Chief Regulatory Officer (CRA), Flutterwave, Olubankole Falade, said the fintech company has broken barriers to sales and business growth for grassroots small businesses in Nigeria.

Falade said this at the second Economic Update themed “Multisectoral Impact of Emerging Technologies and Best Options for their Adoption”, organised in partnership between the American Business Council of Nigeria (ABC) and Lagos Business School.

Panelists at the event were the Chief Regulatory Affairs and Government Relations Officer of Flutterwave, Olubankole Falade; Group Software Channel and Distribution Business Lead West Africa, IBM, Solomon Omorodion; Country Executive for INTEL West Africa, Rita Amuchienwa; Vice President of Financial Markets AFEX, Oluwafunto Olasemo, and the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, represented by Dr. Falilat Jimoh.

During the panel discussion, the moderator, Associate dean of the Lagos Business School, Prof. Olayinka David-West, shared concerns around the accessibility of emerging technologies in Nigeria at the grassroots.

Falade noted that with Flutterwave’s technology, there are zero barriers to sales and business growth for grassroots small businesses in Nigeria.

“We have proprietary API technology that allows individuals to pay businesses through various modes of payments including cards, mobile money, QR, depending on what markets and payment methods are acceptable in that market. For example, with Flutterwave, my elder brother in the US can pay for shoes from a vendor in Lagos and have them delivered to our mother in Abeokuta, Ogun State,” he added.

Responding, Amuchienwa who shared Intel’s work with the World Bank, partnering with Zinox to upskill communities and provide tools for digital transformation, said: “The Intel Skills for Innovation Initiative empowers decision makers and educators in adopting technology to create innovative learning experiences that actively engage students in all learning environments virtual, at school, or blended.”

Olasemo spoke on financial inclusion for rural farmers, stating the need for financial institutions to understand the needs of rural farmers. She focused on AFEX’s effort to have available, accessible data that can be interpreted easily to make important decisions for farmers and investors.

Dr. Jimoh emphasized the need for the private sector to respond positively to invitations from the government for collaboration.

“For emerging technologies to succeed, the right environment needs to be created and both private and public contributions need to be made,” she said.

Omorodion spoke on how IBM uses emerging technologies to solve problems such as post-harvest food loss in Africa. He stated that the cloud-based solution gives visibility to the food supply chain by capturing data at every stage, such that a buyer knows the production date of the food purchased.