PHOTO: Financial Technology Africa
In the colonial era and the period succeeding it, Africa was treated as a charity by the western powers. Africa was a dependency in deals, and not as a partner. This unbalanced relationship also means that the terms of exchange became unbalanced and unfair. Whilst money, finished products and advanced services flowed into Africa in ample quantities, natural resources serving as raw materials flowed out of the continent in much larger quantities and African leaders were powerless to negotiate, leading to a culture of dependency.
The twenty-first century world looks a little different. Whilst Africa still remains poor in comparison to the rich western countries, there is a significant shift in the dynamics. With increased development, self-awareness and access to technology and information, African leaders now have more to bargain with. Also, there is an increase in human capacity development within many African countries as more people become educa
Special report
In continuation of its series on Nigeria’s growing fintech sector, THISDAY highlights 20 more leading personalities in the sector. writes Obinna Chima
Bolaji Akinboro
Akinboro is the Chairman of the Board at Voriancorelli. Voriancorelli is a marketplace company that provides a platform to match buyers, sellers, commodity aggregators, logistics partners, financiers and food processors to ensure the economic wellbeing of all stakeholders. Akinboro is also the Co-Founder of Cellulant Nigeria Limited. According to the Chairman, Voriancorelli was designed to connect businesses with opportunities that would help them grow thereby solving the problem of market linkages.
Nonso Okpala
Okpala is the Group Managing Director/CEO at VFD Group Plc, a proprietary investment firm in Nigeria with interests in foreign exchange, debt investment, international remittance, real estate and payment businesses. Until recently, he was the CFO at Heirs Holdings, an African proprietary in
These are the top 10 rankings of the highest fundraisers for 2020.
Flutterwave
The startup provides digital payments infrastructure and services which enable global merchants, payment service providers, and pan-African banks to accept and process payments across various channels.
It raised a $35M Series-B round led by US venture capital firms Greycroft and eVentures in January 2020. The funding was invested in technology and business development to grow market share in the countries it operates in.
54gene
It raised $15M in a Series A funding
round in April 2020 led by Adjuvant Capital – a life sciences fund backed by the International Finance Corporation, Novartis, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.