The Nigeria fintech market once again has welcomed another rich and ground-breaking innovative idea birthed by a powerful brand: Brij Technologies.
Brij is a company that specializes in cross-border payments between African merchants and their customers irrespective of their location in Africa.
On the 19th of September 2024, the company introduced its service to the Nigerian market through a tripartite partnership with giant telecommunication company, MTN, {through their MOMO payment platform}, and major backing from the Department of the United States Commerce Service.
Also, the selection of the cosmopolitan city of Lagos as the location for the event portrays a business-driven minds behind its operations. Lagos is known for its capacity of attracting rich Mega businesses that traverse the length and breadth of the African continent, with an intimidating formal economy figure worth over $136.6 billion, also, with an impressive population of 20 million, one can say boldly that indeed this fintech company has a well-thought-out plan to make their services reachable to millions of prospective Nigeria businesses.
This event was held at the Radisson Blue Anchorage Hotel along Ozumba Mbadiwe Road V.I Lagos. The conference tagged'' Africa Merchant Online Enrollment Roadshow saw a lot of businesses in their respective Business Membership Organisation{BMO}gracing the event.
Upon the arrival of the HOG Team at the venue, we could not but notice the accommodating atmosphere of real serious business minds as they were ready for the day event which promises to be tangible. In no time the scheduled time for the event reached, and everyone had to make their registration at a stand while they simultaneously arranged for us a rich delectable breakfast, and of course, the meet and greet session naturally kick-off between participants before we all were allowed to go into the conference room.
In quick succession, the conference started with the introductory session as the moderator of the event, Jiboye Adekunle was fully in high spirits as he introduced the 3 speakers for the event; Ehi Bintie, the founder of Brij Technologies, Blake Murray, the representative of the U.S Foreign Commercial Service, and Usoro Anthony of MTN Nigeria.
Ehi Bintie wasted no time in putting the participants on memory lane, the driving force behind the great idea and efforts to break the payment barriers that have hindered quite a number of businesses from achieving cross-border trade transactions seamlessly due to the stringent financial regulations of different African countries.
In turn, Mr. Usoro Anthony of MTN re-echoed the super quality and richness of the company's network services so far enjoyed by Nigerians and beyond, and the need and advantage of using their MOMO payment platform by businesses in Nigeria, and, with the addition of Brij App, the experience can always be better transacting on the MOMO app.
For educational journey, there has been the presence of some fintech companies already operating as intermediaries for cross-border payments in some African countries, however, the question of how efficient and transparent in their operations is another question curious minds will be asking.
In continuation, Nana Antwi, Ghana country manager of Brij Technologies took us through the onboarding process on the Brij app as she carefully guided us through how it works, from business management tools to invoicing and payment tracking. The receptiveness from the participants was noticed during the question and answer session, cogent questions were put to the fore which traverse the user's cost for accessing the service, speed of transaction, operational countries where their services are available, and so much more.
From our perspective as an online marketplace, the ecosystem of inter-trade between one African country to another is now becoming seamless and more realizable through deep thinking which is made possible through technological innovations. As Commerce within the Africa corridor is receiving much-needed attention from the movement of goods, so also, services are now easily offered across African borders even with the existence of diverging regulations, a continued partnerships between fintech and local experts of various regions coming together through the implementation of compliance programs.
We see this as an advancement of goals of the African Continental Free Trade Area{AFCFTA}, a body saddled with the responsibility to ensure smooth movement of trade within the African region. Consequently, there will be unprecedented growth in the e-commerce space since the movement of products is now boundless, and payment of goods is fast and efficient, hence making the system compact. it will further encourage local producers in their medium or small-scale industries to finally embrace technology as it improves their business.
The Brij Technologies' Roadshow finally came to an end as many businesses present at the event all queued up for registration.
Author: Olatunji Olasehan
Olatunji Olasehan, is an educationist by profession but is currently a Merchant recruiter & Affiliate manager at HOG- Home. Office. Garden online marketplace. He just regained his long-time love for writing as he expresses himself in the mood of Art that depicts his nature in a stylish manner towards appreciating his evolving environment.
