At business school and then in the real world, at Diamond Bank, I learned that you follow your customers. Banks open locations based on business; where their target customers are. In previous times, we followed the [physical] trade routes of our customers. Whilst some banks opened locations in capitals of…

Risk & Capital is top of mind for the CBN at the moment — especially for microfinance banks in Nigeria — who are currently being scrutinised and regulated very strictly. It seems they no longer had implicit trust in many of the digital financial services platforms that have secured MFB…

When we started Sparkle, there were three main areas that we focussed on and that were central to all decision making; build trust, keep costs low by leveraging the power of technology and good governance. Whilst I’ve spoken previously about the fact that even with 30+ years of experience in…

Let’s talk about security, beyond cyber crime. Let’s look at security in giving customers comfort; especially when it comes to the situation of cash shortages in Nigeria. At present, amidst the current cash scarcity issue, customers are having to rely on digital banking more than ever. This is an opportunity…

A week or so ago, my colleague Nkem and I were having a play around with the AI-tool of the moment, ChatGPT. We were trying to come up with a suitable picture for an advert. We asked ChatGPT to describe a woman, of African descent, carrying a golf bag, in…

The Perfect Storm This year has been busy, and there are four very big things that happened in the world of tech and digital money. The introduction of the eNaira The White Paper on Open Banking The Nigeria Start-Up Act The Nigeria CBN Cashless Policy All of the above happened…

The recent CBN announcement, whereby cash withdrawals in Nigeria will be limited to N100,000 a week has somewhat polarised opinion and has left many with mixed feelings. For me, the decision made sense, although yes, I can see that this sudden jolt of news is going to disrupt the equilibrium. …

When I was young, experience was more important than impact. Experience, and of course the age factor, was currency; the competitive edge. History played a big role in shaping peoples’ personas and perceptions of others, because life moves much slower and history stayed relatively static, whilst access to information [data]…

Transparency Spend any time with Gen Z and below and you’ll notice that they are far more transparent than the generation before. Whereas my generation, and certainly my father’s generation, saw knowledge as power and coveted it as a premium resource, today’s young people are far more willing to share…