africa fintech startup OPay remains committed to building a multi-service super app in Nigeria as the foundation to expand on the continent. OPay also continues to operate ORide for limited passenger service — though the company is shifting the motorcycle ride-hail operation toward logistics businesses. Opera launched the OPay mobile money platform in Lagos in 2018 on the popularity of its internet search engine in Africa. A year later, the Norway-based, Chinese-owned company sent jitters through Nigeria’s startup world when it rallied investors to back OPay with $170 million in VC . The financing haul amounted to nearly one-fifth of all venture funding raised for African startups the previous year.”
December 5, 2019
On the web
Nigeria’s Central Bank, in Bid to Help Nation’s Underbanked, Takes Measure to Boost Payment Firms
Karma
“Nigeria’s central bank is planning to issue licenses to more payment providers, aiming to “improve the country’s financial-inclusion rate to 80% by the end of next year from about 60%,” Bloomberg reports . Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele spoke in Abuja last week, promising the new licenses “will help support innovation and competition as all parties work to increase their customer base.” “Nigerians in underserved locations will have access to cost effective payment services, cash-in and cash-out facilities, and savings products,” he said.”
October 10, 2019
On the web
Nigeria Is Finally Turning to Telcos to Drive Financial Inclusion Through Mobile Money
Quartz Africa
“The regulatory caution and conservatism often blamed for holding Nigeria back finally looks set to change with the central bank reversing a longstanding stance on declining to issue mobile money licenses to telecoms operators. In the wake of the central bank’s change in tack, MTN, Nigeria’s largest telecoms operator, with more than 60 million customers, has launched its MoMo Agent mobile money service. And, on the back of a $1.2 billion funding boost last year, Airtel Nigeria, Nigeria’s third largest operator, is expected to follow suit. 9Mobile and Globacom, the country’s two other major operators, have also reportedly been issued licenses to become payment service banks.”
March 11, 2019
On the web
Nigeria’s Gloo.ng Drops Consumer E-commerce, Pivots to E-procurement
TechCrunch
“The Lagos-based venture has called it quits on e-commerce grocery services, shifting to a product that supplies large and medium corporates with everything from desks to toilet paper. Gloopro’s new platform will generate revenues on a monthly fee structure and a percentage on goods delivered, according to Gloopro CEO D.O. Olusanya.”
November 14, 2018
On the web
Unimpressive Growth in Mobile Payments
Business Today (Nigeria)
“The CBN data show that 120 million PoS transactions were recorded in H1 2018, representing an increase of 103% y/y. The volume of point-of-sale (PoS) transactions indicates the impact of the CBN’s cashless policy on the economy. Meanwhile, mobile payments amounted to 28 million transactions valued at N495bn (US$1.6bn) in H1 2018. The volume of transactions grew by 14% y/y but accounted for only 4.7% of total electronic transactions (see chart).”
August 28, 2018
On the web
Paystack, with ambitions to become the Stripe of Africa, raises $8M from Visa, Tencent… and Stripe itself
TechCrunch
“The company is active today in Nigeria, where its payment API integrates with tens of thousands of businesses, and in two years it has grown to process 15 percent of all online payments; and the plan is to both continue to grow in its home market, as well as expand to more countries, starting with Ghana.”
July 19, 2018
On the web
Nigerians Bury Cash In Backyards As Mobile Money Stumbles
Bloomberg
“Less than 6 percent of Nigerians use their handsets to transact using mobile money, compared with 73 percent of Kenyans, where more than two-thirds of adults have a bank account, according to the World Bank. That’s even though there are more than two phones for every bank account in the West African nation.”
May 7, 2018
On the web
Ecobank unveils Africa’s first unified digital payment solution
Vanguard (Nigeria)
“ECOBANK has unveiled a multi-featured digital payment solution, Ecobank Pay, designed to deliver unified and instant self-service across a range of interconnected payment solutions.”
February 26, 2018
On the web
In Nigeria you need cash for everything, the problem is actually getting hold of it
Quartz
“Anytime Oghenefega Otitifore, an engineer living in Okearo, needs to withdraw cash, she does not bother going to the ATM. In all of Okearo, a suburb just a few kilometers outside Lagos, there are only two ATMs—one is plagued with long queues and the ever present “unable to dispense cash” message on the screens while the other rarely works. Instead, she goes to a shop to withdraw cash. This shop represents a growing brand of businesses that operate as alternatives to ATMs.”
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