Experts have identified financial technology as a key tool that have solved the challenges with payments experienced by e-commerce businesses.
The experts, who spoke during the Second Edition of BizWatch Nigeria Webinar Series held on Wednesday, noted that innovations in fintech offer online shoppers seamless payments and convenience.
The Chief Executive Officer, One Kiosk Africa, Adeshina Adewumi, and the Group Head, Pay Attitude, Regha Onajite, spoke on emerging trends and the future of the collaboration between fintech firms and e-commerce platforms.
The event was moderated by the Managing Editor of BizWatch Nigeria, David Oputah.
Addressing the theme, ‘Fintech: A Silverbullet for Nigeria’s E-commerce Growth?’, Adewunmi said the emergence of e-commerce platforms in Nigeria created room for fintech firms to grow and innovate.
He added that fintech growth had significantly opened up opportunities for e-commerce platforms to overcome payment challenges.
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One Kiosk Africa boss noted that many small businesses in Nigeria are still not captured in the emerging innovations in the shopping and payment ecosystem.
He said, “A lot of micro and small businesses are left out both in the ecommerce and fintech spaces with fintechs struggling just to serve the middle-class and a group of people who are far above the micro, small and informal businesses.
“The money in the e-commerce space lies in the small, micro and informal businesses who occupy over 400 million capacity is yet to be tapped.”
According to Adewunmi, any e-commerce business that wants to thrive should not offer pay on delivery due to hassles involved, which could easily be resolved by using different payment options such as USSD, web payment, money transfer and Internet banking.
He estimated that in the future, three million jobs will be created in Nigeria through e-commerce and that fintech and e-commerce business will merge on a single platform.
Onajite in her presentation, noted that the fintech companies were shaping e-commerce businesses through mobile wallet and apps, progressive web apps, and product customisation.
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She also identified four key success factors for fintech firms in Nigeria, which include strategic partnerships between brands, product and technology innovation, lower barriers to service and physical digital mix.
“Financial technology brings transparency into the system but we still need discipline from the political elites,” she said.
According to her, fintech companies have been able to thrive in Nigeria because they are able to collaborate with key distributors, client access and funding partners.
Earlier in his remarks, Oputah said the speakers will examine the complementary nature of fintech and e-commerce businesses, especially in the face of the need for contactless payment and enhanced customer service.
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