8th Africa Bank 4.0 Summit: promoting digital innovation within the African fiscal sector
John Njoroge, country manager of Kenya's Network International (the event's headline sponsor) and chairman of the conference, inaugurated the event. This was followed by the opening keynote address: Beyond Banking: Producing Seamless Financial Experiences through Disruptive Technologies, presented by Nandan Mer, group chief executive officer of Network International.
Nandan Mer, group chief executive officer, Network International, commented, “The 8th Africa Bank 4.0 Summit was an excellent platform for discussing what disruption means for the region’s financial-services players and which technologies to watch out for.
"As a leading enabler of digital commerce across Africa and the Middle East, Network International is committed to playing a pivotal role in shaping the region’s payments landscape while helping businesses and economies across our markets prosper, by simplifying commerce and payments.”
The 'CEO Influencer' panel, brainstormed on the importance of Taking Digital Banking to Rural Africa, which was moderated by Faith Kobusingye Mugambwa, Network International East Africa's regional managing director. The panelists who joined this panel included Dr. Segun Aina, president at Africa Fintech Network, Julias Alego, chief executive officer of Kenya Institute of Bankers and Raphael Lekolool, managing director of Postbank Kenya.
Muhammad Nana, vice-president of fintech partnerships at Mastercard's Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa divisions, moderated the 'Leaders Innovation' panel which covered the debate around the deployment of AI and automation as a means to drive customer engagement, -efficiency, and -productivity. Panelists joining this discussion included leaders from Network International, Sparkle, FMB Capital Holdings, Jubilee Insurance and Netcore.
How will Open Banking support Financial Inclusion in Africa? was addressed by Hany Fekry, group managing director of processing at Network International. The latest solutions and innovative technologies within the scope of customer engagement, safety and security, digital disruption and artificial intelligence was elaborated on in exclusive presentations from the event’s partners which included Netcore, Zwipe, Fico, Ameyo and Idex Biometrics.
Supporting women in business
One of the highlighted sessions at the event included the 'Women Voices CEO' panel which addressed the topic of how small-business women entrepreneurs can overcome funding challenges and achieve business growth.
Faith Kobusingye Mugambwa, moderated this interactive panel, which was panelled by Mizinga Melu, managing director and chief executive officer of Absa Bank Zambia; Mamie Kalonda, chief executive officer of Finca RD Congo S; and Caroline Kariemu-Brazell, co-founder and managing director of M-Tip A Djiba Diallo as well as senior fintech advisor of operations and technology at Ecobank Transnational.
This summit was hosted by more than 60 industry leaders and was sponsored by more than 30 partners that included Openway, Gupshup, Eclectics, Mastercard, Moody’s Analytics, ProgressSoft, Kenya Institute of Bankers, Africa Fintech Network, FMB Capital Holding, Centenary Bank, Sparkle and Finca.
The tail-end of the conference paved way into the Africa Bank 4.0 Awards, which recognised the efforts and innovation of the region’s key players in the banking, financial services and insurance sector.
Commenting on the Africa Bank 4.0 Awards, Nana Esi Idun- Arkhurst, the divisional director for Retail Banking at Fidelity Bank Ghana, expressed her profound gratitude to the organisation for adjudging her the “Most Influential African Woman Banker of the Year (Retail Banking)”.
“It is an honour to be recognised for this prestigious award. This award is dedicated to every member of the Fidelity Retail team for believing in the vision and coming on the journey. This is for your commitment, diligence and phenomenal performance year on year. I am grateful to the leadership of the Bank for the opportunity to lead, and I thank my family for their unwavering support throughout my career. I want to encourage everyone, especially women, to be agents of change and excellence, and to take up leadership roles in their chosen fields. Together we can all contribute to narrowing the leadership gender gap."
NMB CEO expresses gratitude
NMB chief executive officer, Ruth Zaipuna said: “I am gratified to accept this award on behalf of the management of NMB Bank, its customers and 3,500 NMB employees. I thank them for their co-operation in delivering the best to our esteemed customers and shareholders, and for ensuring that we give back to the society in which we have sustained our business for over 20 years.”
"I dedicate this 'African Banking CEO of the Year 2022 (Tanzania)' award to my colleagues at NMB who are fully committed to NMB’s quest to remain truly beyond comparison: a bank of innovation and customer-centricity, resilience, trust, safety, and security,” Ruth added.
Other industry leaders that were honoured and celebrated at the award ceremony were: Abdulmajid M. Nsekela, African Retail Banker of the Year; Mamie Kalonda Kapenga, African Microfinance Banker of the Year; Dr Tomisin Fashina; African Banking COO of the Year; Lanre Bamisebi, African Banking CIO of the Year; Unathi Mtya, Most Influential African Woman Banker of the Year Digital Transformation; and Mizinga Melu, Most Influential African Woman Banker of the Year Rest of Africa.
Organisations honoured were Asante Financial Services Group; Neobank Rising Star East Africa; Bank Sofri, Neobank Rising Star West Africa; Kenya Institute of Bankers, Outstanding Contribution to Banking Community Kenya; Africa Fintech Network, Outstanding Contribution for The African Fintech Community; AFiK, Outstanding Contribution to Kenya's Fintech Community; The Leadership Group, Outstanding Knowledge Exchange Provider to (the) Fintech Community; and ChainAdvise Blockchain Advisory, Outstanding Contribution to Blockchain Development in Africa.
Solutions, products and services from Idex Biometrics, Netcore, Eclectics, Gupshup, Ameyo and KnowBe4, were recognised for their contribution within the technology and innovation categories at the award ceremony.
