IT NEWS NIGERIA:
As preparations for the Third Quarter Forum of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) gather momentum, stakeholders in the Banking, ICT and FinTech sectors of the Nigerian economy have continued to throw their weight behind the event.
The latest to confirm his support for the programme is Mr. Austin Okere, Founder/Vice Chairman of Computer Warehouse Plc, who has accepted to chair the one-day event.
In a personally signed terse email dated August 14, 2017, and addressed to NITRA, Mr. Okere said: “Thank you for the invitation to chair this event. I am honoured and pleased to accept. I trust I shall be receiving more information in due course.”
Digital disruption is changing how traditional banking services, payments, and remittances are now offered in the digital economy. Almost all sectors of financial services including payments, money transfers, banking and more are being re-imagined by non-traditional providers and FinTechs, while the traditional incumbent providers are reinventing themselves very quickly to understand better, the puzzle presented by FinTech and how they can leverage on the digital movement.
The Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA), an umbrella body for journalists reporting information and communications technology in Nigeria is organising the third edition of its quarterly forum entitled “Digital Payment: Prospects and Challenges of a Financially Inclusive Nigeria.”
The event which holds on September 29, 2017 at Eko Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos, will not only highlight the challenges and opportunities in the FinTech space in Nigeria, but will also provide knowledge and networking platform that will bring the Nigeria Fintech industry at par with its counterparts across the globe.
The event also offers the Banking, ICT and FinTech industries an excellent opportunity to showcase some of their achievements before the largest gathering of the sectors players under one roof. It affords them the opportunity to share their contributions to Digital Payments as well as efforts towards actualizing financial inclusion in the country.
Austin Okere is Founder of CWG Plc and served as its Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. He has been Vice Chairman of Computer Warehouse Group Plc since June 2015 and also one of its Directors.
He serves as a member of the World Economic Forum Business Council on Innovation and Intrapreneurship. He serves on the Board of the National Competiveness Council of Nigeria and Initiative for Global Development, a Washington based nonprofit organization that drives poverty reduction by catalyzing business growth and investment in the developing world.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria and serves as a member of the National Telecoms Advisory Council of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON). He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria, as well as a Fellow of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS).
Okere is Entrepreneur in Residence, Columbia Business School, New York.
