\n\nAre you trying to transfer or receive funds into your Moniepoint Personal or Business bank account but have hit your account's daily transaction limit? We understand how that could make you feel! That is why it's possible to raise your daily/single credit and debit limit as you upgrade your KYC levels in your account. \nIt's important to know that these limits exist to safeguard your finances and ensure security. However, you might want to transact with more funds and need the flexibility to do so.\nLet's explore the various KYC levels, the daily/single credit and debit limits, and how to increase these limits.\nHow do I Increase the Transaction Limit on my Moniepoint Personal Banking App?\nYou can easily increase your daily/single debit and credit transaction limit on your \nMoniepoint Personal Banking app\n by upgrading your KYC levels. \nThere are three KYC levels you can upgrade to by providing the required documentation. These KYC levels come with their individual transaction limits.\n1. Level 1\nThe single credit limit for this level is N500,000, while the single debit limit is N50,000. On the other hand, the daily credit limit is N500,000, while the daily debit limit is N200,000. To upgrade to KYC level one, you will need to provide the following requirements:\nYour NIN or BVN details\nFace Verification\nResidential Address\nAttestation\n\n2. Level 2\n \nAt this level, the single credit limit is N5,000,000, while the single debit limit is N900,000. Additionally, the daily credit limit is N5,000,000, while the daily debit limit is N900,000. To upgrade to KYC level 2, you will need to provide the following requirements:\nBVN or NIN details\nNext of Kin details\nID Verification\nProof of Address\n\n3. Level 3\n \nThis final level has an unlimited single and daily credit limit; this means that your account has no credit transaction limit. On the other hand, your single debit limit is N1,000,000, while the daily debit limit is N25,000,000. \nTo increase your transaction limit, you will need to upgrade to this level by providing the following requirements:\nProof of Address Verification\nIndemnity\n\nHow do I Increase the Transaction Limit on my Moniepoint Business Banking App?\nYou can increase the transaction limit on your \nBusiness Banking Account\n, allowing you more flexibility to send and receive money from your vendors and customers. The different KYC levels and their transaction limits include:\n1. Level 1 \nThe single credit limit at this level is N500,000, while the single debit limit is N50,000. On the other hand, the daily credit limit is N500,000, while the daily debit limit is N200,000. To upgrade to KYC level one, you will need to provide the following requirements:\nBVN or NIN details\nFace Verification\nResidential Address\nBusiness Details\nBusiness Address\nAttestation\n\n2. Level 2 \nThe single credit limit for level two is N5,000,000, while the single debit limit is N900,000. Additionally, the daily credit limit is N5,000,000, while the daily debit limit is N900,000. To increase your Moniepoint business banking account transaction limit by upgrading to KYC 2, you need to provide the following requirements:\nBVN or NIN details\nNext of Kin details\nID Verification\nProof of Address (Residential)\n\n3. Level 3\nLike the personal account, this level has an unlimited single and daily credit limit. It means that your account has no credit transaction limit. On the other hand, your single debit limit is N5,000,000, while the daily debit limit is N25,000,000. The requirements for this level upgrade are as follows:\nProof of Address (Residential)\nIndemnity\n\n4. Level 4 \nYou have an unlimited single and daily credit limit at this level. Also, your single debit limit is N50,000,000, while your daily debit limit is N250,000,000. You can upgrade to KYC level four with the following requirements:\nBusiness Registration Type\nSupporting Documents\nBusiness Names Review\nAttestation\n\n5. Level 5 \nAt the final level, you can access unlimited transactions, including single and daily credit and debit transactions. The requirement to upgrade to this level is…\nInternal Business Registration Document Review\n\nConclusion\nOn the different KYC levels, you can improve your banking experience on the Moniepoint \nPersonal\n and \nBusiness\n Banking app and enjoy seamless transactions with unlimited potential.

