NAIROBI, Feb. 12– Technology experts met in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, on Wednesday to discuss ways to accelerate the adoption of financial technology (fintech) solutions that will ease cross-border trade across Africa.
The three-day Africa Tech Summit has brought together more than 100 fintech industry leaders, policymakers, innovators, startups and regulators to support intra-Africa commerce.
Philip Thigo, Kenyan special envoy on technology, said that one of the biggest barriers to intra-Africa trade is the cost and speed of settling financial transactions.
“Fintech platforms remove intermediaries making trade between African countries more viable,” Thigo said.
He urged the continent to leverage financial digital innovations that enable unbanked entrepreneurs to engage in international trade.
Vincent Ochieng, chief executive officer (CEO) of Yogupay, a pan-African fintech, observed that most intra-Africa trade is conducted in foreign currency such as the U.S. dollars which exposes traders to volatile foreign exchange markets.
Ochieng added that innovators have now developed fintech products that allow payments of goods and services across borders in local currencies.
Timilehin Kayode, CEO of Nigeria-based Neona Synergy fintech company, added that a major constraint of pan-African trade is lack of interoperability of mobile money networks across borders.
He observed that through fintech, Africa can harmonize the continent’s fragmented financial systems.
