The Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of E-Settlement Olaoluwa Awojoodu have said that the agent network system is one of the major ways financial accessibility and inclusion can be enhanced for millions of Nigerians.
Awojoodu made a case for simplifying and easing financial access and how his company is bridging the gap for Nigerians during an exclusive live chat with The Guardian on Friday, June 25. “There is no way you want to provide financial accessibility to someone and the person has to travel all the way to banks or go through any form of hardship to get financial services,” Awojoodu said during the interview.
“We currently have over 60, 000 agents and the plan is to have about 200,000 within the next few months.
“For E-Settlement we are solving two major problems one of them is primarily getting people out of poverty by creating jobs and another major side of the problem solving is providing access to financial services.”
Awoojodu said E-Settlement has aided financial accessibility in Nigeria both in the rural and urban areas as banks cannot afford to open branches or cite Automated Teller Machine (ATM) in every community in the country.
He said the organisation is currently working on a foundation called Access Point that will also create solutions to financial accessibility in communities across Nigeria.
Awoojodu also noted that financial inclusion is the most important part of solving the poverty crisis in the country.
He explained that as long as Nigeria’s economy is still cash-driven agent network would continue to solve crucial financial problems in the society.
He said agent network has played a major role in the country’s financial system by enabling low-income individuals in the country to access financial services such as micro-savings, microcredit, micro insurance, digital payment and remittance.
He identified illiteracy, lack of financial education, and diversity of culture as challenges they face while providing financial services in rural communities in the country.
Awoodoju however said one of the benefits of financial accessibility is the agent network solution provided during the COVID-19 lockdown when they made sure that people could carry on with their financial transactions despite the unavailability of financial institutions.
