Popular technology leader, Iyin Aboyeji, has blamed the younger generation of Nigerian fintech entrepreneurs for failing to seize new opportunities emerging in the country. The technology leader said this during the Rise up again The Morning Show, where he was a guest.
According to the Andela co-founder, average Nigerians need help adapting to the current financial and economic realities brought about by rising inflation and its consequences. According to him, these realities and their challenges create opportunities that fintechs can seize and offer solutions.
He said these solutions must be aimed at helping the average person in this high inflation environment. However, the new generation of fintech entrepreneurs prefer to do the same things that older fintechs did in their day and are “sick to the stomach” that it is no longer lucrative.
“There is now an opportunity for fintechs to move beyond what we did in our time, which was limited to simple payments, to thinking deeper; what do people need in terms of food, energy, jobs, asset management? What do they need, then do they provide these services to the people? Unfortunately, fintech entrepreneurs don’t do this. They complain about a bygone era when you could make money through cheap foreign exchange arbitrage. This day is over“, said the co-founder of Flutterwave.
He urged fintech founders to seek to help Nigerians manage their finances better and find ways to make money, especially in foreign currencies.
He also urged them to better help people save for long-term purchases, as borrowing is not an option at benchmark interest rates of 2% or more. These are the problems that fintechs should help people solve.
Iyin Aboyeji attributes the frosty relationship between banking and fintech to a lack of intergenerational solidarity
Speaking about the frosty relationship between traditional banks and fintechs, Iyin Aboyeji, who pointed out that the sector would not exist today without banks, said the problem was people and not a matter of politics.
He pointed out that the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2020 (BOFIA) attempted to address the issue from a policy perspective by allowing banks to invest in fintech companies, which was previously frowned upon.
Unfortunately, the planned collaboration did not materialize despite everything.
“I don’t think it’s a political function. I think it’s a function of people. The youngest must humble themselves a little, and the oldest may also have to lower themselves to conquer a little and help understand that this is the future of the country. I think there are a lot of things that young people need to learn and that older people need to understand a little bit too. And the lack of what I call intergenerational solidarity between fintechs and banks is perhaps at the origin of this phenomenon.“, he said.
Speaking on engagement with government, Iyin Aboyeji expressed his belief that young entrepreneurs must come together to present to government what they need to do. He said they can’t allow political leaders to “wag the tail” because they generally don’t know what the industry demands.
“Under the Osibanjo/Buhari administration, even with some of the political upheavals that they experienced, the industry was able to tell them, hey, here’s what we needed and, to their credit, they were responsive. They responded in many cases, but in some cases they didn’t respond as well. But they responded in many cases in such a way that the industry could thrive despite economic circumstances“, said the co-founder of Flutterwave.
Iyin Aboyeji pointed out that there is a general lack of coordination, which is unfortunate, especially at this time.
Speaking about the opportunities for fintech startups under the Tinubu administration, the Nigerian tech leader said that while it is still early days, there are impressive early signs.
One such sign is the appointment of a respected member of the startup ecosystem, Dr. Bosun Tijani, as Minister of Digital Economy. He said the minister is currently tackling some of the biggest issues such as talent, connectivity and artificial intelligence.
He also said the government needed to tackle issues around regulation. While praising the previous administration for doing a good job regulating the fintech space on the banking side, he said now is the time to innovate on the security side. The capital market side.
“We also need to start thinking about insurance and risk. They’ve done some interesting things in digital assets, but now we need to think carefully about what they can do in terms of lowering the bar for advisors to allow more young people to enter the scene. with new products and new ideas“, said Iyin Aboyeji.
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