Fintech is speedily reshaping Nigeria’s financial sector – Mojisola
Before now, the traditional banking space was all we knew in the financial industry. Now, fintech is the same financial industry on steroids. We have had innovations by Nigerians not only helping to solve the problems in the Nigerian market, but also crossing borders to other parts of Africa and the world at large.
The above assertion was made by Mojisola Fagbohunlu, one of the few Product Marketers in Nigeria, who is also a Tech Product Marketer for a foremost fintech company that has impacted the Nigerian fintech space for over 15 years.
Sharing market insights and what she believes the future holds for the Nigerian market as it concerns fintech solutions and their acceptance, Mojisola beamed some light on how the lower class is being impacted by this development.
“If I am to address this in one statement, I would say that the fintech industry in Nigeria is booming and it is fast reshaping the financial industry as we once knew it, but I would dig deeper to unpack this better.
“Noteworthy is the fact that it took a while for Nigerians to be ready for the next phase of conducting financial activities – which is fintech-drive, but now that we are here, they can’t imagine it any other way,” she said.
Speaking from an informed point of view, after over 8 years of professional experience in the marketing space, she said: “I am a Product Marketer in the Fintech space, part of what I do is to carry out extensive research on the industry in Nigeria and the world at large. From research, I was able to draw some conclusions – typically, Nigeria is not half way there but there is significant progress. Why do I say this? Take the financial inclusion mandate, for instance, where financial institutions are supposed to focus particularly on the unbanked and underbanked to ensure that everyone has access to financial transactions and related activities.
“Let us cast our minds back to when Smartphones weren’t so common and people in the rural areas perceived smartphones as a luxury and unnecessary possession. That is not the same anymore as most of these people are now given the opportunity to pay for their Smartphones in instalments, while also being shown the critical need for the device.
“A petty trader in the outskirts of Lagos or other remote areas, now wants to own a smartphone so that he/she can have access to different ranges of financial services from providers who are getting even more competitive by the day. Obviously, the competition in the space has led to lower charges for the customers and this goes a long way in attracting the lower class to join the train,” she explained.
Having handled at least 3 fintech products in Nigeria, Mojisola noted that small business owners in the Nigerian open markets have access to nano and business loans from some fintech solutions and this has gone a long way in helping to grow such businesses. She, however, added that even though the process still requires adequate regulations, the loan application processes are far less as rigorous as could have been with commercial banks.
“People grouped as the unbanked and the underbanked are aggressively being reached and communicated to so that they can essentially be financially included. One way that has succeeded and is still succeeding is the Mobile Money Operators (MMO) platforms, which has not only empowered vendors of such but has also consequently led to technically increased bank activities in respective locations.
“In thrift collection, popularly known as “Ajo” amongst the grassroots sector, you will be amazed how much the thrift collector calculates at the end of each collection day after going door to door to pick up thrift. Traditional thrift collection in comparison to other financial activities has a higher risk, yet a lot of these traders would go out of their way to subscribe to them, entrusting them with their hard earned money. I have seen a few companies trying to leverage this but the impact can be way bigger,” she said.
In conclusion, Mojisola submitted that grassroots, though largely believed to be relatively difficult to penetrate, can be significantly leveraged given the right innovations and peculiarity-driven marketing approaches. She cited a research which shows that a big chunk of the lower class market still have a lot of scepticism in dealing with fintech solutions, thereby not sharing required bank details on approved fintech platforms and believing more in the traditional brick and mortar structures. Meanwhile, she believes that a systematic community ambassadorial approach and creation of mini community kiosks would solve the challenges in no time.
“Ultimately, to further increase the acceptance of fintech solutions in the Nigerian market, and for a more inclusive system, I believe a bigger consideration should be given to the lower class (D, E & F socio-economic class) of people. We just need to understand their peculiarities and speak their language. This will help drive more efficient marketing campaigns and better product designs,” she concluded.
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