Game on or game over🏌🏽?
Hello Venturer,
The last time I played Monopoly, I lost, in a rather humiliating way. I wished we could play again just so I could redeem my image, but we had to leave. The reason I lost was simple: my opponents "built houses" before I could, forcing me to spend all my cash on rent. I couldn't build anything anymore as I had to pay every time I landed on their properties.
Monopoly is just a fun business game. But it gives a little insight into the real-life business world. It's a wolf-eat-dog ecosystem. The aim is always to own market shares large enough to silence the competition; Become a top dog and run the others bankrupt. And it looks like we're all witnessing this happen in Nigeria's Fintech space.
Most of the VC funding goes to Fintech in Nigeria. But it appears the game is about to take a new turn. Recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) granted MTN Nigeria a license to operate a payment service bank (MoMo PSB). What followed that announcement was a mixture of excitement and curiosity.
The reason is that MTN's MoMo has dominated payments in other African countries to the extent that most fintechs that focused on mobile money hardly gain traction. So, will MTN silence the competition in Nigeria? Is this game on, or game over for Nigerian fintechs?
Oluwatosin Ogunjuyigbe
Staff writer, Ventures Africa.
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