How to Increase Your Moniepoint Account Daily Limit

\nAt Oyingbo market, Lagos, Nigeria,  the air is filled with shouts and the scent of fresh produce. You're there, hands full of groceries, heart racing as you reach the front of the queue. The seller is impatient, and you're fumbling with your phone, trying to open your banking app. But your PIN, what was it again? With people close enough to peek over your shoulder, the fear of someone catching your PIN adds to the stress. Then, you notice a fingerprint-shaped button on your screen. With a simple touch, the app opens. Relief!\nYou just avoided a minor mishap, but this moment shows how biometric technology is helping to keep your financial details safe. Gone are the days of relying solely on passwords you use on a million websites, or complex passwords you forget 2 minutes after you set it.  Now, something as personal as your fingerprint can ensure your financial transactions are safe. It's security based on who you are, not just what you can remember.\nBeyond finance, this transition to biometric authentication is making our daily interactions with technology smoother and more natural. To unlock our smartphones, to speed up airport check-ins. We spoke with Tolulope, one of the product managers who built Monepoint’s biometric features, to dive into how this technology has evolved, how it works, and the benefits it offers. 
\nHow we got to biometrics\nLong before smartphones and the internet, people had to find ways to keep their belongings safe. At the time, the most advanced security was a lock and key, or a secret password only a few people knew. \nIn the early days of banking, security meant a strong vault/safe and a complex combination lock. You confirmed your identity with a paper signature and relied on humans to verify. It was a simple time, but signatures could be forged, and keys could be stolen. \nAs technology advanced, personal identification numbers (PINs), and passwords came around. With four digits or letters, you can now access your money. Transactions became smoother and “somewhat’ safer. Yet, we all know how easily we forget passwords,  kids or nephews/nieces easily guess passwords when we put in little effort, and it’s not safe from prying eyes or social engineers. \nWe use something far more personal and unique to secure your device or finances. You. Your fingerprint, the shape of your face, your voice, or the pattern of your iris are very hard to duplicate or steal. Right now, biometrics are part of our daily activities and it’s become natural and intuitive.\nInterestingly, the use of human features for identification dates back to 500 BC, when ancient Babylonians used clay tablets with fingerprints to record business transactions. In the 19th century, an employer used handprints to identify employees, and a French police officer used body measurements to identify criminals. Sir Francis Galton, created a detailed system for identifying fingerprints. In 1936, an Ophthalmologist, Francis Burch, first proposed the concept of using the iris to identify individuals, and Bells Labs designed a speech recognition system in 1952. The financial sector has followed this evolution. \n\n\nNow, let's look at this technology more closely and explain why it's becoming indispensable in our daily lives.\nHow biometrics work\n\n\nThink of biometric authentication like your home's front door. Instead of using a key that anyone could copy or lose, it opens only at the sight of your face or the touch of your finger. It's as if your house recognises you and lets you in. Biometric authentication has two parts: “Bio” (as in “Biology”) and “Metrics” (as in rules and systems for measuring data, created by really smart people). \nThis technology is based on a simple idea: everyone is unique. Just so we’re clear, here are the ways biometrics exist with fintechs today;\nFingerprint Scans\n: Perhaps the most popular on the list, fingerprint scans capture the ridges and valleys of your fingerprint. While you deal with the image of ridges and valleys at the tip of your finger, just know that every fingerprint is distinct. \nVoice Recognition\n:  It checks what makes your voice unique, like its pitch, rhythm, and tone.  Imagine it as a voice fingerprint, as distinct as your physical one.\nFacial Recognition\n: This system maps the contours of your face, recognising the distances between your eyes, the shape of your nose, and the pattern of your facial features.\nSignature recognition\n: Here, you don’t just get to sign. It looks at how you sign your name, focusing on pressure, speed, and stroke patterns.\nBeyond these three popular types, we also have Iris scans, signature recognition, hand geometry, gait recognition, vein patterns, and DNA analysis.\nWhat makes biometrics so useful?\nLet’s face it: No one wants their device or bank accounts compromised, and biometrics offer a higher level of security. Banks and fintech companies, like Moniepoint, use this technology to ensure that it’s really you accessing your account. It’s designed to make transactions smoother and safer.\nFun fact\n: It will take just 0.19 milliseconds to hack a password you set as “password”. That’s faster than you can blink.\nFingerprints, for instance, are much harder to forge, steal, or guess than say, signatures or passwords. While it might take you a few seconds to type in what should be a complex password, Biometrics are almost instant. \nHow we approach biometric authentication\nAt Moniepoint, we think banking should be easy, safe, and make you happy. If you’ve been following this series, you should understand that we balance compliance requirements, technology adoption and the customer’s needs. We’re customer-obsessed, we focus on time to delivery, and we have a technically capable team working on features like our biometrics.  \nWithout getting into technical details you probably don’t care about, we set up our biometric system in a way that reduces the chances of someone getting into a customer’s account. \nWe took facial verification beyond taking a picture. You now have to smile or roll your head so the verification company can ensure you’re not holding someone’s picture in front of the camera. \nWe also provide constant notifications so the user can see every activity, even log-ins, to spot when something is out of place. The result is we make it way harder for anyone to get access to your account. \nWe also set up our systems to be as fast as possible. The benchmark for every transaction we do at Moniepoint, including biometric authentication, is the 100th millisecond. However, some services and APIs are running way below that benchmark.\nWe did this by making sure we bring in smart and skilled technical team. This team is free to evolve on their own with the company’s support in the background. As a result, we end up building a solid foundation, structure and the right database in a way that benefits the products and features we build. \nIf you’d love to join us to build the future of secure digital payments in Africa, visit our \ncareers page\n. See you in the next one!\n

What’s the point of Biometrics in banking?


