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  Unlike in China, the United States, Europe and Canada, there is a great dearth in the Nigerian digital finance ecosystem regarding impact. Whether it’s e-commerce, person-to-person (P2P) transfers, savings, credit, and general financial technology, the nation’s digital finance landscape is not overwhelming compared to other climes.
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This is a result of a lack of knowledge on how research in the area of digital finance is impacted. In this article, I share four aspects that digital finance founders and stakeholders should consider when assessing the impact of a digital finance product.

  • Digital Finance Is Multi-Dimensional

One big lesson FinTech leaders and stakeholders must understand are that digital finance includes dozens of divergent products. Therefore, product developers and startup leaders must learn to extricate one digital finance product from the larger spectrum to understand the in-depth theories surrounding the aspect. For instance, it is very important for founders interested in savings products to create a clear distinction between related products like an investment. When there is a full grasp of the theories that make up savings, they can understand the right community of customers that need digital savings products. In another proportion, you can use results from studies on P2P transfers to understand the impact of digital credit. Undoubtedly, every product comes with its theory of what changes from interacting with it. To improve proficiency in the digital finance community, digital finance startup founders and stakeholders need to specify the gaps in product impact knowledge and allot resources to begin rectifying them.

  • Product Designs And Product Deliveries Differ

Stakeholders and founders in the digital ecosystem must acknowledge that product design and delivery vary. It must be understood that digital finance products are designed and delivered differently. The scope of digital is that it offers us the opportunity to enhance services, which traditionally influences the outcome when we integrate designs and delivery components. For illustration, one digital product and its delivery mechanism differ from the other due to different integration systems. A product designer can often deploy many non-digital and digital design and delivery mechanisms to build a digital finance product. This is why one may experience different customer outcomes from a digital credit product with a machine learning element versus a digital credit product without.
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Furthermore, differences in outcome can be a result of (1) the way they enlisted consumers, (2) the training content, (3) the price of the SMS, or (4) some mixture of these elements. However, stakeholders should note that design and delivery choices typically become a single data point in a study where they can understand the sum of the whole rather than the sum of the parts. 

  • Markets Differ

Digital finance product startups must understand that markets differ as they go about delivery and expansion. It is possible to test a similar product in two countries and get different client outcomes. This is, of course, attributed to capital, regulations, infrastructure, culture, regional experience and behaviour and finally, different needs and abilities to engage with the product, which varies from market to market. For example, in Nigeria, you are more likely to get digital adopters in Lagos than in most places in Nigeria. In Africa, Kenya and South Africa have a robust ecosystem where digital platform users abound more than anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, economic strength and the extant digital landscape are essential factors that founders and stakeholders must consider when designing and delivering digital finance products.

  • Consumers Differ

When designing digital products, product designers must consider the peculiarities of clients – from community to community, from zone to zone; and from country to country.
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It is very natural in the digital finance world to test the same product in the same country with a diverse customer community and generate different results. This is why the product developer must understand the peculiarities of a population segment before designing and delivering products. For instance, most communities in Southern Nigeria are more inclined to adopt digital financing than most in the northern part of the country. Hence, it is counterproductive to generalize when designing and delivering digital products. However, this is not a bad thing per se. But it is expedient that we put client demography at the centre of product development.

Final Words

To digital impact in an emerging market like Nigeria, digital finance stakeholders and founders must put a certain amount of consideration into diverse factors. In this article, we reviewed four factors that determine digital impacts. They include understanding how to create a divergence between various niches of digital finance and understanding the theories that govern them. Secondly, stakeholders must understand that product development and deliveries differ, and must learn to give heed to the innovations and tools they employ in getting desired outcomes. Thirdly, markets differ. Finally, customers differ and must be treated uniquely. Featured Image Source: ESI Africa
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This article was first published on 6th October 2022

nnaemeka-emmanuel

Nnaemeka is an academic scholar with a degree in History and International Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also a creative writer, content creator, storyteller, and social analyst.

Comments (2)

2 thoughts on “4 Things FinTech Founders Must Note To Make Digital Finance Impact”

  • gralion torile

    Just want to say your article is as astounding. The clarity in your post is just cool and i could assume you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission let me to grab your feed to keep updated with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please keep up the gratifying work.

    Reply
  • Binance

    Can you be more specific about the content of your article? After reading it, I still have some doubts. Hope you can help me.

    Reply

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