Dike Onwuamaeze
The Co-founder and Partner of Verod Capital, Mr. Eric Idiahi, has said if the opportunities in financial technology (fintechs) companies are effectively harnessed in Nigeria, the sub-sector has the potential to displace crude oil as the country’s major earner of foreign currency for Nigeria.
Idiahi said this during an interview on Arise News Channel.
According to him, providing a platform for operators in the sector to render fintech services to countries that needed them could be a major foreign exchange (FX) earner for Nigeria in the near future.
Idiahi also added that the Nigeria Exchange Limited’s (NGX) hosting of, “Technovation Conference” could help highlight the advances going on today in the country’s tech space by showcasing, “the potential of what I call a revolution in Nigeria AND across Africa.”
He added: “Oil is still a big income earner for Nigeria. But I think we (fintechs) have the potential to do so and reach over 120 million very innovative young people in this market. Today I see a lot of developments around this industry as Nigerians reside in Lagos, Benin, etc., and working for companies in the United States of America and earning as much as $20,000 and $70,000 in a month. The key thing is about bringing their money back into Nigeria.
“You will see more companies being built around outsourcing their services to foreign companies and earning in dollars. Overtime, the potential to be a big income earner for the country is possible. We just need to harness the activities of people in that space.”
Idiahi also identified payment services as the hottest sector in the fintech market today.
“I say that because it is something we use every day as we buy and pay for things every day. You are going to see also a good amount of companies coming up as we (Nigeria) follow the examples of India and China and those markets in Asia used develop their economies.
“India was heavily developed by outsourcing techs and I can see that development here. The playbook has been written and we just have to follow what has been done in other markets,” he added.
According to him, interesting things hav e been happening in Nigeria’s fintechs private equity space in the past two years in the sense that investors are coming on regular basis.
Idiahi said investors have been taking stakes in the future of Nigeria’s fintech market on the assumption that the country’s young population would have a lifestyle that would embrace techs driven services.
“A lot of money is coming into this market from America and Asia and these are investors who are betting on the assumption that we have young population that will adopt some of this technologies and fintechs in the near future.
“They are betting that these companies will grow over time to catch up where these valuations are. I tell people that from the banking sector to all sectors the biggest companies in the future are some of these starts up you are seeing today and those that will be formed tomorrow by these young people in their 20s and 30s. You will see a lot of this because investors are betting on abilities to deliver in the future,” he said.
He also expressed appreciation to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, over his disposition to ensure that Nigeria produce most of its basic products locally.
He said: “I tell people that there will be some pain before we will see the light. The CBN governor’s speak about his ideas and goals he wants to accomplish. It shows his love for the country in the sense of trying to do things local than importing. I hope that in the long run things will pan out well,” adding that the 2023 elections should not be a major disruption to businesses.
“It is just staying focus on the things you are doing and we will win at the end of the day. I do not think the elections will be a major disruption for business or economy.”
