Lagos: Nigeria’s Silicon Valley
Understanding the country’s booming fintech sector
In the next few decades, I believe that the economic sphere of influence will start to shift from Europe & North America to Asia & Africa. The African continent is projected to see its population reach 2.5 billion by 2050. Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, is forecasted to grow to 800 million by 2100. This population growth is attracting investment from across the globe in an emerging market like Nigeria. The Nigerian tech industry has flourished over the last decade around a new culture of entrepreneurship and the collective desire to transform how millions of Nigerians live in the digital age.
The most prominent opportunities have been in the financial services sector where fintech startups are leapfrogging traditional banking operations by providing digitally native products and services. Given that a large percentage of Nigerians remain unbanked, there is huge potential for companies like Flutterwave, Paystack, and Interswitch to accelerate the digitization of payments in Nigeria and across the continent. This enables fintech companies to provide easier access to banking services and more convenience for the 36% of Nigerian adults that are currently financially excluded.
