Africa Fintech Start-up Growth: Nigeria Dominates in ‘Big Three’ Markets
According to the findings of the latest study by Disrupt Africa, the number of fintech start-ups based on the African continent grew to 576 in 2021. This figure represents a 17.3% jump from the 491 start-ups that were operating on the continent in 2019. Overall, the number of fintech start-ups in Africa has increased around 90% from the 2017 figure of 301. Nigerian Dominance Leading the charge in this continuing African fintech growth is the West Africa region where “Nigerian figures were up 42.6 percent on 2019.” In Ghana, fintech companies grew by 25% over the same period....
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Nigeria is set to become Africa’s FinTech hub after experiencing a boost in mobile money operations last year that has helped catapult the country to the forefront of media attention as it demonstrates its advancements in the sector. According to a report from Finextra, in 2011 mobile money operations in Nigeria grew from an average monthly transaction value of $5 million to $142.8 million in 2016. A key factor to this growth is down to the fact that Nigeria is experiencing a growing population. UN estimations predict that the population in Nigeria is expected to be greater than that in....
A new report from KPMG, a global network of professional firms providing tax, audit, and advisory services, has revealed that investment in Nigerian FinTech companies over the last two years has exceeded more than $200 million. The report, “FinTech in Nigeria – Understanding the Value Proposition” [PDF], states that the past three years have been formative for the sector in Nigeria, which has seen the emergence of many startups, incubators, and investments. While putting the report together, KPMG engaged with 56 FinTech companies and seven incubators and accelerators in the country. Of the....
According to the findings of a study by Afriwise, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa have the most developed fintech ecosystems on the continent. The study points to early regulation as one of the reasons for the industry’s success in these countries.
Regulated Fintech Ecosystems Attract Investors
Explaining the key role that regulation has played in the growth of the fintech sector in these three countries, the study states:
The connection between regulations and a flourishing fintech sector is an important one. It is no coincidence that investors and businesses in....
BitX has launched services in Nigeria, a move that will enable local users to access the company's bitcoin wallet, exchange and API services. The announcement comes roughly six months after the emerging markets-focused bitcoin services provider launched in Indonesia. Both countries had been on BitX's list of planned markets since April 2014. BitX CEO Marcus Swanepoel expressed his optimism that Nigeria would soon become one of the company's leading markets due to its "fast-growing" and "highly entrepreneurial economy". Swanepoel said: "We've been inundated with requests for bitcoin....
Werner van Rooyen, head of Business Development and Growth at Bitx, one of Africa’s biggest Bitcoin exchanges, spoke to CoinTelegraph about the problems and potential of Bitcoin in Africa. CoinTelegraph: Bitcoin use in Africa has improved in the last couple of years. What has really changed? Werner van Rooyen: Bitcoin, as measured in the amount of transactions per day, is steadily rising in Africa as it is in the rest of the world. Trading between local currencies and Bitcoin is higher today than it had been a few years back and there’s a big increase in Bitcoin awareness and discussion,....