Hey there! I'm Chris. In this current phase of my life, I’m navigating the world of recruitment at Moniepoint. It’s not common to approach recruitment from a sales perspective, but my experience has shown a pretty strong connection between the two. Here, I will share my ideas on sales and recruitment and how the ways they overlap help find the best people for every role. \nFirst, let’s start with a bit of my background \nWho is Chris? \n\nBorn and raised in the States, I'm the product of hard-working immigrant parents who carved out a better life for their kids in a cosy East Bay Area suburb. Growing up, it took me a while to realise their sacrifices and how these shaped my perspective on work and life. My mom, an Ecuadorian immigrant, embodies the sense of hard work, independence and grit taught to her by her mother. My dad, a successful professional in the oil and gas industry, showed me the meaning of discipline and perseverance.\nMy first job didn't come until I was 17, thanks to the comfortable life my parents provided. I worked at a coffee shop as a barista, making coffee and lattes for people. It helped me build my people relations skills. From then on, I took up jobs and roles that leaned towards people and sales.\nStumbling into recruitment, therefore, was a mix of serendipity and my inherent drive to do quality work, treat people with respect, and be kind. Reflecting on it, my approach to recruitment and in a way, my stint in sales have been deeply influenced by my background.\n
\nHow I found my way into Recruitment \nRemember I said I had a career stint in sales? I sold ads in a school newspaper at the university I attended. I also worked at a non-profit where I was responsible for selling tickets for an annual event, which was our main fundraiser for the year. I also worked as a salesperson in a couple of software start-ups where I was either directly selling or had to get qualified leads booked for my manager to have sales meetings with potential clients. \nI was also in a business fraternity where I was responsible for different things. For example, I was in charge of  “Alumni Relation” where I was responsible for re-building relationships with people who used to be members and raising money from them. I also had to figure out ways to leverage their position in tech companies to benefit our active members. This led to several people finding jobs and internships. Although I didn’t realise it then, I was actually serving as a connecting dot and being a recruiter. \nThrough these experiences, I saw that sales and recruitment were alike. This led me to join a recruitment agency as an entry-level recruitment coordinator when I moved to Portugal. When we think about recruitment, it's easy to overlook the skills borrowed from sales that make a recruiter truly exceptional.\nThe Intersection of Recruitment and Sales\nImagine you were a candidate I was convincing to join Moniepoint. What would you like me to do? What would you like to see or hear? And would that be different from, say, trying to get you to buy something? In my experience, not so much.\nRecruitment, like sales, centres on three pillars:\nRelationship building\nMy approach has always been to treat candidates respectfully, genuinely understand their career aspirations, and maintain high-quality interactions. This philosophy isn't something I consciously decided to follow; it reflects the values instilled in me by my parents and my cultural heritage.\nPersuasion\nPersuasion is another sales skill that plays a pivotal role in recruitment. It’s not about manipulation. Rather, it's the art of presenting opportunities in a way that resonates with candidates. Every time I speak with a potential candidate, I try to highlight how the role aligns with their aspirations and growth. Similarly, in sales, it's about showing the value of a product in meeting a customer's needs. This skill demands a deep understanding of both the product and the customer—or, in the case of recruitment, the role and the candidate. It's about painting a picture of a future that's too compelling to pass up.\nGrit\nAs a recruiter, I’ve come to accept that not every candidate would take up my offer. However, when there’s a candidate I’m sure would offer value to the company, grit is what keeps me going even when the candidate declines. I once followed up with a potential candidate for over 6 months because I was sure the candidate was the best fit for the role.  Grit is perhaps the most critical value I bring to my role: a relentless determination and resilience that I've inherited from my hard-working parents. This quality is necessary in both sales and recruitment. Facing rejections, navigating challenging negotiations, and continuously striving to meet targets require a level of perseverance that not everyone possesses. Grit means pushing through the no’s to get to a yes, constantly refining your approach and never losing sight of your goals. It's about being resourceful, learning from each interaction, and never giving up on finding the perfect match for both candidates and the company.\n\nInterestingly, my experience in sales helped solidify these principles. Sales is about connecting with people, understanding their needs, and providing value. Similarly, recruitment is about connecting the right people with the right roles, understanding the needs of both the candidates and the company, and ensuring a good fit. The two aren't all that different when you boil them down to their essence, as both require empathy, understanding, and the ability to build trust.\nMy laid-back tone and approachable manner might mask the depth of determination inherited from my parents. My mom's tenacity and my dad's discipline have subtly influenced my work ethic, making me relentless in pursuing quality and excellence in recruitment. This has not only helped me stand out in my field but also in building meaningful, lasting relationships in the professional world.\nMoreover, my international background has endowed me with a broader perspective, allowing me to appreciate diversity and leverage it in recruitment strategies. Recognising the strength in diverse experiences and backgrounds has been key in my role, much like it is in sales, where understanding and adapting to various customer backgrounds can make or break deals.\n
