‘Technology Will be Vital to Increase Remittance Inflow’

Ugo Aliogo
The Chief Executive Officer, Baxi, Degbola Abudu, has revealed that improved technology adoption would increase remittance inflow in Africa especially Nigeria, noting that the global remittance market is estimated at $25million inflow opportunities.

He also stated that to serve the more than 55% of Nigerian consumers currently excluded from formal financial services, Nigerian fintechs that have built strong agent networks that are the crucial interface to reach Nigeria’s 31million financially underserved and 67million financially unserved populations.

Abudu, who disclosed this at the media launch of MFS Africa said Nigeria is also the largest remittance market in Africa and home to one-third of intra-Africa remittance flows.

He remarked that the newly launched electronic payment platform has the technology and mobile wallet agents, while Baxi have the agents, so there is opportunity for connection between both platforms, “so the MFS agents who have mobile wallets can move money to the Baxi agents to give those people who requests at agent location and vice-versa.”

He further explained that cash remittances from Nigerians trying to send money home is worth $12 billion of inflows, adding that MFS Africa has over 320 million mobile money wallets across Africa, “many of these wallet merchants have businesses and families in Nigeria.”

Earlier in his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer, MFS Africa, Dare Okoudjou, said the initiative is pivotal step in their journey.

He also stated that by combining Baxi’s network of Small Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) operating as agents with their pan-African network, they aim to take Nigeria’s SMEs to the rest of Africa and the world.