Interswitch makes case for 50% unbanked Nigerians, celebrates 20th anniversary

Payment platform, Interswitch has called for concerted efforts that are specifically targeted at bringing the over 50 per cent unbanked or underbanked Nigerians out of the trenches.

While celebrating the 20th anniversary of Interswitch in Lagos at the weekend, the Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer, Mitchell Elegbe, who called for the more strategies at bridging financial inclusion gap in Nigeria, added that 85 per cent of transactions in sub-Saharan African still occur in cash.

He opined that “today, technology is at the forefront of society and will continue to play a significant role in how we work and live. Nigeria is fast becoming the tech-capital of Africa, with one of the fastest growing tech markets in the world. Interswitch has always been focused on the bigger picture, with the understanding that “going it alone” is not the answer, and that we do better by working together.

“Building a profitable, thriving business has been important, but in order to achieve our purpose of Inspiring Africa to Greatness, we had to play our part in providing an enabling environment for the holistic ecosystem to thrive.”

Elegbe said over the next six months, the company intends to progressively unveil a line-up of brand campaigns, commemorative events and thought-leadership initiatives centered around this significant corporate milestone on a Pan-African level.

To herald its 20th anniversary commemoration, Interswitch has launched a new brand campaign to project its positioning as a pioneering and integral enabler that has not only actively supported the growth and development of fintech and payments across Africa over the last 20 years, but also to amplify the brand’s progressive outlook as a frontier-driving company which keeps pushing boundaries and facilitating the creation of new ecosystems that help businesses and individuals scale and thrive, in line with its purpose of inspiring Africa to greatness through innovation, value-creation and excellence.

According to the founder, the foundation upon which Interswitch’s two flagship products, Quickteller and Verve, were created – born from the over-arching mission to solve problems and focused on delivering comprehensive solutions for individuals to make everyday payments, to help connect and simplify the lives of our consumers across the continent.

Capturing the essence of Interswitch’s new ‘Never Stop’ campaign, the company’s Executive Vice-President for Group Marketing and Communications, Cherry Eromosele, stated that “Anniversaries not only give the chance to celebrate how far we’ve come in our journey, but also provide the opportunity to stop, reflect and launch out again with fresh passion, a renewed zeal and a clearer vision. This is what underpins the philosophy that has given rise to #Never Stop. As we look ahead, we see enormous potential for future growth and the furthering of our vision. The outlook is rapidly evolving; At Interswitch, we also see the application of digital payments as being sector-agnostic and, with the increasing adoption of technology and digital payments across Nigeria and Africa, opportunities to broaden the fintech/payments landscape continue to present themselves.”