\nExpanding my Experience at Moniepoint \n\nMy experience at Moniepoint has been nothing short of enlightening, largely due to the incredible people I've had the pleasure of working with. As an international company, Moniepoint has introduced me to individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds, enriching my professional life and personal growth. This diversity mirrors my own multicultural upbringing and aligns with my belief in the strength of diverse perspectives.\nWorking at Moniepoint, I've found a place where my values—quality, respect, empathy, and grit—are not just appreciated but are part of the company’s values. The opportunity to meet and interact with people from all walks of life has not only enhanced my recruitment skills but has also made my daily work deeply rewarding.\nThanks for joining me on this personal reflection. Come join us and make a difference at Moniepoint through the work you do by checking out our \ncareers page\n. 

How My Background in Sales Prepared Me For Recruitment 

\n\nDing!! Yup, that's the sound of your first salary payment or probably the first significant salary after a career upgrade. \nBeginning your career journey and getting compensated for it for the first time is exciting and memorable. However, as a first-time employee, the associated deductions like taxes and pension annuity contributions can come as a surprise. \nFurthermore, deducting essential expenses like rent, school fees, and home upkeep without a solid financial management plan can overwhelm you. In fact, research shows that  \n63% of Nigerians\n say that their income is not enough for them, let alone with dependants. \nKnowing how to manage your money before it hits your bank account enables you to create a long-term safety net for yourself. Sounds like a lot of work, right? No worries; we'll explore six good money habits to start with your first salary.\n1. Understanding your Fixed Monthly Expenses\nA good thing about fixed monthly expenses is that they are expected, and having a fixed income enables you to plan accordingly. Deductions like rent, utility bills, subscriptions, etc., are constant, and you have to ensure that you're spending less than you're earning. \nUltimately, tracking your expenses on an Excel spreadsheet, apps like Expensify and  GoodBudget, or your notebook helps you stay aware of your expenses and make adequate financial decisions.\n2. Create a Budget\nA key to appropriately spending your first salary is to create a workable budget. A reasonable budget lets you keep track of your expenses and enables you to start saving realistically.\nListing your expenses in a budget helps you learn what items are necessary and which are non-essential. A common budgeting rule you could start with is the 50-30-20 rule, which involves dividing your income into three groups. \nThese categories include 50% for your needs, 30% towards your wants, and 20% for savings. For instance, if you earn 100,000 naira per month, you can set aside 50,000 for rent, school fees, and utilities. \nYou can also allocate 30,000 naira for wants, like eating out and entertainment, and finally set aside 20,000 naira for savings. Ultimately, spending according to your budget helps you build good money habits.\n\n(\nSource\n)\n3. Set up an Emergency Fund\nYou should balance the excitement of earning your first salary with the need to plan properly for your financial future. If there's a common truth, it's that life doesn't always go according to plan, which is why you need to build an emergency fund for unexpected uses. \nYou can draft out what you consider an emergency, such as a health crisis or an accident. A workable rule of thumb is to have enough savings to handle six months' worth of unexpected expenses. \nConsider putting these funds in a high-yield savings account like the \nMoniepoint Personal savings\n plan.\n\n(\nSource\n)\n4. Pay off Pending Debts\nEarning your money without anyone dictating how you can spend it comes with its temptations. This is why, upon earning your first salary, create a plan to pay off any pending debt and avoid creating more. \nYou can maintain solid long-term financial goals by prioritizing paying off essential debts and only taking calculated loans.\n5. Start an Investment\nThe best time to start investing is yesterday. This is a sure way to grow your money even while sleeping. You can start by learning about the \nvarious investment options\n and explore which ones match your risk profile to aid you in making informed decisions. \nRegardless of how little you want to start with, you can gain financial freedom by building your investment portfolio over time.\n\n6. Enjoy Spending your Disposable Income\nWhether you wish to save up for a vacation or enjoy the immediate gratification of ordering your long-awaited desires, your disposable income is yours to spend. \nWe all have a responsibility to take care of ourselves, and it is advisable to do so after deducting essential expenses. Proper money management can be complicated at first, but your financial situation becomes favourable once you get the hang of it.\n7. Saving for Retirement\nWe all expect to grow old someday, and it's only proper to lay the financial foundations for that phase by \nsaving for retirement\n. \nBy leveraging the principle of compound interest on your initial deposits, you can earn increased interest and build up your retirement accounts. \nYour company-sponsored retirement plans are adequate as you get to put in pre-tax funds and have your company contribute to your retirement plans.\n\nFinal Words\nYour first salary opens the doors to a lifetime of financial responsibilities, and your ability to channel your finances properly is essential. \nUsing a \nMoniepoint Personal Banking Accoun\n\nt\n enables you to perform reliable and secure transactions with your salary, from saving money and smooth transfers to bill and utility payments.

