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Michael Femi Simeon, CEO of VoguePay, the leading online payment gateway in Nigeria, has been named Payment Personality Leader of the year at African Prize for Leadership Awards.
The award, supported by Forbes Africa and NEPAD, celebrates national icons with proven track records in business, governance and social advocacy.
While thanking the organizers for the recognition, Michael used the occasion to express gratitude to more than 85,000 global businesses using VoguePay to accept payment as their continued patronage enabled the startup to become the fastest growing fintech company from West Africa that has not raised external capital.
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Michael remarked that the entry of VoguePay into the payment landscape in 2012 was the beginning of the fintech revolution in Nigeria as more than 17,000 SMEs took their business online for the first time, at no cost.
The company continued to innovate by building new payment processing capabilities that enabled small businesses to accept payment globally and become global companies without the associated cost.
Michael challenged both fintech startups and banks to collaborate with each other, not to see the other as threat, stating that this will unlock value for millennial. He hinted that the company is due to launch its digital financial services platform in collaboration with partner banks by Q1, 2019.
Michael also solicited the support of government to provide regulations that encourage innovation.
As he pointed out, proactive regulations that encourage innovations like open banking and sandbox program will enable fintechs to launch bank-grade financial products that can position Nigeria’s financial services sector to global significance.
In his final remarks, Michael added that the most exciting part of his job is working with an amazing team of talented co-founders and staff across the company’s offices in United Kingdom, Nigeria and Estonia.
