‘Technology Vital to Increase Remittance Inflow’

Ugo Aliogo

The Chief Executive Officer, Baxi, Degbola Abudu, has revealed that improved technology adoption would increase remittance inflow in Africa especially Nigeria, noting that the global remittance market is estimated at $25 million inflow opportunities.

He also stated that to serve the more than 55 per cent of Nigerian consumers currently excluded from formal financial services, Nigerian fintechs have built strong agent networks that are the crucial interface to reach Nigeria’s 31million financially underserved and 67 million financially unserved populations.

Abudu, who disclosed this yesterday at the media launch of MFS Africa, said Nigeria is also the largest remittance market in Africa and home to one-third of intra-Africa remittance flows.

He remarked that the newly launched electronic payment platform has the technology and mobile wallet agents, while Baxi have the agents, so there is opportunity for connection between both platforms, “so the MFS agents who have mobile wallets can move money to the Baxi agents to give those people who requests at agent location and vice-versa.”

He further explained that cash remittances from Nigerians trying to send money home is worth $12 billion of inflows, adding that MFS Africa has over 320 million mobile money wallets across Africa, “many of these wallet merchants have businesses and families in Nigeria.”

“Through its network of more than 90,000 agents, Baxi has already processed over USD 1 billion in transactions this year. Following the acquisition’s close, MFS Africa will build Baxi into a key node on its digital payment network, allowing customers to make regional and global payments to and from Nigeria. MFS Africa will also expand Baxi’s proposition for offline SMEs to select markets within MFS Africa’s footprint of 320 million mobile wallets across more than 35 African countries.”

Earlier in his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer, MFS Africa, Dare Okoudjou, said the initiative was pivotal step in their journey.

He also stated that by combining Baxi’s network of Small Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) operating as agents with their pan-African network, they aim to take Nigeria’s SMEs to the rest of Africa and the world.

“Our expansion into Nigeria brings us one step closer in our mission of making borders matter less. MFS Africa, the largest pan-African digital payments hub, announced today that it had signed an agreement to acquire Baxi, one of Nigeria’s leading super-agent networks. The deal, which is subject to approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria, will be the second highest fintech acquisition in Nigeria to date.

“Nigeria is home to one of the most dynamic markets on the continent; it is Africa’s largest economy and home to the largest number of SMEs. It is also the largest remittance market in Africa and home to one-third of intra-Africa remittance flows. MFS Africa’s presence in Nigeria to date has been limited given the country’s small number of mobile wallets. With the acquisition, MFS Africa will expand its pan-African network into Nigeria, connecting Nigerian businesses to the continent and the rest of the world.”