Lagos, Nigeria, June 10, 2022- For SMEs to effectively grow and contribute to the economy, access to finance is key to drive economic growth and expansion. And to provide this much needed access, there must be a concerted effort to provide them with the means of creating the income they need to be financially included.

The Chief Executive Officer, 9 Payment Service Bank (9PSB), Branka Mracajac, made this known while addressing delegates and participants at the opening of the 22nd edition of the Digital PayExpo Conference and Exhibition, themed: DeFi Africa: Beyond Hype, Understanding Use Cases for the Continent.

Speaking on the topic, “Financial Inclusion and The Prospect for Banking the Unbanked,” Mracajac noted that the foundation for economic growth of countries and for the prosperity of the citizens of any nation is to achieve an inclusive society when it comes to access to financial services and products, and this can be achieved through digitization.

She said, “Statistics show that Nigeria – with 63% – has the largest informal sector in Africa and micro, small, medium enterprises account for the majority of this. While 80% of Nigeria’s employment comes from this informal sector; still about 36% (or 38m) of Nigerian adults remain financially excluded. Much as this shows some improvements from the figures of 2018, it still leaves much to be covered to achieve the National Financial Inclusion Strategy targets.”

Citing financial literacy and industry collaboration as fundamental factors to driving economic values and closing the inclusion gap, she noted that across the world, the most challenging countries to drive financial inclusion are countries where there is motivation to be included in the ecosystem. She said, “What that means is that the people are not thinking about joining the financial or formal economic segment as they have no need to either apply for a mortgage or for a loan to buy a car. We need to change the game for the needle to move in the drive to include every Nigerian financially.”

According to Mracajac, strategic collaboration among stakeholders is pivotal to delivering the Central Bank of Nigeria’s vision for inclusion and moving the Nigerian economy from cash-based to cashless, stating: “As much as we are a bank focusing on our social objective to close financial exclusion gap in Nigeria, driven by simple and accessible technology, we are also creating innovative solutions in order to offer banking to Fintechs and other players in the market who need the services to provide seamless customer experience.”

Commending the contribution of the various industry stakeholders in driving value and impact in the payment service sector, Mr. Adeyinka Adeyemi, the Chief Executive Officer, Intermarc Consulting and convener of the Digital PayExpo, noted that the conference is an opportunity to assess the successes made so far by stakeholders in accelerating financial inclusion and project the future of the industry.

“We are seeing the impacts that the banks, PSBs, Fintechs are making in driving traction to bring onboard into the financial ecosystem, people at the bottom of the pyramid who lack access to finance. However, because the market is ever-changing and technology is dynamic, there is a need to prospect what is next and how we can change the current narrative,” he remarked.

The two-day event brought together a group of DeFi innovators and change-makers from across Africa to share their stories, knowledgeand insights into Decentralized Finance from different angles of interest and use cases, including the practical gaps and challenges to implementation on the African continent.