Nobody can hold back the power of evolving technology, especially digital—VISA boss
The Country Director of leading digital payment solution, Visa West Africa, Mr. Emezino Afiegbe has opened on the observed disruptive tendencies of digital technology which is evolving in payment space.
In an interview, he said ‘Technology is actually evolving and no one can hold back the power of evolving technology, especially technology in the digital space,” noting that “It is difficult to hold back innovation and creativity that evolving technology is bringing to the digital payment space”.
Giving a breakdown of technology as it affects the operations ofd Small and Meduim Enterprises (SMEs), Afiegbe said “We are not oblivious of the fact that SMEs and technology startups are key to the rapid development of a nation”.
“They need money to grow their business and our APIs will address most of their concerns. We have a solution called Visa Direct that allows the subscriber to facilitate financial processing. With Visa Direct, SMEs can carry out point-to-point transactions conveniently through receiving and sending money from their mobile phones conveniently.
Continuing, he said “As Visa, we welcome the disruption that the evolving technology is bringing to the digital payment space, because it has changed a whole lot of ways of financial transactions, making such transactions faster and easier”.
“What I think is that service providers must collaborate to empower the customers more with their solutions. Those who feel that emerging technologies are disservice because they are taking away their business or eating deep into their revenue generation like what the WhatsApp and Skype calls are to telecommunications operators, then I think the best way is for service providers to collaborate with each other and find new and interesting ways of providing services to the customers.
“Visa, for instance, is in collaboration with Apple, Samsung and Android and we are open to more collaborations.
On how a large portion of the unbanked in Nigeria will be assisted by Visa to join the digital pay space, Visa boss averred that “As a payment solution organisation, Visa ensures that it has easy and quick payment solutions for every category of people in Nigeria, including the millennials and the unbanked”.
“We have packages for millennials that might have been financially excluded. There is need to grow awareness among the millennials and Visa has programmes built around financial literacy, and through our financial partners, we are able to promote awareness campaign among the millennials. The financial literacy programme gives access to financial activities and brings the millennials on board to be part of the digital pay system,” Afiegbe said.
