The Nigerian FinTech ecosystem continued to expand on the African continent, with three more unicorns – Flutterwave, OPay, and Andela – joining Interswitch and Jumia as five of the continent’s seven unicorns.
According to FinTechNGR, Nigeria’s fintech association, which revealed this, Nigeria’s FinTech ecosystem’s is waxing stronger and improved brand appeal to global investors demonstrated that the country is an economy positioned for growth, financial inclusion, and poverty reduction.
According to FinTechNGR, Nigeria was ranked sixth in real-time payments by Finshots and one of the top crypto trading countries in the world by Statista, among other groundbreaking achievements that attest to the value of the country’s ecosystem.
Furthermore, FintechNGR stated that it will continue to develop robust venture capital and private equity channels to support innovators with significant growth potential, emphasizing that simplifying and optimizing the process for raising capital would allow more investors to benefit from these companies’ growth and create wealth for the economy.
The document, signed by Ade Bajomo, President of the FinTech Association of Nigeria, revealed that despite the effects of the pandemic, Nigerian FinTech startups raised $1.37 billion out of a total of $4 billion raised by African startups in the year under review.
According to the document, Nigeria raised the most money, followed by South Africa ($838 million), Egypt ($588 million), and Kenya ($375 million). Other proactive markets outside of the big four included Senegal and Tanzania, where startups raised $222 million and $96 million, respectively, according to Connecting Africa. Ghanaian FinTech Chipper Cash, which raised a total of $250 million in 2021, was one of the biggest success stories. Ghana would have raised $48 million without Chipper Cash.
The launch of eNaira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) demonstrated that innovation is not limited to FinTech firms alone – rather, regulators are now actively participating in the next digital wave, thereby opening up more opportunities for entrepreneurs to innovate, according to FinTechNGR.
Concerning the achievement in Nigeria, the association stated that it played a key role as an enabler, providing direction and support in a variety of ways, including the formal launch and graduation of the maiden cohort of the DigiStuds project, a Digital Academy Project aimed at equipping 500,000 students in Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions with relevant digital skills.
The association stated that the launch of the Nigeria FinTech Census, an aggregated data on Nigerian FinTechs done in collaboration with EY, aimed at assisting stakeholders in making informed decisions about the ecosystem.
FinTechNGR stated that for 2022, it will consolidate its gains and maintain its momentum as an ecosystem. “I would like to encourage everyone to leverage the Association’s platforms in scaling the Nigerian FinTech ecosystem and further increasing our visibility on a global scale, having earned a worthy seat at the table when it comes to advancements in FinTech related matters in our country and beyond,” Bajomo said.
