By Adedapo Adesanya 

African integrated digital payments and commerce company, Interswitch has concluded the fourth edition of its TechConnect series, marking the culmination of an impactful journey across five major Nigerian cities including Enugu, Asaba, Abuja, Ibadan, and Lagos.

The grand finale, which was held at Classique Event Place, Oregun, Lagos, epitomised Interswitch’s commitment to shaping the future of financial services in Africa. The series served as a powerful platform for advancing high-level discussions on technology, innovation, and financial inclusion, fostering collaboration across the financial services ecosystem.

The event was a fitting climax to a series that brought together industry leaders, policymakers, fintech innovators, and microfinance practitioners, who gathered to explore the vital role of technology in driving financial inclusion and economic growth across Africa. Throughout the series, Interswitch has reinforced its mission to build digital solutions that provide equal access to financial services for individuals, businesses, and institutions.

Delivering his keynote address, Mr Akeem Lawal, Managing Director, Payment Processing & Switching, Interswitch Purepay, highlighted the transformative potential of digital payment solutions:

“At Interswitch, we are deeply committed to financial inclusion, recognising that digital payment solutions are pivotal in expanding access to underserved populations. By enabling broader participation in the economy, we believe we can create a rising tide that lifts all boats, empowering individuals, businesses, and financial institutions alike.

“Our vision is simple yet profound: to power a seamless, connected payment ecosystem across Africa, turning challenges in the payments landscape into opportunities for economic growth and shared prosperity,” Mr Lawal.

The Lagos finale featured a fireside chat themed “Regulating New Technologies: Strategies for Innovation and Compliance, Harmonising Regulatory Frameworks and Risk-Based Approaches.

The speakers emphasised the critical role of collaboration between regulators and industry players in navigating the rapidly evolving technology landscape.

They also highlighted the importance of designing regulatory frameworks that balance innovation with compliance to create a sustainable fintech ecosystem.

Two thought-provoking panel sessions enriched the discussions at the event, offering diverse perspectives on critical industry topics. The first session, themed “Navigating the Future of Financial Services: Integrating Compliance, Technology, and Collaboration to Combat Fraud and Drive Growth,” focused on leveraging compliance, technology, and collaborative efforts to address fraud challenges while unlocking new growth opportunities.

The second session, themed “Building Financial Resilience: The Intersection of Commercial & Microfinance Banks, Fintechs, & OFIs in Fostering Growth within the Financial Services Sector,” explored strategies for fostering resilience and growth through synergy between financial institutions and fintechs.

A special highlight of the event was the presentation of awards by Interswitch to Zenith Bank, Access Bank, First Bank, UBA, and Fidelity Bank in recognition of their exceptional performance and significant contributions to the financial ecosystem. Moniepoint, Opay, Paystack, VFD Microfinance Bank, Lapo Microfinance Bank, and several others were also honoured for their impactful roles in advancing the sector.

The TechConnect series traversed Nigeria’s key financial hubs, showcasing the transformative power of technology and digital payments in promoting financial inclusion. At each stop, participants engaged in hands-on demonstrations of cutting-edge digital solutions, gaining practical insights into the tools and strategies redefining the financial services landscape.

The series underscored Interswitch’s strategic vision of financial transformation, providing a platform for stakeholders to address challenges and opportunities in the sector. The events successfully reflected regional priorities while reinforcing the company’s overarching commitment to innovation and resilience across Nigeria.

“As the TechConnect 4.0 series concludes, it has not only left a lasting impact on Nigeria’s financial landscape but also set a clear direction for future initiatives aimed at integrating technology and financial services across Africa. Interswitch remains unwavering in its commitment to fostering partnerships, supporting innovation, and promoting financial inclusion to empower communities and drive economic growth,” the company said in a statement. 

“Looking ahead, Interswitch continues to lead the charge in shaping the future of Africa’s financial ecosystem by delivering solutions that unlock potential, empower underserved populations, and create sustainable growth across the continent,” it added. 

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

An American cloud-based software firm, Salesforce, has introduced agentic lifecycle management tools to automate Agentforce testing, prototype agents in secure Sandbox environments, and transparently manage usage at scale.

The Agentforce Testing Centre will allow teams to test Agentforce using synthetically generated data, ensuring accurate responses and actions — with complete monitoring of usage and feedback

It was stated that the new Agentforce Testing Centre will test topic and action selection at scale by using natural language instructions to auto-generate hundreds of synthetic interactions — such as requests a customer may make when engaging with Agentforce Service Agent — and then test them in parallel to see how frequently they result in the right outcome.

In addition, teams can then use the test data to refine instructions so the expected topic is more frequently selected, improving the end customer experience.

AI agents are a new paradigm in software. They are intelligent systems that can reason and act on behalf of customers and employees. But to realise their full potential, agents need to be tested and configured without disrupting live production environments.

This new toolchain — the first of its kind in the industry — will enable teams to test, deploy, and monitor AI agents with Agentforce at scale, with confidence, enabling every enterprise to become “agent-first.”

“Agentforce is helping businesses create a limitless workforce. To deliver this value fast, CIOs need new tools for testing and monitoring agentic systems,” Salesforce’s Director of Solutions Engineering Africa, Ms Linda Saunders, said.

“This new category of Agentic Lifecycle Management requires unique tools, and Salesforce is meeting the moment again with Agentforce Testing Centre, which will help companies roll out trusted AI agents with no-code tools for testing, deploying, and monitoring in a secure, repeatable way,” she added.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

Ten startup finalists of the 2024 Zenith Bank hackathon have received the sum of N77.5 million in cash prizes to help them scale up their businesses.

The winner of the competition, Jump n Pass, went home with N25 million at the fourth Zenith Tech Fair held on Thursday, November 21, 2024, at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos.

The self-checkout technology solution reshaping the retail landscape in Africa emerged as the winner of the over 1,700 contestants who participated in the hackathon.

In addition to the cash prize, the company and others will enjoy a six-week mentorship and incubation programme designed to help them grow and scale effectively, which will run from December 2024 to February 2025.

The first runner-up, CreditChek, a credit and verification service provider which leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI) and open banking to streamline income and credit history verification for financial institutions, won N20 million and a mentorship programme, while the second runner-up, Salad Africa, a start-up which offers seamless integration of credit products for digital platforms and software companies won N15 million as well as a mentorship programme.

Other finalists who took home N2.5 million each included Regxta, CashAfrica, Middleman, Messenger, Pocketfood, Famasi Africa, and Kitovu.

The chief executive of Zenith Bank, Ms Adaora Umeoji, while speaking at the fair themed Future Forward 4.0: Embedded Finance, Cybersecurity and Growth Imperatives – The Impact of AI, explained that, “This prestigious annual event was created to empower and nurture young fertile minds.”

She expressed optimism that the programme will “produce the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk” in the near future.

In his goodwill message, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, called for a global approach to doing business in the country.

“What we need to do is to be able to enhance our product and services in order to compete in the world. We can’t continue to act locally, we need to think globally.

“Anything that we’re doing now, we need to be able to know that we are not just serving a local market, we actually want to serve the global market, and that’s why I’m glad that consistently, for the past four years, I have kept up with the Zenith Tech Fair.

“I am sure 5.0 should be bigger and better than what we have today, but for us as a government, what we need to do is to continue to use platforms like this to reassure you of our readiness to provide an enabling environment for your ideas and innovative solutions,” he stated.