"FinTech is completely revolutionising the speed, the scale and the cost of getting services to the people. This is transformational for Africa – and it is this transformation that drives Cellulant to continue realising this for millions of consumers and thousands of businesses," says Ken Njoroge, Group CEO of Cellulant, a silver partner at the Finance Indaba Africa 2016 on 13 and 14 October 2016 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.
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With the event around the corner, we will be chatting to all the Indaba partners, asking them why they are joining the event and what their most important message for finance professionals is.
Do you want to hear why Cellulant is a revolutionary payments platform? Do you want to be informed about the latest and greatest in finance? Then don't miss the Finance Indaba Africa 2016.
Why will you be present at the Finance Indaba?
"We are excited to participate, being among peers pursuing excellence in innovating the FinTech industry across Africa. FinTech is completely revolutionising the speed, the scale and the cost of getting services to the people. This is transformational for Africa - and it is this transformation that drives Cellulant to continue realising this for millions of consumers and thousands of businesses."
What will you be talking about?
Transformational FinTech: $1 per person per problem
"Transformation generally translates to disruption. We can see this disruption in various countries, communities, societies, businesses and everyday consumers. Financial technology has made it possible. Unlike in other parts of the world, in Africa, financial technology, mostly in form of money is scaling quickly. In some markets, the progression of technology is being embedded in every day lives of consumers.
"Long before Safaricom's mPesa in Kenya, no one imagined that a USSD code could deliver financial inclusion for a large population of unbanked citizens. In fact, to date- you will find that there is still a significant number of Kenyans without bank accounts, whose financial institution is their phone; and with the rise in the use of smartphones in Africa, users continue to support growth in mobile money usage and cashless payments. Technology is enabling such transformation to scale across Africa.
"What is behind this disruption? Financial Technology is a moniker for innovation, disruption and transforming financial services to consumers. We will talk about what we do and know best- mobile commerce in Africa. We argue that, the future of innovation or any new business models is in the hands of the disruptors. Not the companies, not the products- but the talent across africa that will drive transformational financial technology that will put the pipelines to a lasting payment infrastructure in Africa. Our continent needs investment, not in ideas (we already have too many of those), but investment in the talent that is needed to scale with speed transformative solutions to customers."
What challenges can you help finance professionals/firms/consumers tackle in 2016?
"As a payments platform, Cellulant enables payments services such as monthly bill payments, online payments, retail and micro-retail payments and government-to-person payments across Africa via a stand-alone APP, mobile point-of-sale, and within mobile banking APPs. This is supported by an ecosystem that powers payments for 75 banks, 600 merchants, the Federal Government of Nigeria and several other government projects that all run on Cellulant's platform."
What are the challenges facing a fintech business in Africa?
"The main challenge is inability to scale with speed across Africa. The market is nuanced and fragmented, and to some level dependent on accessibility to financial services. However, the same challenges present an opportunity for disruptors to present life-changing innovations for businesses and consumers across Africa."
What is behind the fintech explosion?
"More than 98% of payments in Africa are made in cash. Mobile commerce is rising all across Africa, fuelled by the rapid growth of mobile - 880 million mobile connections, 250 million smartphones and 84 million mobile money users as well as huge economic, regulatory and market forces shaping digitisation.., In just over eight years, Mpesa represents 64% total value moved of Kenya's GDP and Ecocash represents 24% of Zimbabwe's GDP for the same period. These levels of mobile commerce will happen across Africa. With Africa's GDP at $2,4 trillion; the potential payments opportunity falls between $600 billion and $1,5 trillion over the next few years. The rest of Africa is expected to deepen in a similar way due to huge economic, regulatory and market forces driving mobile commerce."