7 Good Money Habits to Start with Your First Salary

At the beginning of the year, we shot \nthis video\n with our team. In it, we spoke about how we've all found the feeling of what it means to work for a company where you can see the products you create impacting people every day. We've seen our products become a part of not just our lives but also the lives of those around us – customers, and businesses.\n\n\nKelvin, who’s on the User Experience team, spoke about how remarkable it felt to see his wife using a product that he had designed. He remembered how she used to shuttle between accounts for her maternal care business before she switched to Moniepoint. Seeing the product he worked on improving her experience was fulfilling.\nAlmost everyone on our team has a story about someone they know who either uses a Moniepoint product or has been influenced by its impact. And this brings me to why I wrote this short piece about marketing from the inside out.\nTypically, organisations think about Marketing from a “how to reach new customers” perspective, or from a “selling to new and recycled audiences” perspective. However, thinking about marketing solely from this point of view can be quite limiting and keeps you thinking inside the box. There may be a huge audience you’re not paying attention to - your employees.\nIn this short article, I’ll attempt to paint the picture of our Internal Communications at Moniepoint. Beyond just conveying information, it is a combination of communicating and marketing to this very valuable group of customers. \nWhat is Internal Marketing?\nInternal Marketing refers to marketing communications directed at the internal stakeholders of an organisation, i.e. the employees. Here, the customers are the employees themselves. Yes, those who build the product, sell the product, help the organisation run efficiently and everything in between - the people who help shape the what and how of the organisation itself.\nWhy are we crazy about Internal Marketing at Moniepoint?\nInformation Flow\n\n\nAs a growing company, focusing on Internal Stakeholders helps us move fast without leaving anyone behind. By allotting attention to internal marketing, we make room for information holistically. Company updates, employee activities, processes, and new goals are communicated not only with a view to “just let people know what's going on”, but also to get their buy-in. And getting their buy-in means helping employees understand details about decisions and activities, and what it means for them on an individual level, and for the organisation as a whole.\nEngaged employees\n\n\nWe are a bunch of curious, technically adept people at Moniepoint, and we play with these characteristics in internal comms/marketing. We leverage our internal comms to keep employees engaged with one another, especially because we are a remote company—from games where people win prizes and tickets to frequent company hangouts.\nFor example, we use Workplace to give employees reason and corners to bond over diverse interest points and then hangout based on these interests - we’ve had pockets of movie corner hangouts; we also had a football match in July.\nInternal marketing is our surefire way of driving genuine enthusiasm about the company’s products, and activities amongst our employees. We are keen on involvement, so we ensure everyone knows what’s going on, what it means for them as internal stakeholders, and how they can be involved.\nEmployees and Stakeholders as Influencers\nAnother reason we take internal marketing to heart is to *whispering* give employees an innate reason to be \nvoltrons\n of the company's work and culture. Eh, if you’re too young to remember Voltron, think of them as the Avengers instead.\nWe definitely want our people to talk about the various impact the work they do has on people, communities, and society at large. This is why you see employees excitedly talk about how they feel when they see Moniepoint POS at a Merchant’s store.\nEmployee branding\nWe are big on employees being outspoken about their technical depth. An internally engaged employee naturally wants to share their genius with the world. With increased brand awareness, employees are better equipped to do their work.\nHow we approach Internal Marketing\nWe use a 2 pronged approach to internal marketing - Content and Policies\nContent\nWe leverage a vibrant content production strategy. We create stories that help people get to know one another, address engaging topics, create interactive activities, and create ways for information to flow. We come up with the most creative ways to convey even the most boring topics and information and get people involved.\nPolicies & Programs\nWe have programs in place to nudge our internal customers into the most satisfied group. For example, we started a performance bonus program that ensures employees are rewarded in addition to their salaries based on performance. We also have a policy that inadvertently encourages and cultivates collaboration across levels and departments.\nWhat can you take away from this?\nCaveat: \nWe’re not perfect. But the ways we’ve mentioned above ensure that our employees are at the centre of everything we do.

