PalmPay has been recognized for its commitment to driving financial inclusion in Nigeria as it received the Financial Inclusion Agent of the Year and Key Driver of Financial Inclusion Awards at the 2024 International Financial Inclusion Conference (IFIC) held on the 13th and 14th November in Lagos.

The event was hosted by the National Financial Inclusion Governance Committees, an engagement platform headed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that brings together regulatory institutions, financial services providers and development partners.

This year’s conference, themed “Inclusive Growth: Harnessing Inclusion for Economic Development,” united national and global stakeholders to discuss the critical role of financial inclusion in economic empowerment, and propose solutions towards achieving Nigeria’s 95% financial inclusion target by the end of 2024.

Mr Chika Nwosu, Managing Director at PalmPay Nigeria, expressed gratitude for the recognition, noting that the awards affirm the company’s mission to make financial services accessible to all.

“Our innovative approach combining an easy to use smartphone app with a nationwide network of over 500,000 mobile money agents has allowed us to expand financial access and make complex financial products available to a wider range of people. Today, we have over 35 million users on our consumer app, a third of whom report that PalmPay was their first-ever financial account,” he said.

“Additionally, our mobile money agents serve millions of consumers, including those who do not yet have a smartphone or their own account. Our agents represent the front line educating and onboarding the unbanked onto the financial ecosystem, helping PalmPay to contribute to driving Nigeria’s financial inclusion targets.”

PalmPay’s transformative contributions to financial inclusion since launching in 2019 include the provision of a reliable payment platform with an average 99.95% success rate. This helped drive more consumer spending online in a market where 10% failure rates were common.

Combining this reliability with a customer-centric business model – offering free bank transfers and discounts and cashback for making transactions such as airtime and bill payments – has helped fintech gain rapid market share in Africa’s most populous economy.

PalmPay’s aim is to build out a one-stop-shop financial ecosystem encompassing services for both consumers and businesses. Recent product lines include the launch of USSD capabilities for seamless offline transactions and API-based services for online merchants looking to send and collect payments in Nigeria and across Africa.

PalmPay is a leading emerging markets-focused fintech platform committed to driving economic empowerment in Africa. Through its reliable, user-friendly, and inclusive suite of financial services, PalmPay brings top-tier products into the pockets of everyday consumers and local and international merchants.

PalmPay offers money transfers, bill payments, credit services, and savings on its apps and via its mobile money agents. Since launching in Nigeria in 2019 under a Mobile Money Operator license, the platform’s ecosystem has grown to over 35 million smartphone app users and 1.2 million MSMEs. For more information, visit PalmPay social media platforms or website www.palmpay.com