REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, HIS EXCELLENCY (DR.) ABUBAKAR BUKOLA SARAKI, CON, AT AFRICA FINTECH FOUNDRY (AFF) DISRUPT CONFERENCE 2017, HELD AT EKO HOTELS, LAGOS, ON DECEMBER 14, 2017
PROTOCOL.
1.It is my pleasure to be at this maiden edition of the AFF Conference in Nigeria, hosted by the Africa FinTech Foundry (AFF) and supported by Access Bank as well as other stellar names in the industry, including IBM and Microsoft. My sincere thanks to the organisers for inviting me. I believe it is important to identify with the AFF Disrupt Conference 2017 – which is the title of this edition – for its laudable objective of accelerating the growth of FinTech start-ups in Africa.
2.It is gratifying to observe that over the last decade, no fewer than 500 tech start-ups have enlivened the Nigerian technology ecosystem, enabling business processes and by so doing, enhancing economic activity in the country. Notable start-ups have come up strongly from the tech community – from medicine, finance, engineering and other fields, even down to handiwork.
3.It is not unusual in today’s Nigeria to come across highly motivated individuals and teams who are not only gifted, but also come complete with innovative business models. And what do these individuals and teams do? They devote all their man-hours and energies to the quest to develop the next best start-up, aimed at providing solutions to the numerous problems hindering our economy today.
4.And yet, due to lack of funding, most of these ventures and tech start-ups become discouraged and demotivated, often because they are unable to attract the investment needed to equip them for the work ahead. Many of these promising ventures are unable to move their activities to the next level, due to lack of investment. This is at the detriment of the individuals and ventures concerned – but even more so for the country.
5.This is why the FinTech Association of Nigeria is really to be commended for the initiative of convening this conference, to bridge the funding gap via technology between the innovators, regulators and government.
6.I would like to take this opportunity to call on all stakeholders to make haste in coming up with a legal framework that encourages the introduction of equity-based crowd-funding in this country. Equity-based crowd-funding inculcates a FinTech model that grossed over $30million in 2016 alone – and continues to create millions of jobs worldwide. That is an innovative train that should not pass us by. Moreover, the potential for job creation would go a long way in usefully engaging our unemployed youths, bringing greater prosperity and economic development. A legal and official status regarding crowd-funding is most desirable indeed; and would launch Nigeria onto a higher pedestal, in our pursuit of a robust FinTech-driven digital economy.
7.The larger world continues to witness a tremendous upsurge in FinTechs – and this points the direction as to where our country should be heading in this regard. Without doubt, the success of FinTechs and their chain of strategic responses have somewhat challenged the activities of major actors in the financial services industry. Unarguably, FinTechs have transformed the operational space of traditional innovation.
8.It is also important to note that while FinTechs have attracted global investment as high as $80 billion between 2010 and 2016, its adoption creates significant revenue generation opportunities for the economy.
9.It goes without saying, therefore, that we must do all in our power to encourage FinTech start-ups and the block-chain trend to cut across all sectors.
10.I am looking forward to interacting with the companies, innovators and entrepreneurs that are participating at this conference – to hear about your efforts and ideas for taking African-led FinTech solutions to the desired next level.
11.I thank the organisers once again for my invitation, and I wish you all a wonderful conference. Thank you for listening.
THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
