Lagos Fintech Week to Bridge Fintech Talents Gap in Nigeria

Despite the breakthrough and large success recorded by fintech in redefining financial service, the fintech ecosystem still falls short of talents to grow the market for sustainability.

Across the globe, fintech has shaped banking operations with seamless and simple innovative solutions. The disruption has helped to deepen the global financial inclusion and boost economic output.

In Nigeria, the ecosystem has grown to become a leading network in Africa’s financial service industry through innovative solutions in lendtech, insurtech, wealth tech etc. The Nigeria fintech industry is regarded as a dominant force in Africa in this regard.

However, despite the huge potential of fintech, access to and retention of best-in-class talent is a growing concern within the industry.

According to a PwC report in 2017, 77% of the CEOs surveyed view skills shortages as business threats.

Given the essential role of human capital in the coming decades, a the global war for talent is beginning and will intensify.

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Research has shown that the local educational systems are not providing the necessary skills to train students in today’s AI-driven industries, as companies and countries are being confronted with a significant talent shortages.

As fintech evolves in Nigeria, Africa and globally, and sets more sophisticated requirements for technology skills, many businesses lag behind due to the lack of talents and resources to bring their innovative ideas to life.

In part, the talents gap is justified and even self-explanatory: the industry is relatively new and has to nurture new talents to meet its challenges.

The number of people that are proficient in finance and technologies is still dramatically low; needless to say, they are in high demand and command high salary.

Skills such as blockchain, programming languages – Python, C++, C#, GoLang, SQL, JavaScript and Java ML, AI, and Deep Learning, cybersecurity including soft skills such as communication, creativity and high EQ are at short-fall in the industry.

To bridge this gap, the organiser of 2020 Lagos Fintech Week has incorporated  Fintech Talents Summit (FTS) into the annual week-long event to build a high capacity talent-based for the ecosystem.

According to the chairman of the organising committee, Dr Yele Okeremi, FTS is the premier space for multi-disciplinary stakeholders from the private sector, policy, academia/education, and innovation to come together “to discuss the trends and solutions for the future of work and education in financial technology space”.

 Dr  Okeremi said, “FTS will attract strategists, key opinion leaders and relevant stakeholders to shape the future of talents in Fintech through education, innovation, and recruitment.”

He informed that FTS is co-located within Lagos Fintech Week. LFW is organized by Fintech 1000+, the largest Fintech group in Africa comprising regulators, Bank CEOs, government, investors, insurers, firms and the media.

He added that  the summit will discuss topics such as Community-as-a-Service which will centre on connecting the right talent for current and future opportunities, Fintech Talents Acquisition Strategy among others.

According to him, the summit will attract top fintech leaders in the ecosystem such as Programme Manager, Google Developer Ecosystem, Aniedi Udo-Obong, and Chief Information Officer at Interswitch, Femi Ogungbamila, CEO, Innovectives and Emmanuel Agha among others.