According to data from the World Bank, there are 4.45 commercial bank branches per 100,000 people in developing markets like Nigeria compared to the global average of 11.7 branches. This makes agency business banking a crucial alternative distribution strategy for underbanked and financially-underserved communities. But what does it take to scale localized financial services? 

Eniolorunda shared how Moniepoint leveraged technology to help informal businesses grow and reach more customers. Moniepoint has gained significant traction in Nigeria starting off as the largest agency banking network in two years to now growing into one powering the success of merchants in running their businesses and servicing over 10 million customers.

According to him, the informal market had been ignored for too long; and the lack of attention presented an opportunity for TeamApt to build an offline payments system to address the financial inclusion gap.

“In doing this, we learnt that the informal markets are not trusting. So we built solutions which made settlement instant and they had no reason to doubt,” he says. “Every tech solution for the market must also be mobile-first, particularly in the design of user experience. This is because more than 80% of those that would be accessing your tech solution will be through mobile and Android phones.”

Furthermore, mobile devices are enabling commerce in the informal sector on a big scale as Africa is experiencing high smartphone and internet penetration in recent years. This presents a huge opportunity to drive mobile growth through apps and user-friendly web pages. As the informal sector grows, it’s expected that trust in using tech-enabled solutions will also grow.

For Eniolorunda, data consumption of the solution and a face-to-face customer support system are key to its high rate of adoption. He believes a solution built for the informal market must be optimized for low-data scenarios, and also where there is some level and element of direct human contact for the market to react well to solutions built for them.

Innovation is emerging in new ways as fintech startups address the needs of the informal sector with last-mile solutions in payment collections, agency banking networks, and mobile money. There is also the rise of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services and mobile money operators adding credit facilities to better serve the market to scale. TeamApt’s work is focused on creating access to credit for informal businesses that enable them to scale, leveraging its tech, reach and resources. 

Nigeria’s informal entrepreneurs are resilient and flexible enough to make business success with digital solutions, as Tosin Eniolorunda stated to complement insights from the session of Tobi Amira, TeamApt’s VP of Business Loans. 

“This goes to show that if the infrastructural challenges are resolved for the informal sector with all the financial solutions and assistance they need to keep their businesses running, expanding and protected, they would certainly thrive.”

With over 400,000 businesses onboarded on TeamApt’s Moniepoint platform and a wealth of lessons drawn from them, Eniolorunda believes the journey ahead is a long one as the level of progress so far is just scratching the surface. “In the end, we all have the opportunity to create solutions to serve our different markets and to achieve our dreams and goals,” he says.

The 2022 Future of Commerce was organized to focus on Africa’s informal economy. As the informal sector is strengthening economic activity in Africa, experts and key players expect its digitisation to truly contribute to the future of commerce on the continent, as fintechs are also key to its large-scale growth.

You can watch and catch up on the 2022 Future of Commerce here.

In its latest annual State of the Industry report, the Global Telecoms Manufacturers Association (GSMA) reveals that in sub-Saharan Africa, $697.7bn (+40% YoY growth) was processed through mobile payment solutions. The region also accounts for nearly 70% of the total amount of global transactions(1$ trillion) recorded during the past year, far ahead of South Asia ($156.3bn).

More data from the GSMA’s report announced that there are already more than 184 million active mobile money wallets, up from 161 million accounts just over a year ago, in Africa. 

Africa has become a forerunner and a significant driver in the mobile money market.   

The mobile money sector, in particular, played a significant role in 2021 in assisting small businesses to operate more effectively and enhance the consumer experience. Due to the rapid digitization of payments, both businesses and consumers can now access more goods and services, improve their financial sustainability, and create new business prospects.

In the coming years, the GSMA projects a significant growth in both long-established mobile money markets and markets where mobile money services are still nascent, especially in South Asia and African countries such as Nigeria, Ethiopia and Angola.

For instance, in 2021, Ethiopia saw the launch of a mobile network operator (MNO)-led mobile money service, and the Central Bank of Nigeria granted  Approval in Principle to leading MNOs to run mobile money services in the country.

In the span of a decade, the number of mobile money providers has almost doubled and their reach has grown dramatically. In 2012, most services (83%) had fewer than 100,000 active accounts and only four (2%) had more than a million active users. By 2021, this number had grown to 67 services (22%) and the landscape was much more complex, with services of all sizes.

Despite the huge success of mobile money services in many African countries, the sustainability of mobile money services remains stifled by certain policy and regulatory interventions, such as transaction taxes, poorly implemented instant payment solutions, and expensive data localization mandates. 

Also, the high cost of compliance in the industry is shared by both the mobile money providers and the customers, which may negatively affect future investments in, and customer usage of, mobile money services.

In a recent report from The Africa Report, Ghana’s parliament adopted a 1.75% tax called ‘e-levy’, which targets all types of transactions above 100 cedis (about $13), at the end of March. Additionally, the government of Cameroon introduced a 0.2% tax on money transfers and withdrawals from mobile money solutions, earlier this year. Both levies have not been well received by mobile money users.

This, among other events, shows that to ensure the continued success of mobile money services, cooperation between decision-makers, regulators, and industry leaders is critical.

On the 23rd of September, TechCabal will be hosting the Future of Commerce conference to discuss the various trends that have shaped the mobile money market in Africa and how they will drive the growth of commerce in Africa. This conference will feature industry experts including Nika Naghavi, executive director (MNOs) at MFS Africa, Fawzia Ali-Kimanthi, acting chief consumer business officer at Safaricom and Esigie Aguele, co-founder and CEO of VeirfyMe Nigeria.

The Future of Commerce 2022 is brought to you by TechCabal in partnership with Moniepoint by TeamApt and is sponsored by dLocal, KasuwaGo, and QoreID, with Wimbart as a media partner. Register here to attend the conference.

