The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has withdrawn the license of Eyowo, one of Nigeria’s digital banks, and 46 other microfinance banks.

The financial sector regulator said it took the decision to revoke the licenses of the 47 entities because they had either remained inactive, insolvent, failed to render returns, closed shop, or ceased to carry on the type of banking business for which they were licensed for more than six (6) months.

The CBN said doing any of the above puts the affected banks in contravention of the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA), 2020, and the Revised Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for Microfinance Banks in Nigeria.

The CBN governor Godwin Emefiele, in a declaration announcing the revocation, said previous measures taken by the apex bank to halt the persistent failure of the affected banks failed.

“I, Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele, CON, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, in the exercise of the powers conferred upon me by Section 12 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA), 2020, hereby revoke the licenses of the 47 (forty-seven) Microfinance Banks,” he said.

The CBN also announced that it has revoked the operating licenses of about 132 companies that cut across Microfinance Banks, Finance Companies and Primary Mortgage Banks.

The financial sector regulator cited the following reasons for taking the decision to withdraw their licenses:

“The Microfinance Banks, Finance Companies and Primary Mortgage Banks stated in Schedules I, II and III respectively, hereto, have:

“(a) ceased to carry on, in Nigeria, the type of business for which their licences were issued for a continuous period of 6 months.

“(b) failed to fulfil or comply with the conditions subject to which their licences were granted; or

“(c) failed to comply with the obligations imposed upon them by the Central Bank of Nigeria in accordance with the provisions of Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020, Act No. 5.”

Below is the list of the 47 microfinance banks whose licenses were withdrawn.

1. Evangel MICROFINANCE BANK,
2. DOMINION MICROFINANCE BANK,
3. ANYA MICROFINANCE BANK,
4. AKWENGWU MICROFINANCE BANK
5. FADAMA FARMERS MICROFINANCE BANK
6. SAL-FOL MICROFINANCE BANK
7. MAUTECH MICROFINANCE BANK
8. WASE MICROFINANCE BANK
9. SMARTMICRO MICROFINANCE BANK
10. AMBA MICROFINANCE BANK
11. BRIDGE HOUSE MICROFINANCE BANK
12. MONEYWELL MICROFINANCE BANK
13. OTUKPO MICROFINANCE BANK
14. OLOGBON MICROFINANCE BANK
15. BESTWAY MICROFINANCE BANK
16. BIYAMA MICROFINANCE BANK
17. GREENLAND MICROFINANCE BANK
18. FASILDAPO MICROFINANCE BANK
19. SUNRISE MICROFINANCE BANK
20. JOINT FARMERS MICROFINANCE BANK
21. PROLIFIC MICROFINANCE BANK
22. HALMOND MICROFINANCE BANK
23. AJIKOBI MICROFINANCE BANK
24. KOGI MICROFINANCE BANK
25. EYOWO MICROFINANCE BANK
26. ARISE MICROFINANCE BANK
27. ISI-AKU MICROFINANCE BANK
28. BMAZAZHIN MICROFINANCE BANK
29. INI MICROFINANCE BANK
30. NARICT MICROFINANCE BANK
31. INTERLAND MICROFINANCE BANK
32. EHOR MICROFINANCE BANK
33. BIBAJINRE MICROFINANCE BANK
34. GOLDEN FUNDS MICROFINANCE BANK
35. GWADABAWA MICROFINANCE BANK
36. IBA MICROFINANCE BANK
37. EDUMANA MICROFINANCE BANK
38. WEST-END MICROFINANCE BANK
39. UMEJEI MICROFINANCE BANK
40. MOUAU VASMUCS MICROFINANCE BANK
41. JAMIS MICROFINANCE BANK
42. NEW WORLD MICROFINANCE BANK
43. ABESTONE MICROFINANCE BANK
44. NSEHE MICROFINANCE BANK
45. OSOGBO MICROFINANCE BANK
46. CROSSOVER MICROFINANCE BANK
47. DANGIZHI MICROFINANCE BANK

Tekedia Capital congratulates Zeeh Africa for making Amazon AWS ‘fintech in Africa’ accelerator. We knew we had a winner when we brought you into the Tekedia ecosystem.

AWS announces the 25 startups selected for its first ‘fintech in Africa’ accelerator

Cohort participants from Kenya, Nigeria , South Africa, Egypt, Ghana, Uganda, and Cameroon

Description: Sekai Ndemanga, Head of FinTech Venture Capital and Startup Business Development at Amazon Web Services (AWS), speaks at the 9th Africa Fintech Summit in Washington DC on April 12, 2023.

NAIROBI, KENYA: 25 African fintech startups have been selected for the inaugural Amazon Web Services (AWS) FinTech Africa Accelerator cohort. This cohort was selected from over 500 applications and is part of the EMEA Startup Loft Accelerator (SLA) program run by AWS.

The pre-seed and seed stage fintech startups will start the 10-week program in June. Each startup will get technical review workshop sessions and up to $25K USD in AWS technical credits, world leading sector advice and one-to-one mentorship from major industry players including the Africa Fintech Summit (AFTS), Lendsqr and Vestbee to help them build their businesses.  