Creating a well-engaged community of employees takes intentionality, especially as the company expands and grows - You want to ensure that there is a constant air of ownership, and a culture of team spirit - a great way to kickstart this is through your internal communications; make it enjoyable, cultivate the values you want on display with the right triggers, and create good policies that ensure the love of your employees. ;)

Why we take Internal Comms to heart at Moniepoint

\nEjiro is the founder of Anaborhi, a Nigerian female-owned maternal and baby company. Their focus is supporting breastfeeding and childcare for a wholesome experience for Nigerian mothers. Her company pioneered locally owned products like Breast Pumps, Feeding Bottles, Nipple Shields, and more.\nHer company was founded in 2019, but just as quickly, they began to experience challenges with accepting payments. In her words, “Sometimes, if a customer sends money, up to the next day, I won’t get it. And then, customers start getting frustrated”.\nWith challenges like this, she needed an instant and reliable banking solution to ensure that customers' payments went through every time.\nHer first encounter with Moniepoint? Our business banking solution.\n\nEjiro’s husband, Kevin, is a User Experience designer at Moniepoint. Through him, she learned about our business banking solution and considers herself one of the first 10 people to sign up as soon as it launched.\nNow, her customers can pay seamlessly to her business, without the issues that accompany delayed payments. For her, this means;\nInstant payments\nNo dispute issues\nEasier customer interactions\nWith a seamless business banking experience, Ejiro found it easy to sign up for Moniepoint’s personal banking solution. Moniepoint’s terminals everywhere around her mean she can rest easy knowing that every transaction she makes will go through.\nIf you’d like to enjoy a seamless business and personal banking experience, visit \nmoniepoint.com/ng\n

Simplifying payments for Anaborhi, a women-focused Nigerian business.

When I started working at Moniepoint, I knew it would be hard and rewarding, seeing that Moniepoint is a fast-growing company. I love the Moniepoint energy! We don’t wait around for things to happen—we are always at the forefront of changes, envisaging them, making room for them, and creating products and features ahead of the curve. This makes my work here super-rewarding.\nHi, My name is Konstantinos Prassas. I joined Moniepoint in October 2022, as an Enterprise Architect, and now I’m a Principal Software Engineer. This is a short breakdown of how I think about processes.\n\n\nWhat every day looks like for me\nWhen I started, there was one payments team, which meant that the team handled every form of payment - card payments, withdrawals, purchases, etc. We also dealt with POS transfers, transfers, deposits, savings. Everything. \nNow, we've split into three teams, and since late last year, I've been leading the card payments team as Principal Software Engineer. Every day, I deal with production issues and help the rest of the engineering team. \nI also handle the deployments. I work with the product manager to meet business goals and technical KPIs. One of the many perks of working here is that I have ownership of the product(s) I’m working on, so I can be very structured and put in the right processes. \nI have a team of five: two Software Engineers, two QA Engineers, and one Technical Product Manager.\nThe most exciting thing about my work\nI absolutely love working on new features. That may seem like a no-brainer to someone else, but it's dear to my heart. We engineers sometimes struggle in companies where people do not commit much to a new feature or a change going live. 

At Moniepoint, however, we’re always forward-thinking in that aspect. Because we have as much ownership of the product as possible, this translates to commitment—to an effort, task, or a new feature. Whenever there's a new feature or a new improvement that we're going to do, I get really excited. \nAnother major thing I love about my work is that it gives me the platform to advocate for best practices. I’m constantly optimising best practices and best processes to help engineers level up.\nProcesses need some level of PR because they have such a bad reputation. Sometimes, engineers and business people feel that implementing and enforcing processes makes progress harder. But in reality, only bad processes do that.\nA good process helps things go faster. It also creates a sense of security for the participants involved, because you know you're not reinventing the wheel or going on your own.  You have the proper structures and how-tos, from the inception of a project, when it comes from business, right down to the user experience after the deployment.

\n\nMy go-to framework and mental model\nThe most important mental model that has helped me a lot to communicate with my colleagues and also helped me set up guides for myself when implementing, is a Unified Modeling Language (UML), a language created for diagrams. \nI'm a big fan of diagrams - component diagrams, flow diagrams, and diagrams in general, because a picture, as they say, is a thousand words.\nFor me, a flow or sequence diagram gives my mind the same feeling as a video. I look at it and understand a lot of things that would be hard to explain in a document. Over the years, it has been really helpful for me, especially when creating user stories or presenting a new use case.\nI also love how the UML started as a more technical way to describe technical documents or actual architecture classes and evolved into a tool that works across various aspects of our work, not just technical stuff—from logistics to accounting to engineering everywhere. It's a really sweet and smooth way to communicate complexities in a standardised format.\nMy ideology on leadership \nFor me, leadership means building trust in my team, colleagues, engineers, QAs, and everyone to uphold their side of the work. Trust is very important so that we don't micromanage. Trust also leads to a feeling of safety. People perform better when they feel safe than when they feel anxious or fearful.\nTrust in your team needs to be built, and it takes some time. It can be difficult with new teams, but I think trust is the biggest thing that I want to do. And it goes both ways: the team's trust in me and my trust in the team.\nFor fun\nI mostly play music for fun. I play the guitar and bass. I used to hike when I was in my hometown, but since moving to Athens, I find it tedious to get in my car and stay in traffic to go to a mountain. It ruins the experience of the mountains or the sea for me to stay in traffic. \nSo, when I want to relax, the first thing I do is pick up an instrument and play something alone to clear my mind. Sometimes, I have friends come over, and we play something together.\nMoniepoint is a fast-paced and incredibly rewarding environment. If you'd like to do engineering that makes a difference, visit our \ncareers page\n to join us.