This is why in the 2022 edition of TechCabal’s #FutureofCommerce conference, which will hold on September 23, we’ll be having a session on how social media is shaping commerce. This session is tagged “How is social media shaping commerce?” 

In sub-Saharan Africa, 90% of retail reportedly takes place through informal channels. When you scale this down to e-commerce, at least 32% of this takes place over platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. According to the Q1 2022 Social Commerce Survey, the social commerce industry in Africa and the Middle East is expected to grow by 70.3% annually to reach US$8 Billion in 2022.

This session on social commerce is centred on how the entry of social commerce platforms is redefining what social commerce is and what this could potentially mean for the future. We’ll examine the factors that have contributed to the success of social commerce today and discuss how these platforms are evolving. The session will also explore social commerce platforms impact the existence of established e-commerce players and even services like storefronts and how they will evolve in the near future.

Speakers on this panel will discuss the challenges that continue to limit the scale of social commerce services and the gains and depth of opportunity that exist for new and existing players.

Confirmed speakers for this session are Joshua Chibueze, co-founder/CMO of Piggyvest; Brian Mogeni, co-founder and CEO of Wowzi; and Kelvin Umechukwu, co-founder and CEO of Bumpa. The session will be moderated by Timi Odueso, staff reporter at TechCabal.

The Future of Commerce 2022 is brought to you by TechCabal in partnership with Moniepoint by TeamApt and is sponsored by dLocal, KasuwaGo, and QoreID, with Wimbart as a media partner. Register here to attend the conference.

There will be a panel discussion on buy-now-pay-later services, titled “Is Buy-Now-Pay-Later the Future of Retail?” In a continent plagued with inflation, people want to be able to afford the things they want, even if they can’t afford them. Buy-Now-Pay-Later services offer people that opportunity.

With companies like Carbon launching BNPL products like Carbon Zero in 2021, to full-fledged BNPL startups launching like Lipa Later and CredPal raising $12m and $15m in 2022, to Australia’s Zip acquiring South Africa’s Payflex in 2021, there are a few pointers to the fact that the BNPL opportunity in Africa is growing. The panel will discuss its long-term scalability, risks, and how it impacts consumers in the long term.

This session will explore critical concerns like whether the current model of BNPL in Africa is viable, profitable (for businesses), and sustainable (for businesses and consumers) in the long term, and if not, what an ideal model for BNPL in Africa would look like.

Speakers will examine the risks associated with the current BNPL model, like how the emergence of predatory lending practices in the digital lending space could apply to the BNPL industry.

The confirmed speakers on this panel are Chijioke Dozie, co-founder and CEO of Carbon, Nairobi-based Tsakane Ngoepe, the Director of Strategic Finance at M-KOPA; and Eric Muli, Founder and Group CEO of LipaLater. The session will be moderated by Solape Akinpelu, CEO of HerVest.

The Future of Commerce 2022 is brought to you by TechCabal in partnership with Moniepoint by TeamApt and is sponsored by dLocal, KasuwaGo, and QoreID, with Wimbart as a media partner. Register here to attend the conference.

The event, tagged the #FutureOfCommerce2021 will happen this Friday, the 24th of September, is a high-production event that will enable registered stakeholders to learn the shifts in the industry and customer behaviour, and how they can better prepare to take advantage of the rising tide whether as organizations or individuals.

As part of the sessions, TechCabal will also organize two strategic workshops —  a partnership pitch session where startups can pitch to corporate organizations for potential partnerships, and an investment pitch session where startups can pitch to potential investors. The African Business Angel Network (ABAN), a pan African non-profit association founded to support the development of early-stage investor networks across Africa will partner with TechCabal on the investment pitch session.

Tomi Davies, President of ABAN will be part of the judging panel for the session.

Tomi Davies is an ICT expert with a background in technology management for FTSE 100 level companies in the UK, US, and Africa. He directs and advises a broad range of organisations globally, writes and blogs (occasionally) while maintaining a significant network of connections across most of the major social media platforms.

He is a regular public speaker and mentors a broad range of individuals. A Systems Analyst turned Tech Strategy Advisor, Public Speaker, and Angel Investor, Davies is Collaborator-in-Chief at TechnoVision, co-founder of the Lagos Angel Network (LAN), and President of ABAN.

The Future of Commerce will look at how global events like the COVID-19 pandemic have shaped consumer behaviour, and how businesses can apply their models to these changes.

Speaking about the event, Olanrewaju Odunowo, Head of TechCabal Insights said, “The COVID-19 pandemic changed the face of commerce. Not only did businesses have to adjust their processes and systems, but consumers also changed their shopping habits as well. More than 84% of consumers have shopped online since the pandemic. We saw businesses introduce things like contactless payments and curbside deliveries.

“Although the worst of the pandemic is over – thankfully there are now vaccines – the question for most businesses is what next? What will the next few years look like for commerce? Will the trends we’re seeing remain the same? Will there be any significant changes? There are talks of new variants etc; how should businesses prepare? These are the questions we plan to answer at the conference.”

Confirmed speakers at the event include Shola Akinlade, CEO of Paystack; Ray Youssef, CEO of Paxful; Nakampe Molewa, General Manager (Sub-Saharan Africa), Uber Eats; Nkebet Mesele, Senior Director (Solutions Management), Visa Sub-Saharan Africa; Tayo Oviosu, Founder and CEO of Paga, and many others.

The Future of Commerce is brought to you in partnership with DAI Magister and Paystack and is sponsored by Doroki, Chipper Cash, Klasha, VerifyMe and GIG Logistics.

The event is free to attend, and potential attendees can sign up here.