‘Nigerian fintech space can still accommodate more players’

The Chief Executive Officer of QorePay, Josh Owoseni, in an interview with ADEYEMI ADEPETUN, speaks on the role of fintech companies in driving financial inclusion, while noting that despite the crowded ecosystem in Nigeria, there is still room for more players.

How will you describe Nigeria’s fintech ecosystem?
From the United States of America, where QorePay is coming from, the fintech industry is growing fast and contributing to the growth of the U.S. economy. In Nigeria, it is the same thing, as there are over a million fintech companies developing solutions for businesses and contributing to Nigeria’s GDP growth. Although the fintech industry is crowded, it is still open to accommodate more fintech operators because the market is vibrant and has not attained its full capacity.

Fintechs are crucial to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) financial inclusion drive. How has the adoption of fintech fared?
Fintechs are very important to the CBN’s inclusion drive because they have a distinctive role they play. They can reach the underserved and serve the unserved through various innovations they bring out. Fintechs and we understand the importance of data security in the financial service industry. We are therefore keen on simplifying the payment system in Nigeria and ensuring that customers’ money is always safe. We carry out end-to-end data encryption by using the industry-standard protocol to ensure that all data stored and transmitted on our platform, are confidential, and inaccessible to unauthorised persons, by way of ensuring high-level security.

We can flag down fraudulent activities before they occur. We also leverage compliance solutions to adhere to data security and protection and ensure that these are maintained always. We constantly explore the environment, audit it and provide adequate solutions for businesses operating therein.

As a Fintech player, how compliant are you with CBN regulatory sandboxes?
We believe regulation and compliance are key to driving transformation. So, QorePay is highly compliant with all regulations around the payment system in Nigeria and we are in partnership with players within the payment ecosystem to ensure full regulatory compliance. We are currently integrating with financial institutions to expand our customer-based solution. QorePay is not working outside of the CBN regulation on payment transactions, as we follow due diligence and processes that are required for us to be able to transact businesses in the country.

We are a payment gateway that helps businesses collect payments. We do not operate a virtual wallet system that does B2B. While other Fintech companies operate the peer-to-peer system by sending money from one location to another, QorePay is focused on using its payment gateway to help businesses collect and process money most transparently.

In tackling breaches, driving digital transformation, the adoption of emerging technologies has become critical. Has Nigeria started playing well in this space?
Nigeria is adopting emerging technologies at a very fast rate, which for us, is commendable. I was opportune to attend the CEO’s Forum in Nigeria, and the focus was about encouraging more Nigerians to adopt and implement new technologies, especially emerging ones. Businesses on their own are keen at digitising businesses at all levels, with bigger plans to digitise the entire Nigerian economy. These are evident with the high penetration of broadband Internet and mobile devices in the Nigerian market.
How will your solution key into the Federal Government’s plan for job creation for Nigerian youths?
The focus of most businesses like QorePay, is to leverage technology to provide solutions that will create jobs in line with the Federal Government’s initiative to boost job creation among Nigerian youths. It is a task we believe must be achieved for economic growth.

The Fintech sub-sector as stated is saturated, what are your solutions targeted to achieve differently?  
As a fintech company, our focus is to revolutionise the payment process for businesses in Nigeria. We have cutting-edge technology we are bringing to the market and our approach to the payment market space is unique, which distinguishes QorePay from other payment solution companies. Our payment solution is built around simplicity, and convenience, with a focus on advanced technology and security. We have a unique dashboard that is data-driven and allows for data analytics, driven by strong insights into businesses. As a Fintech company, we are committed to supporting the financial inclusion drive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enhance financial capability among businesses.

The launch of our payment gateway solution in Nigeria a few weeks ago, was meant to address the observed challenges in the Nigerian payment space. The existing payment systems in Nigeria are cumbersome and time-consuming, and they are quite expensive for businesses, especially for small businesses in the country. So, our solution was designed to address these identified challenges most seamlessly. Our solution is highly secure and affordable for businesses. Given the growing market for mobile phone devices in Nigeria, our solution is highly simplified for making and collecting payments.

Financial leakages persist within organisations, which tend to run businesses out of the market. How secure is your platform?
QOREPAY solutions are designed to protect small and large enterprises from financial leakages in the system, irrespective of whether the business has a website or not. To address financial leakages in organisations, we designed an easy-to-use dashboard that businesses can leverage to enhance transparency in all financial transactions carried out on the platform. On the dashboard, there is a payment link that clearly defines recurrent, invoicing solutions, including an Application Programming Interface (API) solution that allows for easy payments.

The fact is that the Nigerian payment market is crowded, but our solution distinguishes us from the others in the market, because our solution is easy to use by businesses of all sizes. Again, the solution is very affordable, and our customer care support is live 24/7.

Blockchain technology and AI are fast gaining traction. Have you paid attention to the trend?
Blockchain technology and AI are fully embedded into the solution that we are bringing into the Nigerian payment space. Blockchain technology leverages algorithms and addresses issues of fraud. For any financial organisation, fraud detection is one key area it must pay attention to. So, our solution ensures data security. With the embedded Blockchain technology, fraud can be easily detected early enough to prevent it from happening. Again, we update the Blockchain technology to understand new patterns of fraud in the system. So, our Blockchain technology is a fraud detection solution and a fraud prevention solution, while the AI is used for monitoring and detecting fraud at any level.

Have you considered expansion plans to other states and African countries?
Yes, we have launched our solution in Nigeria, Lagos precisely, but we are not stopping there, because we have plans to expand beyond Lagos and into other African countries where our solution will be of great importance to businesses in the region. Our goal is to support over 50,000 businesses across Nigeria within the next year, which would be expanded to other African cities.