Principal Software Consultant at Enable Digital , Switzerland

An academic background in artificial intelligence and behavioral economics. Six years of experience working as a software engineer and software consultant. The last 3 years spent on digitising Last Mile Distributors in Africa. Believes IT should serve a company’s operational goals without becoming a goal on its own

Session: Fintech & Digitisation for last mile distributors: Lessons Learned

Three years ago Enable Digital started developing it’s own software solution aimed at Last Mile Distributors in Sub Saharan Africa. Mostly Pay-as-you-go solar companies of Middle (1-2m revenue) size. We deployed our solution at around 8 companies. Since the pandemic we have stopped our software development and focus exclusively on consultancy. Here are the lessons we learned and feel every company should be aware of. From going live with our software to doing mobile integrations to getting the customer to buy in your technology vision.

Learning outcomes:

• Deploying a state-of-the-art IT solution will not solve the company’s problems if the people and processes are not in place – Customers did not read our manuals, if there is no onboarding you can forget it
• Companies view IT as cost rather than as value – Almost everyone underspends, Open source solutions are often being picked that end up being more expensive than SaaS
• Mobile money integration is a nightmare and must be done locally. – We have found a ‘workaround’ that allowed us to integrate with any mobile money provider within days by installing an Android app on a dedicated phone. Will share this trick at the conference.

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International Consultant – Fintech , Lebanon

Elias is an expert in Financial Technology, Electronic payments services, Digital Payments, Electronic distribution, Micro-finance, Telecommunications and Technology markets in general. Qualified with a MBA – International Business from the University of Liverpool, UK and a bachelor in Computer Sciences. Elias obtained certifications in Financial Technology from the University of Hong Kong, China, International Organizations MBA (IO-MBA) from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, Political Economy of institutions and development from Leiden University, Netherlands and a Certification with Honors in Financial Markets from YALE university.

Session: The importance of a CBDC in a post covid-19 world

Financial technology solutions providers have witnessed an unprecedented surge for their services post the Covid-19 outbreak due to lock-downs mainly and other country/markets specific reasons. This surge however had a double edge razor effect on some providers and many were unable to cope with it mainly because the money cycle was broken. Could a CBDC be the answer for the fintech sector, payments providers in particular, to be able to sustain and grow sudden markets changes?

Learning outcomes:

• The role of a CBDC in closing the payments loop
• How a CBDC could speed financial inclusion
• The importance of distributing subsidies on the form of a CBDC

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Blockchain SME at IBM , Thailand

My first venture was inspired by the idea of making medicines affordable and accessible to everyone. My friends and I built a digital platform on Blockchain technology to make the idea a reality and named it as Credible. Uganda’s National Malaria Healthcare Program used Credible for providing 1 million malaria patients access to low-cost medicines at their National Medical Stores. This helped Uganda reduce the malaria deaths from 7500+ in 2017 to 3500 in 2018. I sold my venture to Ajanta Pharma for $1.2 million

In January 2020, I joined IBM Thailand to kick off the Blockchain unit. Thailand taught me the art of applying “knowledge of right traditions” for managing a team with diverse cultures and winning deals in a complex market. Today, we are a unit delivering platforms for the Central Bank of Thailand and the National Banks to achieve financial inclusion for 7 million Thais below poverty line.

I have a dream that 2+ billion low-income groups get easy on-line access to banking and social security.

Session:Achieving Financial Inclusion with Blockchain transformation

Banks are becoming technology companies themselves and applying the huge data generated to best use cases. I believe that the data being created with each of these Banks are a jigsaw puzzle to the real value that can be created in the economy. The right understanding of the very concept shall trigger widespread application of Blockchain in fintech.

The epicenter of the Banking ecosystem is the Central Bank and when they plan to build a connected digital infrastructure for the country the need for Blockchain technology will be natural. I believe Thailand had a great understanding of this idea, way early in 2016. The country is building a financial infrastructure on Blockchain technology with a three-point goal of:
a. creating a unique trade record
b. creating unique retail and corporate ID in the country
c. provide trusted digital infrastructure for payments & trade finance

These are essentially first principles of achieving financial inclusion & this is exactly what I want to communicate as part of the session.

Learning outcomes:

• Application of Blockchain technology in Fintech/li>
• Application of digital transformation to achieve Financial Inclusion

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VP Head of business at Social Development Bank , Saudi Arabia

I come with 20 years experience in retail banking in addition to be board member in the brokerage house for AlJazira bank. My current role covers social loans and SME loans

Session: New and changing customer behaviours

I will be covering the post pendimic change in customer behavior as services to be delivered by designed apps to serve specific segment.

