By RARZACK OLAEGBE
To start and run a successful business is not easy. Ask a seasoned businessperson. You may have the experience of entrepreneurship, but market changes could derail your plans. The market could challenge your experience. Your wit could wither. Your thinking could shrink. Your market could disappear. But if you persist, you could strike gold. One day. Like Jason Njoku.
On the one hand
The fintech army has not given up. That is why the troop is marching forward despite the odds. If the fintech army had turned off the light, there would be no glory. It will be all gory. Gloomy.
On other hand
If the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) came after 2023, it could have failed. The recent banks’ network failure brouhaha would have ushered it in.
In the long term
The Covid-19 was the wind behind the fintech sail. Without the pandemic, I am not sure if fintech would have had any impact in 2020. You remember the scenario. Every household was in isolation. You could not step out. Yet you need to visit friends and family. The isolation policy was in force. You cannot visit the banking hall. Yet you need to make transactions. This case paved the way for online transactions. That was when fintech’s might was tested. And it passed the test.
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According to one of the players, that was when fintech came alive. Fintech shone. Even when the banks were lagging then, Fintech thrived. Then on January 2023, the CBN enforced the cashless policy. The cashless came to develop and modernise our payment system. To ensure it ranks among the top 20 economies by the year 2020 (Vision 2020).
The CBN said there was a high cost of cash along the value chain. It said everyone bears the high costs associated with volume of cash handling. The chief banker said the policy would lead to increased convenience. More service options. Cheaper access to (out-of-branch) banking services. But did the CBN have an inkling of how the policy would succeed? Or did the policy meet an efficient fintech system that helped to catapult it? Could the cashless policy have gained traction without fintech?
Well, the banks pushed the envelope. The banks did what they could. Mind you, the banks are not as agile as the fintech firms are. And there is no way the two entities can compete on the same pedestal. Rather they have to collaborate. That is what is happening. But in the cashless era, the fintech pushed the needle by offering instant and near-perfect service. During Covid, it was perfect. Then as the seamless service gained popularity, more Nigerians came on board. Therefore, the twain force of the banks and fintech gave the cashless velocity.
Chika Nwosu, managing director of Palmpay in a media report said we have a near-perfect system. That is because we have a transaction success rate of about 99.98%. ‘’I think that is almost a near-perfect transaction system. Fintech is all about technology. We can build a technology that can sustain a huge number of people doing transactions at the same time on the platform without it failing’’.
That is what fintech has done for the country. Had the fintech not attended the party, would the banks have dropped the ball? And the cashless policy would become a case of less cash. I would not know. Maybe you do.
In the short term
This is the best time to start any business. Especially fintech.
*Olaegbe ([email protected])
