Organisations Harp on Data Privacy, Security among Nigerian Businesses Emma Okonji

Lendable, the first debt platform designed specifically for African non-bank lenders in partnership with FMO, the Dutch Development Bank, has urged Nigerian business community to take data privacy and data security seriously.

The two organisations stated this while hosting its latest event on data privacy and data security in Lagos as part of a series of workshops on responsible lending after adopting the Responsible Finance Forum’s Guidelines for Responsible Investing in Digital Financial Inclusion.

The first workshop, Data Privacy and Data Security for alternative lenders, took place in Nairobi, Kenya on September 18th, subsequent to the adoption of the guidelines.

Lendable and FMO felt the need to translate these principles into actionable implementation steps for the company and other Fintech companies, and launched this series of workshops in East and West Africa in response.

The workshop was organised to educate alternative lenders, lawyers and experts in the financial industry on best practices for implementing policy and practice lending business. It was also meant to share understanding of the responsible lending and regulatory reasons consumer protection is important, as well as the potential risks and global regulatory trends related to data privacy and security.

CEO and co-founder of Lendable, Daniel Goldfarb, said: ‘If we can make sure that our lending partners are being responsible about how they find customers, how they lend and how they communicate with their customers, we will ultimately have less credit risk and better partners. At Lendable, we are passionate about making African consumer and SME credit a competitive asset class. We build technology and financial products to bring finance to borrowers that deserve it.

We are flexible and help financial institution grow. ’Academic Director and Senior Fellow, Information Systems, Lagos Business School, Yinka David-West, while highlighting the importance of data protection, noted that, “In a country like Nigeria that is seeking to use data and technology, we have to educate early-stage companies on the right guidelines and practices for responsible management. It is important that we secure our data in the most appropriate way to ensure that consumers’ data is protected from the point of collection through usage in order to prevent unwanted access.”Lendable is a technology-enabled deal platform which invests in lending companies across East and West Africa.

Lendable’s technology assesses alternative lender customer collections and payment histories, using payment patterns and secondary data to predict future payments and to automatically price and monitor financing facilities.

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