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Founder and CTO of Jamborow Ltd , United Kingdom

Moses Onitilo is a 28 yrs. IT veteran with a background in ITSM, ITIL, Digital Transformation, AI, Blockchain, Encryption, Security, Process transformation, IT Strategy, Governance, Enterprise Management and Emerging technologies. Fintech Entrepreneur creating emerging Technologies to solve problems facing the grassroots of Sub-Saharan Africa. He is currently Founder / CTO Jamborow LTD – (Africa’s first intelligent B2B AI and Blockchain Financial Inclusion FinTech platform) and Deep Learning Science LTD – (A Digital Transformation and Software Development outsourcing firm). Also, former Founder and Managing partner at Principle Technologies, LLC, an 20 yrs. Digital Transformation and ITSM consulting company in USA, with Fortune 500 and European clients.

Session:Beyond Financial Inclusion in Africa

Beyond financial inclusion in Africa, describes how do you use technology as an enabler to create a credit footprint for the 400m unbanked people in the grassroots of Africa to be included in the formal sector and have access to financial services product afforded to developed countries. This will help alleviate poverty and access to credit to the underserved and underpriviledge in Africa hence growing the grassroots economy via various Savvings groups, cooperatives, Ajos, Esusu and Susu across the continent.

Learning outcomes:

• Digitizing KYC data of the grassroots as an enabler to financial and economic inclusion
• Creating credit system scores to build a credit footprint for the grassroots of African
• Financial literacy as an enabler to access financial services products

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Chief Operating Officer of Fintech Association of Nigeria , Nigeria

Dr. Babatunde Obrimah is a fintech enthusiast and currently the Chief Operating Officer of Fintech Association of Nigeria. He is a multi-skilled individual with working experiences spanning the banking sector, non-bank financial services sector, financial consulting services/project management and public sector. His Professional career commenced at First Bank Nigeria Plc and worked in various banks during his banking career. Positions held during his banking career included: Group Head; Consumer banking, Agriculture/SMEs, Infrastructures, Food/Beverages, and Investment Banking. He served as an alternate Board member on the board of ValuCard Limited (now Unified Payments Plc) from 2004-2005. Educational achievements include a doctorate degree in Business Administration (D.B.A. Management) with emphasis on organizational behavior, M.B.A. (Management), M.Sc. Agronomy, and a B.Sc. Agriculture degree. He has Certifications in Project Management (PMP and PRINCE2) and certification in Life Coaching. In addition, he has attended various international and local courses on leadership, marketing, selling skills, credit analysis, risk management, product development, Oil & gas, PPP and other soft skills courses. He belongs to various professional and social bodies namely: Project Management Institute, Nigeria Institute of Management, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Nigeria Institute for Training & Development.

Session: Industry Associations, Self-Regulation and Future of Fintech

Technology is usually ahead of regulation and where regulators are harsh, there is the tendency to stifle or kill innovation. This gap can be bridged by self-regulatory industry Associations through effective collaboration with regulators. Using Nigeria as a case Study, the Fintech Association established a forum called the REGUVATOR FORUM (regulators and innovators). This forum has representatives of all regulatory agencies in Nigeria as well as representatives of industry players and issues affecting the Fintech Ecosystem are discussed and problems resolved.

Learning outcomes:

• The important role industry associations play
• How industry associations as self-regulatory bodies can bridge the gap between regulation and innovation
• The role of collaboration by all industry associations to support the fintech ecosystem and impact regulation

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Co-Founder of FTS Group , Portugal

Matteo is an unconventional investor, entrepreneur, and thought leader with two decades of experience in financial technology. For three years in a row (2014-2016), Financial News has nominated Matteo as one of the “40 most influential FinTech executives in Europe”. In 2008 he co-founded Innotribe, the innovation arm of SWIFT, where Matteo worked for 13 years. He also launched the Innotribe Startup Challenge, the first global FinTech deal flow of its kind. He left SWIFT in 2013 when he co-founded and became a partner at SBT Venture Capital, one of the first funds solely dedicated to early-stage FinTech investments, with USD 100 million under management, building a portfolio of a dozen startups. Since 2015, Matteo took venture partner positions at Omidyar Network, Société General Ventures, NEVA FinVentures and Bamboo Capital Partners (the latter as the Investment Director of the BLOC Smart Africa fund). He also created and co-founded the FTS Group, a platform for investors, innovators, and start-ups to foster FinTech disruption globally, which carried out some 50+ missions and events all over the world. As a by-product of FTS Group, Matteo founded Timepledge, a global program helping African entrepreneurs in with soft skills training. He is the author of “The FinTech Revolution” and “Talent & Rebels – Dealing with corporate misfits”. Since 2019, Matteo is also the Executive Producer of the Breaking Banks Europe podcast.

