Opay Boss Proffers Means to Eradicate Poverty

Mary Nnah

The Chief Executive Officer and President of Opay Nigeria, Olu Akanmu, has said only adequate financial inclusion will effectively eradicate poverty in Nigeria.

While explaining efforts aimed at making financial products and services accessible and affordable to all individuals and businesses, regardless of the personal net worth of his firm, the Opay Boss said data, talent shortage, lack of infrastructure are some of the issues and barriers to financial inclusion.

He said therefore that for us to have incentive borrowing, we need to design models that can solve market solutions where everyone cannot use the model at the same time.

He said: “NIN  Biometrics subscribers have reached  90 million but there are still vulnerabilities and the potential of the MSMEs is yet to be maximised. 

“If we can have a centralised database it would aid cyber security. Although there are challenges, with double authentication, cyber security rights and limiting balance risk, it takes care of the loopholes.

“Artificial intelligence and machine learning is another means to enhance cyber security. Poverty is a major challenge, and we need to lift the numbers affected out of poverty. 

“There is a shortage of talent in Nigeria, everybody will not use a model if it is designed but there would be adaptation in processes.”

Also speaking, CEO of EFInA, Isaiah Owolabi, said only 40 per cent of the population has access to fintech, stating that access to digital payments could only be driven by digital financial services, which was determined by access and breaking the barriers.

He said: “Access to digital payments drives the adoption of digital financial services. Once consumers use the service for the first time and have a good experience, they will always return to convenience.”

Isaiah added that its efforts are to bridge the huge financial gap and access to funds for Micro, Medium, and Small-Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria, enhancing financial innovation and access, the company in partnership with GIZ held an innovative virtual hackathon contest tagged: ‘MSME Finance…Breaking the Barriers’. 

In Nigeria, Access to finance remains a priority area of assistance for both SMEs and Micro enterprises.

The competition produced winners with innovative solutions geared toward addressing some of the key challenges MSMEs hinder access to finance from formal financial services in Nigeria.

The exercise showcased Nigeria’s potential for developing homegrown solutions that promote microbusiness financing from formal financial service providers in Nigeria.