The Africa Fintech Foundry (AFF) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have said they will work together to help 10 startups use eNaira more in the country. Daniel Awe, in charge of AFF, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) about the partnership on Saturday in Lagos.
The news came while the Semi-Final Pitching of the eNaira Hackathon 2022 was going on.
The AFF boss highlighted the need for increased adoption of the eNaira across the nation, stressing its ability to drive financial inclusion, spur macroeconomic growth, and integrate the Nigerian economy into world-leading economies via innovation and cutting-edge emerging technologies.
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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released the eNaira, also called the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), on October 25, 2021, with the goal of making all Nigerians’ financial transactions more accessible and faster.
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Awe pointed out that the top 10 startups, innovators, and entrepreneurs are all part of the more than 5,000 startups that signed up for the eNaira Hackathon.
He said it is viable despite many Nigerians’ concerns regarding the eNaira.
According to Awe, “eNaira was introduced by CBN in 2021 as a digital currency and many people have asked, what is the usefulness of this eNaira? Many people have also criticised eNaira, saying that they prefer cryptocurrency, but the truth is that eNaira is going to be a successful product,” he said.
Awe said that AFF and CBN were working together on the hackathon to show different ways to use eNaira. According to Awe, “So the hackathon is a platform where innovators, developers, entrepreneurs, and coders come together to solve problems and create innovative ideas.”
“When we layer that on eNaira, it means we brought in different players within the ecosystem – developers, coders, innovators, entrepreneurs, to come up with different ideas, different use cases, that they can leverage on eNaira. This is so that the consumers of eNaira will now see the benefit of eNaira; they will have the opportunity to see the problem that eNaira will solve,” he said.
Awe said the apex bank will just be the platform for fintech startups, and the entrepreneurs will be the ones to create the ecosystem to provide solutions that would benefit the entire financial services space.
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He said about 5,000 players within the fintech ecosystem applied for the hackathon. Awe said they were reduced to about 175 teams and 70 for the quarter-final pitching.
He said that 20 teams would make it to the finals from the semi-finals, and the top 10 would get help to get more people to use eNaira in the country. “Now, these top 10 potential businesses, when they come out of the final of the hackathon, there is a cash prize for them.”
“I think number one is going to get 5 million eNaira.” Number two is getting 3 million eNaira. Number three, 2 million, and the remaining ten, will get 1 million eNaira. “Afterwards, those top 10 will resume in the AFF accelerator programme, whereby some of them will get some funding to start up their businesses on their ideas,” he said.
Awe said that CBN and AFF would guide them. He said that by the time they came up with good business with their innovations, employment would be created, and they would increase the adoption of eNaira.
Awe also disclosed the possibility of wealth created by these people, which would ripple effect on the nation’s economy.
About eNaira
The Central Bank of Nigeria has made eNaira, a digital currency, a legal form of payment. It is a central bank digital currency (CBDC) backed by law.
It is the digital form of the Naira and can be used just like cash. It is a unit of account, a store of value and a medium of exchange. The eNaira can only be accessed through the eNaira wallet. The eNaiara wallet is a digital storage meant to hold the eNaira.
Nigeria was the first country in Africa to use a digital currency when it introduced the eNaira. However, since its launch, Nigerians have been openly reluctant to embrace the eNaira.
USSD To Boost eNaira Adoption
It has been a massive job for the CBN to ensure citizens use the digital currency it created. The AFF hackathon is one of the apex bank’s measures to fast-track eNaira adoption.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said in June 2022 that it wanted to add the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code as a step toward improving the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
With USSD, the eNaira will be available to more than 100 million Nigerians, no matter where they are in the country.
This will enable low-income earners, particularly those unbanked, to have easy access to eNaira. Most of these Nigerians live in rural areas where banking services are not as readily available, making them a prime target for the eNaira.
Despite the eNaira’s low acceptance, the CBN believes that the CBDC has a bright future and will play a critical role in financial inclusion.