My framework for leading as an engineer

\n\nNigeria's definitive bank for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as their customers and employees, Moniepoint Microfinance Bank, has unveiled its new Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, USSD service. This service, accessible via the account control code *5573#, offers a fast, secure, and user-friendly platform for consumers to conduct their banking activities with ease, from any mobile device without the need for an internet connection. This move is expected to increase convenience and accessibility whilst showcasing the bank's commitment to financial inclusion and enhancing safety and security across the digital payment ecosystem.\nThe USSD Banking suite includes a variety of services such as Funds Transfer, Airtime and Data Purchase, Account Balance and Details Inquiry, PIN Management, and Account Security Measures like Blocking/Unblocking access for oneself or others. The introduction of *5573# is a security measure against unauthorised access, safeguarding customer funds in case of loss or theft of mobile phones, ATM Cards, or hardware tokens, and in situations where account details may be compromised. This code empowers customers to secure their accounts promptly from any mobile device, without needing to contact the bank, especially in cases of suspected fraud.\n"At Moniepoint MFB, our top priorities are delivering exceptional customer service through digital innovation and ensuring the highest security standards," said Babatunde Olofin, Managing Director, Moniepoint MFB. "Our new USSD service provides the convenience of mobile banking with an added layer of security that gives customers control over protecting their accounts, even by using a third-party mobile device.”\nHe continued, “We have always been guided by our mission to create a society where everyone experiences financial happiness, and in these times, what that looks like for us is increasingly empowering consumers to take charge over their bank accounts, even as we curate a seamless and secure banking experience. In addition, we have always spoken about our commitment in supporting the central bank's financial inclusion agenda. With this feature, customers, especially the least digital-savvy ones, irrespective of their location, have now been eminently positioned to carry out a wide range of transactions effortlessly.”\nExisting customers, encompassing business and personal accounts, can initiate transactions and manage their accounts, by navigating to \nUSSD Banking\n settings on their mobile banking app in order to activate this feature while new users will have the feature activated by default upon sign up. \nIt will be recalled that in 2022, Moniepoint MFB received an award from the CBN as the most inclusive payment platform in the country. Moniepoint MFB helps over 3 million people and businesses with banking, payments processing, access to loans and business management tools with a view to powering their dreams. Moniepoint MFB has established a solid reputation for reliable service, synonymous for innovation, and a deep commitment to delivering value-added solutions in the Nigerian market. 

Moniepoint MFB unveils new feature to combat fraud and enhance convenience. 

From being the only one on the team when I first joined to now leading a team of 6, what a ride it has been! As I reflect on my journey with Moniepoint, I realise that the path of learning and development is about imparting knowledge and helping others find their best selves. Wondering how I got started with Moniepoint and the Learning and Development team? Let me share my story. \nMy professional genesis\n\n\nMy passion for learning and development started during my university years, and has, over the past decade, evolved from academic roles to spearheading learning initiatives in several organisations. Before Moniepoint, I was an academic director at Utiva and played pivotal roles at [AI] Analytics Intelligence and Triciabiz, among others. These roles and experiences honed my program management and learning operations skills, setting the stage for my next big leap. \nInterestingly, I wasn’t actively applying for a job when Moniepoint contacted me.  But it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up, and I started with the team on the 21st of March, 2022. Known as TeamApt at the time, the company had already made significant strides in digitising payments for banks—a testament to its innovative spirit. What stood out to me wasn't just the role itself but the company's flexibility, openness to growth, and the chance to work alongside global minds. It was a perfect match for my aspirations and my personal mission to bring about change through learning.\nJoining Moniepoint, I was faced with the challenge of creating a Learning and Development (L&D) framework from scratch. My objective was clear: to empower the workforce with the knowledge, skills and capabilities necessary to deliver their responsibilities. Drawing from my extensive experience in educational program management, instructional design, and technology, I identified three core elements essential for any learning initiative's success: technology, content, and people.\nLaying the L & D foundations\nThe first challenge was to create a learning and development framework for a team that was rapidly evolving - the offline distribution team (also known as the offline sales team).  I had to deeply understand my "customers" – the employees. Rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach with off-the-shelf learning platforms, I applied a product management lens to this task. This approach allowed me to understand the unique learning preferences and constraints of a team that was always on the move.\nThe end result? A custom learning platform designed to continuously upskill our distribution team without disrupting their work schedules. This wasn't only about getting the technology right; it required creating content that was engaging, accessible, and, most importantly, integrated into the team’s daily operations. \nIt was designed so that all they had to do was log into their CRM tool, and it would show them the courses they were supposed to learn for the week. With a click, they could access the courses and complete the required module for the week. This straightforward method ensured they never had to go to another place to learn. \n\nOvercoming challenges\nMy next task was to build a Learning and Development (L&D) team from the ground up within a dynamic and rapidly evolving company like Moniepoint. Soon, I realised that I couldn’t handle it alone, so I hired more people to join the team. Today, the learning and development team has learning specialists, a content manager, and a creative designer. \nAnother significant challenge was integrating our internal learning management system (LMS) with existing management systems. This integration was crucial for creating a seamless learning experience that aligned with the Moniepoint team's daily workflows. The challenge here was balancing my project timeline with the engineering team's availability. \nIn facing these challenges, I dedicated considerable effort to deepen my understanding of Moniepoint's customers and the industry at large. In retrospect, this period of waiting and apparent inactivity was a strategic investment. It allowed me to gain insights into our team's specific needs and challenges, which made the latter L&D initiatives more targeted and impactful. This deep dive into customer and industry understanding ensured that we were better positioned to create and implement solutions that resonated deeply with our audience when the SMEs and engineering support became available.\nLooking back, it's clear that these early challenges were not merely obstacles but stepping stones that enabled me to build a robust, impactful L&D framework that continues to drive Moniepoint forward.\nMatching up with the evolving landscape\nAs Moniepoint continued to evolve, it was evident that we had to adapt and refine our Learning and Development (L&D) strategies to meet the company's shifting needs. Our metrics of success centre on adoption, engagement, and retention. Our approach focuses on treating learning initiatives as products, with distinct goals aimed at maximising our success metrics.\nAt the core of any L&D initiative we set up, are the Functional, Adoption, Onboarding and Growth features. The functional features ensure that every learning initiative we launch has a clear and tangible value to our employees. Adoption features ensure that there are no barriers, and every team member finds it easy to engage with learning content.  Once a team member decides to engage with an L&D initiative, the Onboarding features come into play. These features ensure learners feel supported and understand how to navigate the learning environment effectively.  Finally, we use Growth features to keep our L&D programs relevant and valuable over time. These features are designed to evolve with the learner, offering advanced content, new challenges, and opportunities for further development as they progress. \nSuccessfully implementing these strategies relies heavily on the right mix of technology, content, and people. The technology we choose must support the functional, adoption, onboarding, and growth features of our L&D programs, offering a seamless and accessible learning experience. The content must be relevant, engaging, and aligned with our team's needs, while the people driving these initiatives—whether L&D professionals, subject matter experts, or managers—must be committed to fostering a culture of continuous learning and development.\nOur recent initiatives \nAs Moniepoint grew, so did the scope of our learning initiatives. From focusing solely on the sales team, we expanded to encompass the entire organisation. This expansion was not just in breadth but depth, with our team creating specialised programs and courses tailored to various departmental needs.\nBy engaging directly with team managers, directors, and vice presidents, we identified critical skills and knowledge areas that could significantly enhance the performance of various teams. This led to the rapid development of courses to meet these identified needs. We also subscribed to e-learning platforms like Udemy Business and Google Cloud Skill Boost to improve learning across the company. \nLooking ahead\n\n\nOur next steps include scaling our initiatives, enhancing our metrics, and, most importantly, continuing to light the path for our team to grow, innovate, and excel. The journey so far has been incredibly rewarding, and I'm excited for what lies ahead. Together, we're not just navigating the learning curve; we're redefining it.\nStepping into the role of leading and building the Learning and Development (L&D) team at Moniepoint has been a journey marked by challenges and triumphs. This role, unlike any other I've assumed before, has had a profound impact on my personal and professional growth. It has pushed me to confront my vulnerabilities, be open to learning on the fly, and be comfortable with being uncomfortable. These experiences have taught me the value of grit and the strength that lies in vulnerability. \nProfessionally, the journey has been a catalyst for tremendous growth. This has not only stretched my capabilities but also refined them. It compelled me to innovate, adapt, and apply a broad spectrum of skills ranging from product management to strategic planning and team leadership. It has also deepened my understanding of how to effectively manage and inspire a team towards achieving shared goals, even in the face of uncertainty and change.\nMoniepoint has moulded me into a better version of myself, and you can enjoy this character development, too. Visit our \ncareers page\n now—there’s a role for you!