Africa’s fintech ecosystem is one of the fastest growing globally reaching $2B USD in 2022, according to data from Briter Bridges. Six out of seven of the continent’s unicorns operate in the financial services industry.

The cohort includes eleven startups from Nigeria – Ashiri NG, bunce, DeemPay, Fluna, Incash, KoinWa, Stacs, Vagrent Africa, WALLX Africa, Zainnest, and Zeeh Africa. Four are from Kenya – Chumz, hela.money, Kiotapay, and Mauzo. Four are from Ghana – Asaana Pay, Edanra, Exxtra, and H28 Technologies. There are two from Uganda –  eMaisha Pay and Xazu Technologies – and two from South Africa – Abela iMali and Moya Money. Dreamcash, a startup from Cameroon and MazAid, an Egyptian startup are also part of the cohort. 

While all participating startups are fintech companies, the program welcomed a diverse array of value propositions and verticals including finance/lending for MSME’s, cryptocurrency transactions, global remittance products, freelancer payment & invoice management, export/import management, and much more. 

“At AWS, we’re thrilled to be a part of Africa’s digital transformation, making core financial services accessible to more individuals and businesses. We believe that anyone regardless of their location, should be able to access innovative technologies and realize their dreams,” said Napa Onwusah, Start-up Segment Lead at AWS. “I am excited that the accelerator will be instrumental in empowering these startups to grow and scale their businesses.”

Co-Founder and Managing Partner of First Circle Capital, Agnes Aistleitner Kisuule stated, “The program is a great opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to hone their ideas, get exposed to the tech industry and drive growth in Africa’s financial services industry.” 

“FinTech is imperative for Africa’s economic growth so programs like this provide the expert training and support that early-stage FinTech companies need to scale to the next level and boost the continent’s digital economy,” said Barbara Iyayi, the Founding Managing Partner at Unicorn Growth Capital

Adedeji Olowe, the Founder & CEO of Lendsqr and a Trustee with Open Banking Nigeria stated, “AWS is making a huge impact on the startup ecosystem globally. Its secure and flexible cloud infrastructure allows startups to focus on developing innovative products to attract VC funding – a real need for them. Over 90% of startups we know created their Minimum Viable Product (MVP) on AWS. Products like Compute, Amazon SageMaker among others help them to build fast-scaling products that VCs like us love to back. We are excited to provide our expertise to young startups as part of the program.”

The program is supported by major players in the African financial technology industry including the Africa Fintech Summit, Unicorn Growth Capital, Lateral Frontiers VC, First Circle, Dawn Capital, White Star Capital, Blackfin Capital Partners, Vestbee, Alma Angels, Flashpoint Venture Capital, Vertis Capital, Next Road Ventures, Afrolynk, Stripe, Zendesk Startups, Techcabal, Paga, Lendsqr, and Conduit. 

A Nigerian YouTuber residing in the United Kingdom was interviewed by the BBC  and he disclosed the Nigerians’ strategies with their japa plans. He told the BBC that Nigerians use education as a strategy to Japa (relocate) to the UK and also bring their dependents like spouses along. He stated that Nigerians do not necessarily need the degree they came to the UK for, they are only using it as a means to an end to escape Nigeria’s hardship.

The Nigerian internet has been agog over that particular interview; several Nigerians have called out the guy for granting the interview; some called him a snitch, others are insulting him claiming that he is burning the bridge after he crossed over so that others won’t cross.

The public uproar from Nigerians, especially the ones claiming that they have been saving up to Japa too but this guy’s interview wants to block the way for them got me thinking about the number of people that want to leave Nigeria. A lot have left already in droves and it’s scary that the number of others preparing to leave too in search of greener pastures is high and above the ones that have already left. 

My question is; must everyone leave Nigeria? Yes, there is a bad government, and yes there is a lack of jobs but if we all leave, who will be left behind to help rebuild the country? 

The hard truth is that aside from the glitz and glams, the colourful social media picture posts from those that have japad, not every one of them is having a good time, some are still not surviving out there, some are still struggling; the United Kingdom itself currently facing economic hardship, inflation is on the rise, same with most economies of the world; it is not always how most of the japa enthusiasts think that it ends up being.

Although there might not be enough jobs in Nigeria there are a lot of opportunities, I can attest to that, you just need to learn how to plug in and tap into it but the enthusiasm for Japa has blinded most Nigerians’ eyes to see this. Everyone must not be gainfully employed by the government. There is no country in the world (not even communist China) where the government is the number one employer of labour; citizens sprang up, created jobs for themselves and extended employment to other persons.

This whole japa conversation is tiring, the amount the UK alone makes from Nigerian international students if invested back into the country will go a long way in helping the economy of Nigeria.

The UEA did not become what it is today by every citizen of the country fleeing the country in search of greener pastures when they are still underdeveloped economy in the late 90s and the early 2000s, same with Singapore, neither did the Chinese flee China in face of economic hardship, even post WW2 Japan. Citizens joined hands with the government to build the economy until it became a world-class economy.

Nigeria is our home and there is no place like home. Please let us stay, join hands and rebuild it.