Dr. Akinwumi Adesina is the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB)

Africa Fintech Festival (AFF), which is fast becoming a global brand, starts today in Lagos.

The Guardian gathered that the National Fintech Conference, rebranded as AFF, has recorded a lot of successes, breaking new frontiers in technological and financial spheres in Nigeria and beyond.

Organised by Fintech Associates Ltd, Fintech Association of Nigeria (FintechNGR) and FintechStage, with support from Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), the ecosystem event is billed to be a think-tank in the advancement of African indigenous technological innovations and initiatives aimed at solving peculiar African challenges with home-grown solutions.

The first edition of the conference in Nigeria in 2016 led to the formation of FintechNGR as a response to the need to foster collaboration among sectoral components to enhance transactional, regulatory and beneficial policy framework to drive innovation rather than stifling it.

The second edition held in January 24, 2018 focused on engendering cross-border collaboration, policy aggregation and promotion of indigenous solutions as exportable goods across the continent, which led to the establishment of Africa Fintech Network (AFN), a conglomerate of national Fintech associations from across Africa working towards the creation of ‘one-market’ Fintech platform for the continent.

President of Africa Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who is a strategic partner with FintechNGR, will deliver a remark to open the conference.

Global brands that have bought into the festival include Qatar Development Bank, Bank of Industry, African Export–Import Bank, EcoBank, Access Bank, Fidelity Bank, EFInA, Inlaks, Soft Alliance and Resources Limited, Visa, Microsoft and Oracle.

They are participating and showcasing their creative and market enhancing products and services.

Notable partner agencies include the International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA or ECA) and the Department for International Development (DFID), which has affirmed its commitment to host the inaugural meeting of the newly created UK-Africa Fintech Investment Group, co-chaired by the Lord Mayor of London and Prime Minister Ambassador for Fintech as part of Fintech festival events.

Attendees representing over 20 African countries will also participate in the inauguration of AFN and announcement of its collaborations with ASEAN Fintech Networks and Middle East North Africa (MENA) Fintech Association. All these will form part of the highlights of the event.

According to a statement from the organisers, the time is now to put Nigeria and indeed Africa on the global map in the areas of technology: robotics, artificial intelligence, trans-border trade, human capacity building etc.