By Chukwuma Umeorah
Huawei, global provider of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and FinTech Association of Nigeria (FinTechNGR) has jointly published a white paper on the adoption of financial technology and cloud services in Nigeria in a bid to develop the nation’s financial industry.
The white paper titled, “Nigerian FinTech’s Cloud Adoption” focuses on Huawei deployment of cloud services and operation in the nations fintech industry and how to provide guidance for businesses that are adopting cloud services.
Speaking at the launch in Lagos on Friday, the Vice President of Huawei Cloud Nigeria, Paul Adigu, while noting that innovation and stability were the major driving factors in the nation’s fintech space assured that the company was resilient in addressing the visible challenges in the industry through cutting edge technology and innovative solutions available in its cloud services.
According to him, “Nigerian finTech’s cloud adoption White paper analysed the current situation, requirements and challenges of the fintech industry and how to solve these challenges through cloudification. The cloud adoption framework provides guidance for small- and medium-sized enterprises to migrate to the cloud, use and manage it while supporting fintech to accelerate cloud-based transformation.”
He added that all necessary planning and infrastructure has been put in place to achieve their goal, saying, “We have rolled out notable global infrastructures that cuts across storage, cloud computing and networking. As a leading provider of cloud services across the world, we are intensifying our efforts at deepening penetration and promoting the adoption of cloud services for businesses in Nigeria, especially fintechs.
“We want to ensure affordability of cloud migration, security resilience and provide higher speed of cloud interaction on their platforms,” he added.
While noting that users of its cloud services were guaranteed maximum security of their data owing to its sophisticated end-to-end security and artificial intelligence services, Adigu also assured that their operations were in line with regulations and best practices.
Vice President of FinTechNGR, Stanley Jacob revealed that the collaboration was necessitated by the desire to create sustainable ideas for fintech in the country and to step up the advocacy for adoption of cloud technology with particular focus on the Nigerian market.
Jacob who was represented by the AGM, Project and Relationships at FinTechNGR, Seun Folorunsho commended the partnership while higlighting the prospects of cloud in Nigeria and how Huawei can help simplify and lessen the cost of migrating to the cloud while extending several other professional services in that space.
“When thinking about cloud adoption in the FinTech industry, four aspects to consider include regulatory compliance, cloud security, cloud native, and operational costs and we can assure our users of satisfaction in these areas.”
He however noted that the industry needed more work in terms of regulations. “We are equally working with regulators like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), National Information Development Agency (NITDA) and others to ensure our operations are in line with regulations while also providing them with data intelligence to understand the ecosystem better,” he explained.
Jacob who also identified insufficient funding for startups in the space and scarcity of skill set owing to the exodus of talents as some of the challenges bedeviling the industry urged for concerted efforts by government, regulators, fintech companies and all relevant stakeholders to in addressing the issues and proffering sustainable solutions.
The Group Head, Retail Banking at Zenith bank, Lanre Oladimeji who was also at the event asked stakeholders and participants to leverage the ideas embedded in the white paper to build stronger collaboration between FinTech and existing enterprises and to boost the nation’s financial industry while contributing to the growth of the country.