The Microfinance Development Company Lmited (MDCL) has launched liquidity platform, designed to accelerate micro finance industry growth in Nigeria.
With the theme: “The 21st Century MFB: Leveraging Technology to Drive Financial Inclusion in the MFB Industry,” the technology platform is designed to create high-impact business forum for key stakeholders in the micro finance industry.
Setting the tone for what was to come, the Chief Executive Officer of MDCL, Obinna Onunkwo, welcomed everyone to the event and said it was put together to address some of the critical challenges the microfinance industry was facing.
He also pointed out that, in line with its objective of creating a shared services platform for the industry, MDCL entered into strategic partnerships with other companies to help them achieve their business goals.
According to him, one key benefit of the partnership is that with InfoWARE, which is a software company that helped MDCL build the Intermember Liquidity Placement Platform (ILPP), it would enable micro finance banks to place liquidity among themselves. Another benefit is that it will allow Stanbic IBTC to provide on-lending facility to its members, while it will also help in the creation of a digital lending platform for microloans, built in partnership with Migo.
Corroborating Mr. Onunkwo’s position, the Board Chairman of MDCL, Rogers Nwoke, said: “financial inclusion had been a struggle for a very long time, and we are yet to meet the targets set by the CBN in that regard. One reason for that was the absence of liquidity for microfinance banks. MDCL is a response to the problem of funding. We are here to have a discussion on how to drive financial inclusion with technology, and we are going to crown the discussion with a launch of the Intermember Liquidity Placement Platform (ILPP).”
While delivering the keynote address, Partner and Head of Technology Assurance at KPMG, Lawrence Amadi, said with a population of over 200 million people in Nigeria, over 80 million are financially excluded and microfinance banks have a key role to play in helping to reduce that number, in line with the CBN’s goal of having 80 per cent of the population in the financial net.
“Supporting innovative thinking is what MFBs must do in order to successfully drive change in the country. To do this effectively, they have to tap into technology to transform the entire financial sector,” Amadi said.
In a goodwill message by the Director of Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department (OFIS) of the CBN, Nkiru Asiegbu, who was represented by the Head of Microfinance Supervision, Idowu Akinlade, said the event could not have come at a better time, considering that the industry is experiencing a high influx of Fintechs.
