Financial Inclusion Will Propel Nigeria’s Economic Growth, Says 9PSB CEO

The Chief Executive Officer, 9 Payment Service Bank (9PSB), Branka Mracajac, has said access to finance is key to drive growth and expansion that will enable Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), effectively grow and contribute to the economy.

Mracajac however said to provide the much needed access, there must be a concerted effort to provide SMEs with the means of creating the income they need to be financially included.

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 would be to achieve an inclusive society when it comes to access to financial services and products, which she added, could be achieved through digitization.

She said: “Statistics show that Nigeria, with 63 per cent, has the largest informal sector in Africa and micro, small, medium enterprises account for the majority of this. While 80 per cent of Nigeria’s employment comes from the informal sector; still about 36 per cent, which is about 38 million 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.”

Commending the contribution of the various industry stakeholders in driving value and impact in the payment service sector, the Chief Executive Officer, Intermarc Consulting and convener of the Digital PayExpo, Mr. Adeyinka Adeyemi, noted that the conference would create 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,” Adeyemi said.

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