Lagos Tech Fest 2024 Spotlights African Tech Advancements with Mastercard as Platinum Sponsor
In a remarkable showcase of Nigeria’s burgeoning tech landscape, the Lagos Tech Fest, curated by Eventhive.ng, celebrated its highly anticipated 4th edition on February 15, 2024.
Regarded as Nigeria’s premier tech gathering, the forum brought together thousands of attendees, leading founders, and operators spanning diverse tech verticals to discuss critical developments in the African tech ecosystem and explore numerous opportunities within the Nigerian and African tech markets. This year’s event delved into discussions spanning AI & Workforce, Fintech & Banking, Crypto & Defi, Proptech, VC funding landscape, and the Creative economy.
Distinguished speakers included Folasade Femi-Lawal, Country Manager, West Africa, Mastercard; Tosin Faniro-Dada, Partner, Breega; Ashley Immanuel, Co-Founder/Chief Operating Officer; Oyin Solebo, Managing Director, ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator; Tolu Alabi, CEO, Cleva Banking; Tolulope A. Adeyinka, Fintech Business Development Lead, Mastercard, West Africa; Tobi Amira, SVP Business Loans, Moniepoint; Kehinde Ogundare, Country Manager, Nigeria, Zoho; Douglas Kendyson, Founder & CEO, Selar; Ebenezer Akinyemi, Head, Fintech Partnership & Ecosystem, Parallex Bank; Toba Obaniyi, General Manager, Turaco Nigeria, among others.
In her keynote speech, titled ‘Africa in Focus: Building the Fintech Ecosystem Beyond Borders’, Folasade Femi-Lawal, Country Manager, West Africa, Mastercard, provided insights into the African fintech landscape, underscoring the importance of unlocking opportunities across African borders through regulatory harmony, economic access, conducive business environments, and more.
“At Mastercard, we are committed to working with all stakeholders to develop borderless ecosystems that can foster enabling environments for fintechs to grow faster in terms of easily meeting demand and attracting capital into Africa. Our broader commitment involves fostering inclusive growth by connecting individuals and businesses to the digital economy, with a target to include one billion people into the digital economy and empower 50 million micro and small merchants by 2025, including 25 million women entrepreneurs,” said Folasade.
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She highlighted key strategies including connecting diverse populations, engaging with fintechs, developing locally relevant solutions, and initiating collaborations with key industry players.
During the fintech and banking session, themed ‘How Banks & Fintechs are Powering Seamless Payments and E-commerce in Nigeria’, Tolulope Adeyinka, Manager, Fintech Business Development, West Africa at Mastercard, emphasized the transformative opportunities in the fintech and e-commerce space. He provided strategic recommendations for adaptation, and shared insights on how Mastercard supports Nigeria’s digital payments and e-commerce sector through collaborations.
He said: “We believe that the evolving trends in fintech and e-commerce offer significant opportunities for banks, fintechs, and stakeholders to create value for customers and society. Mastercard is a global leader in digital payments and e-commerce, with a presence in over 210 countries and territories. We are committed to the industry as we continually leverage our global network and expertise to support the development of Nigeria’s digital payments and e-commerce sector in several ways, including innovations, collaborations, and different initiatives.”
The fourth edition of the Lagos Tech Fest had leading brands as partners including Mastercard, Zoho, Octa, Payaza, Moniepoint, Cleva, Flick, Acquity Partners, Yellowcard, Turaco, Furex, Platnova, Shortlets, Zap Technology and a host of others.
