Disruptive technology will bridge infrastructure gap — Aig-Imoukhuede

By CHIOMA OBINAGWAM

DISRUPTIVE Technology has been advocated as the panacea for the wide and growing infrastructural gap that exists in Nigeria.
The President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, disclosed this during the Access Leadership Conference that held in Lagos, recently.
Speaking on the theme: Innovation in the financial system; Imoukhuede said that operating in a developing world is highly characterized by infrastructural challenges, especially in the financial space.
“Africa, particularly Nigeria needs to embrace disruptive technology to bridge infrastructural gap,” he disclosed.
Disruptive Technology is new ways of doing things that disrupt or overturn the traditional business methods and practices. Examples include internet, e-payment channels, among other innovations.
Aig-Imoukhuede, who is also a former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Access Bank (the organisers of the conference), disclosed that innovations that has changed the face of banking in the country came from disruptive technology.
The NSE boss noted that there is a dearth of banks in Nigeria that focuses on micro-credit.
He, however, cited the Access Bank’s PayWithCapture as a viable example of what the bank has done with disruptive technology to bridge this infrastructural gap as well as boost financial inclusion.
PayWithCapture is a multi-banking mobile payment solution that permits customers to make payments by scanning a merchant’s pre-generated QR-Code using the camera of their mobile device or via a one-step Beacon-NFC System and can be linked with different payment cards (any bank’s MasterCard/VISA, Bank Account, Mobile Wallet) and affords customers the opportunity of selecting which payment instrument he/she chooses to use.