The mobile money economy will dominate the financial space within the coming three years. This is the submission of the CEO of Space Universe, Olatunji Idowu.
Idowu made the statement during a discuss organised by Techuncode in partnership with Space Universe. The discuss is one of the many hub activations to usher in the forthcoming Ehingbeti 2022.
The hub activation, in line with the forthcoming Ehingbeti 2022, began on the 1st of September with Space Universe Africa Hub. During the session, questions were directed around the theme, “The Role Of Technology in sustainable socio-economic growth”.
Hosted by Biyi Akangbe, the session featured notable and seasoned speakers including Chike Opara, product designer and Medical Doctor at Healthtracka; Sam Ayo, AI engineer, Software engineering Lead, RadioAdSpread and Olatunji Idowu, CEO, Space Universe.
The discuss noted that to achieve sustainable socio-economic growth in Lagos state, a lot of sectors in the state need to be looked at.
Sectors ranging from healthcare, finance, retail, technology and e-commerce were dissected by the discussants.
When asked about the current health sector in Lagos state and the changes that had occurred since the Covid-19 pandemic, Chike Okpara, one of the notable speakers, lamented that the Nigerian health sector sadly remains stagnant, with little or no improvements recorded.
Chike Opara, product designer and Medical Doctor at Healthtracka
But he, however, believed that more people are more willing to use technology to access and deliver healthcare, despite the lack of this trend in terms of capacities.
According to him, the biggest challenge of the healthcare sector in Nigeria is Health finance.
Only about 8% of Nigerians have HMO and this is because they work for the few companies that grant that access.
He called on the government to provide better access to health financing and better infrastructures.
Similarly, he urged the general public to maintain their health on monthly basis. He equally urged them to budget some funds from their monthly income to cater for their monthly healthcare.
Also speaking, Software engineering Lead at RadioAdSpread, Sam Ayo, shared insight on the need for public-private partnership in digitalization of the Nigerian health sector.
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Sam Ayo, AI engineer, Software engineering Lead, RadioAdSpread
Equally speaking on the retail sector, Mr Ayo said that the retail sector is one of the fast-growing industries, with technology being a strong enabler.
He adds that this is a result of the social selling concept.
According to him, most social platforms have created spaces where individuals can sell their products easily online. Examples are Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
However, he warned that audience segmentation and quality of products are major problems in the retail space.
Suggesting ways African businesses can scale, he said that “partnership and understanding your audience is one way of upscaling your business.”
Closing the topic, he said retail selling rides on the evolution of the massive technology – AR, VR, analytics and others.
CEO Space Universe Africa; Olatunji Idowu
Another speaker at the discuss is Olatunji Idowu, representing the business and finance space.
He spoke on the evolvement of the financial service sector with the introduction of fintech companies in the country.
According to him, there is a need for infrastructure and funding to scale the financial sector in the country.
Financial inclusion, according to him, will move the economy from a poverty-stricken nation to a wealthy nation.
He also added that in the next three years, mobile money will dominate the finance space.
He said that there is a need for the government to create a level-playing ground for fintech companies as there are several financial solutions available to solve several problem people face financially.
Concluding the session, he said there is the need for partnership with all the stakeholders in the economy because, everyone needs to play their part to ensure better healthcare in the economy.
“People, especially business owners should be able to utilise existing technologies while the government should be able to create a way for more technologies in the state.”
About Space Universe Africa
Space Universe Africa is Africa’s leading technology innovation company that utilises technologies to solve critical issues in Africa.
Also, the company builds technologies to drive the next layers of human advancements in diverse industries, including blockchain, space, marketing, etc.
Currently, it is serving companies across media and gaming platforms.
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