PalmPay (www.PalmPay.com), an African-focused fintech company, has emphasized the importance of building customer trust among stakeholders in the FinTech industry across Africa, saying that trust was essential to achieving last-mile access to digital financial services in underserved communities across the continent.

Speaking at the 2024 RegTech Africa Conference in Lagos, Nigeria, held on May 23rd and 24th, 2024, Chika Nwosu, Managing Director of PalmPay Nigeria, stated, “When we look at the digital payment space in Nigeria, sometimes we feel that we are doing well. But, the data shows that more must be done to build trust, especially from the last mile of underserved people to achieve a better result.”

Mr. Nwosu, who participated in a panel on ‘Bridging the Data Trust Gap for Last Mile Access to Digital Financial Services in Africa,’ emphasized that for digital payment platforms in the African FinTech space to thrive, transparency in their processes is vital.

“One of the reasons why we are facing this challenge is the lack of transparency. Sometimes financial service providers are not upfront with their fees, leading to hidden charges. When customers find unexpected charges after believing a transaction was free, they lose trust in the service and may avoid the financial service provider in the future,” Mr. Nwosu explained.

Mr. Nwosu offered several recommendations to build customer trust, including investing in customer care representative training, providing 24-hour customer care service, protecting customer data, and promoting financial literacy. He noted that these measures are crucial as “most customers in the last mile are illiterate, lack formal education, and do not understand many of the products offered to them.”

He continued, “Another issue is inadequate customer care services. It can take weeks or even months for customer complaints to be resolved, and some customer care agents are not well-trained to handle these complaints. These experiences can deter customers.”

Mr. Nwosu emphasized the need for financial service providers to enhance customer care skills, including offering 24-hour services, to build trust.

Addressing data privacy concerns, he added, “What do you do with the data that you collect from people? Is their data safe with you? These questions are very important. For example, if agency banking in an underserved area does not provide good services, customers will lose trust in the entire system going forward.”

The 2024 RegTech Africa conference, with the theme ‘Harnessing Partnerships for Africa’s Prosperity – Bridging the Data Trust Gap,’ attracted top professionals across Africa and with an interest in regulation, digital financial services, compliance, technology, fraud, risk, monitoring, reporting, financial crime, cybersecurity, data management, financial inclusion and identity management.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of PalmPay.

Media Contact:
press@palmpay-inc.com

About PalmPay:
PalmPay is a leading Africa-focused fintech platform committed to driving economic empowerment in Africa. Through its secure, user-friendly, and inclusive suite of financial services, PalmPay brings top-tier products into the pockets of everyday Nigerians. With this, we are able to drive financial inclusion.

PalmPay offers money transfers, bill payments, credit services, and savings on its app and via its mobile money agents. Since launching in Nigeria in 2019 under a Mobile Money Operator license, the platform has grown to over 30 million app users as part of its cashless payment ecosystem.

For more information, visit our social media (https://apo-opa.co/4bCozvo) platforms or website www.PalmPay.com.

Experts attending an African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) High-level dialogue in Kenya have urged African nations to intensify efforts to attract private-sector financing to enhance tertiary education and equip the continent’s youth with competitive skills.

During a panel discussion at the Bank’s 2024 Annual Meetings in Nairobi, the experts stressed the importance of political commitment to guarantee returns on private sector investments in education.

Former Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, Board Chair of the Global Partnership for Education, called for a renewed commitment to increase national education expenditure to harness Africa’s demographic potential as the world’s largest future labor force.

“To build a stronger tertiary education pipeline, we need to build strong foundations with early learning, primary and secondary education to provide a talent pool of trained young people for lifelong learning that will make them thrive,” Kikwete said.

The Bank organized the event entitled “Policy Dialogue on Innovative Financing for Tertiary Education in Africa: Revitalizing the Role of the Private Sector,” in collaboration with the Kenyan government, the African Union Commission, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. It explored strategies and best practices to stimulate private-sector financing for tertiary education.

During the session, the African Development Bank signed a Joint Declaration of Intent at the event with GIZ to scale up joint commitments to skills development to enhance youth employability in Africa. The collaboration through the Build4Skills initiative will place youth trainees for workplace training within Bank-supported infrastructure projects in agriculture, water or transport sectors for 6 to 12 months. Build4Skills aligns with the Bank’s Action Plan on Skills for Employability and Productivity in Africa 2021-2025 (https://apo-opa.co/3UYpkrL), which aims to support a skilled and productive labor force.

Birgit Pickel, Director-General Africa, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), said: “This is the first Declaration of Intent between the two organizations in the field of education, and we highly welcome this collaboration. It’s a sign of our intent to scale up our joint commitment to vocational training and skills development in African countries. In light of the current challenges, this is more urgent than ever.”

The African Development Bank has been actively engaged in education and skills development since 1975, committing significant resources to strengthen science, technology, engineering and mathematics infrastructure at tertiary levels and enhance sector policy environments.

Dr. Beth Dunford, the Bank’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human, and Social Development, stated that the institution has committed $964 million to tertiary education and skills development over the past decade.

“The focus has been on strengthening infrastructure for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and catalyzing private sector investments in skills development and job creation,” Dunford stressed.

She highlighted the Bank’s $80 million support for Nigeria’s Ekiti state Special Economic Zone project and a $23 million investment in Rwanda’s Centre of Excellence for Aviation Skills as some of the projects that will help boost economies and create jobs.

Prof. Mohamed Belhocine, African Union Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation, said increased investment in tertiary education requires national, continental, and global action. He noted that between 2017 and 2019, only seven African countries met the required 6 percent of GDP expenditure on education, with the average standing at around 4 percent of GDP.

Dr. James Mwangi, Group CEO of Equity Holdings, shared how collaboration with tertiary institutions is boosting human resource development across the continent. For example, he said Equity Group has provided scholarships to at least 23,000 students in partnership with the Kenyan government.

Over 10,000 participants registered for the African Development Bank’s hybrid 2024 Annual Meetings, with around 5,000 delegates attending physically. Several heads of state are expected to feature in a presidential dialogue on Wednesday.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

About the African Development Bank Group:
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is the premier multilateral financing institution dedicated to Africa’s development. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NSF). The AfDB has a field presence in 41 African countries, with an external office in Japan, and contributes to the economic development and social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org