Session: Panel Discussion: Digital Banking & Platforms. New business models enabled by the digitization of finance. How To Select The Proper Digital Transformation Platform

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Founder & CEO of HTS Partners , Cote d’ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Hafou is the founder and CEO of HTS Partners, an advisory firm that aims to provide investment readiness and capacity building services to SMEs across the African continent. Hafou has a lot of experience in advising and providing financing to African companies and working with multilateral development banks, specifically with the African Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) at the World Bank. Hafou worked at Deloitte in the Advisory practice in New York City where she provided consulting and advisory services to various institutions in the financial services industry primarily large banks and investment management firms. She also worked with other financial services companies like UBS Investment Banking and Moody’s, one of the largest credit rating agencies in the world. Passionate about Africa and innovation, she was a founding member of the Moabi Holdings group, which funds innovative projects in French-speaking Africa. Committed to women’s empowerment, she founded the NGO Global Sharing Program, which supports women entrepreneurs and disadvantaged children around the world. Hafou has a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Session: Panel Discussion: Digital Banking & Platforms. New business models enabled by the digitization of finance. How To Select The Proper Digital Transformation Platform.

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Founder of Contextual Solutions , Germany

S. Elif Kocaoglu Ulbrich is the owner of Contextual Solutions, a Berlin-based FinTech consultancy coaching, and publication agency. She has 12 years of international work and executive experience in a variety of areas (business development, project management, strategic management, legal and regulatory topics), and roles (Head of Business Development, Project Lead, Senior Legal Counsel) in FinTech and banking. Ms. Kocaoglu Ulbrich has a background in Law (qualified lawyer) and Business, and she is a published author.

Session: The Future of the Service Sector: Embedded Finance

In this session, we will talk about financial innovation beyond FinTech providers. We will discuss the importance of integrating FinTech tools and services for retailers, service companies, and SMEs, for the continuity of the services. We will closely examine the non-FinTech companies that successfully integrated financial innovation and therefore increased their value proposition while decreasing costs. We will finish by exploring the potential for the service sector and SMEs.

Learning outcomes:

• Discover the meaning and the importance of embedded finance
• Learn about the retailers and service providers that successfully integrated FinTech offers into their daily operations
• Start recognizing the FinTech opportunity in other product and service verticals

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Secretary General of the Egyptian FinTech Association/Vice President of Africa FinTech Network , Egypt

Is the founder and Secretary General of the Egyptian Fintech Association, co-founder and Vice President of the Africa FinTech Network – both are non-profit organizations that serve Financial Inclusion and equitable economic growth across Africa, using FinTech and entrepreneurship as means to democratise finance! She is also a partner in FinTech holding, based in the UK .It builds and invests in FinTech start-ups across Africa, it’s main objective is to democratise finance. Noha is also the Managing Director of DCBC a consulting firm that serves small and medium business and FinTechs wishing to grow into the Egyptian and African markets. She is also an angel investor and is on the Innovate Finance power list of FinTech leaders shaping the future of the financial industry for 2019. The last corporate job I held until 1/3/2020, having the board in CIB adopt FinTech. Establishing digital banking and a FinTech department within, Egypt’s first FinTech accelerator in collaboration with the American University in Cairo and the bank’s VC that invests in FinTech start-ups, mentoring tens of startups. Then establishing the Egyptian FinTech association and co-founding Africa FinTech Network. Egypt’s only non-for profit that works on supporting FinTech ecosystem and the union for African FinTech Associations. growing the members base to include large incumbent financial institutions and FinTech start-ups and collaborating with Trilateral Organizations including African Union, African Development Bank and the UK trade mission, positioning both organizations as the one stop shop to seek support for local and international start-ups wishing to expand their businesses into Egypt and Africa. Noha Is a key note speaker and a thought leader, she is on the Innovate Finance power list of FinTech leaders shaping the future of the financial industry for 2019.

Session: Insights into the evolution of the financial industry- A future capsule

We will look into the status quo of financial service providers, the factors leading to that rapid change and how will the financial service providers of the futor look like and what incumbents can do today to grow and sustain a profitable business.

Learning outcomes:

• What are the drivers of change?
• Is it too late to start today? What capabilities incumbent financial institutions should build now.
• Characteristics of the financial services of the future.

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