Improving the working experience at Moniepoint through learning and development

\n\nNearly everyone in the banking system faces this. You just received a huge sum of money for the first time ever, but you hit a roadblock when you try to cash out. When you go to the bank, they ask you for an updated utility bill to upgrade your account. But why? What’s the big deal with utility bills?\nThe answer is one of the biggest cardinal rules in finance. KYC, short for "Know Your Customer." It’s how banks verify who you are to prevent fraud. It's a global practice designed to keep the financial system safe for everyone. Utility bills are just one branch of KYC that verifies that you live where you say you live. To help us understand why this is important, we brought in Grace from our legal team and Glory from our Compliance and transaction monitoring team.\nHow KYC is structured\nKnow Your Customer (KYC) regulations are very important rules that financial institutions must follow to verify who their clients are. You might find this cringe, but the series of questions couples face when facing either parent for the first time? That truly captures the spirit of KYC. \nBanks and financial institutions need to know who they’re doing business with to prevent fraud and financial crimes like money laundering. KYC needs to have non-negotiable features.  \n
\nComponents of KYC\nGlobally, KYC has three components. There can be slight variations from country to country or bank to bank but think of these components as boxes to tick before banking anyone—business or individual. They include: \nIdentifying the customer\n: This is where the bank establishes that the customer is who they say they are. They provide documents that prove their name, address, date of birth, and nationality. For businesses, it could include things like business licenses, incorporation details, or financial statements. \nRunning due diligence\n: Once the customer provides details, the bank needs to know what information they can trust (Risk profile). They could get additional information from private companies or public agencies and verify where they actually live. They also do the same checks for business owners. \nOngoing monitoring\n: The KYC process never stops. Today's risky customer could be tomorrow's model citizen or vice versa. Banks monitor things like how often the customer moves money, the typical amount that comes in and goes out, and the customer's usual location. In some cases, banks could track political activities, sanctions, or adverse media coverage of the person or business. \nSo, which documents are required? \nThese documents vary from bank to bank, but you’d typically find these in Nigeria.\nProof of Name and birth\n:\nNational Identification Number (NIN), International Passport, Driver's License, Voter's Registration Card, and Bank Verification Number. \nProof of Address\n: Utility Bills (Electricity, Water, Waste), rent receipt or tenancy agreement.\nOthers around the globe\nSocial security numbers\nCredit history report\nTax ID\nCertificate of Incorporation (Businesses)\nEmployment information
\nHow Utility bills became a thing \nEven history lovers would find it hard to pinpoint an exact date when utility bills became a requirement for KYC, but we can make an educated guess. Banks have tried identifying their customers since they started 3000 years ago. However, we didn’t have formal KYC systems until a series of unchecked financial crimes from illegal activities and terrorism forced the US to enact the Bank Secrecy Act in 1970. \nIn 1989, at the G7 summit in Paris, world leaders created the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). An international task force that helped create the global standard that we know today as the components of KYC.\nWhy utility bills? It shows two things. 
\n1) That you actually live where you claim to live \n2) How dutiful you are in paying your bills as of when due. \nThe second is especially important if you’re applying for a loan, as it helps the bank understand your financial habits. \nThe different utility bills accepted\n: The most popular utility bill is the Electricity Bill. Others include the water bill, waste management bill, and sometimes, the tenancy agreement or rent receipt. \nNote: In Nigeria, prepaid metres are getting more popular, and, with a few exceptions, it’s difficult to get an address when paying for tokens online. But you can easily resolve this issue by paying at a Moniepoint PoS agent close to you, and ask the agent to give you the receipt. Yeah, another important feature of PoS receipts, and you can find more in this \npiece\n. 
\nEven more globally\n: Utility bills extend to gas and phone bills in Europe, and some Asian countries also accept telephone bills. In the US, these also extend to Internet, cable, and even community association fees. \n
\nUtility bills have some hiccups\nWe agree. No system is perfect. Utility bills seem like a simple solution for address verification, but they can present some challenges, especially in developing countries. Here’s what the challenges look like:\nLimited Access\n: Imagine needing a document to prove you live somewhere, but you don't have access to the service that will give you the needed document! Millions in developing nations lack formal connections to electricity, water, or waste management, making it difficult to provide these bills as proof of address.\nThis could potentially exclude people from the financial sector. Thankfully, countries like Nigeria create different account tiers that don’t require you to provide a utility bill from the onset. 
\nAddressing system\n: Addressing systems in most African countries can be tricky. Imagine living in a gated community with a confusing numbering system. Worse, some places don’t have addresses, making it difficult for verification companies to pinpoint their bills' locations accurately. Without proper verification, people could bring the wrong addresses.\nCost of KYC\n: Complying with KYC regulations isn't free for financial institutions. It costs banks between ₦50 million to ₦400 million for KYC annually.  Also, training staff and maintaining secure data storage systems all come at a cost. A 2021 survey shows that 15 - 30% of customers who start KYC processes don’t finish the process since they find it difficult and stressful.\n
\nKeeping it secure: Best approaches to KYC\nAt Moniepoint, we understand the importance of KYC regulations in ensuring a safe and secure financial space for everyone. While providing a utility bill might seem simple, it's crucial to go beyond that for robust verification.\nCross-checking information\n: Compare customers' details with various databases to ensure consistency and identify potential discrepancies.\nAdditional checks\n: This involves working with verification partners to ensure that you actually provided the right address and not that of a friend or relative. \nAdvanced algorithms:\n Leveraging sophisticated technology to detect unusual patterns or inconsistencies in the information provided, helping to flag suspicious activity.\nGeolocation\n: This is particularly useful to monitor transactions, and helps loan teams or companies provide a better service for users. \nRegular updates\n: Fraudsters find creative ways to bypass security measures, so companies need to update their KYC processes regularly. \nAt Moniepoint, we designed our KYC measures are designed to strike a balance:\nA smoother experience\n: We strive to make the KYC process as user-friendly and efficient as possible for our customers. So you don’t abandon the sign up process midway.\nRobust security\n: We maintain high security to protect your financial information and safeguard against fraudulent activities.\nSo, now you know why your bank asks you to provide light bills. It protects you, me, and everyone else. If you think KYC is a one type process, think again. So don’t get discouraged when asked to link a new identity number or provide a fresh documents. ​​

What’s the point of Utility bills for KYC? 

\n\nAgainst the urgent need to deepen the Federal Government's economic agenda - financial inclusion, job and wealth creation and fiscal growth, the critical role played by family businesses as the heartbeat of Nigeria's economy has once again been spotlighted and thrust into sharp focus. Africa’s leading digital financial services provider, Moniepoint Inc, has released its latest case study – \nHow Families Power Nigeria’s Economy\n, a reflective chronicle of how the legacy of family businesses, from centennial conglomerates to bustling local eateries, are a living narrative and solid testament to Nigeria's entrepreneurial spirit.\nIt will be recalled that the Special Adviser to the President on Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole recently revealed that there are approximately 23.8 million family businesses, responsible for millions of jobs, dispersed throughout the country, and collectively they contribute around $200 billion annually into the nation’s economy. Closely aligned to this disclosure is the oft-stated data that with over 40 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) contributing nearly 50% of the national GDP; accounting for over 84% of total employment as well as 96% of businesses in Nigeria. These figures reflect the glaring significance and the impact that family businesses have on Nigeria’s economy.\nAccording to the Moniepoint study, which provides deep insights into what has kept these businesses going across generations, how they navigate challenges, and opportunities for growth and innovation, more than half of Nigerian family businesses don’t have strong digital capabilities, with very few seeing it as a priority area. The lack of clear governance and business management structures, as well as poor succession planning, are some of the challenges that undermine the scalability of family businesses in Nigeria. \nKey drivers that undergird a lot of these enterprises include, strong cash flow with a view to ensuring that they remain profitable, high levels of trust driven by shared vision and business objectives and cohesive cultural bonds where one out of every two Nigerian businesses bear the distinction of being a family business. \nFurthermore, the study avers that the story of Nigerian family businesses is one of resilience, adaptation, and enduring legacy. It posits furthermore that the future of Nigerian family businesses is bright with potential even as more enterprises embrace the tools and strategies for success in a digital age, supported by innovative driven solution partners. It contends that as they evolve, family businesses will remain at the heart of Nigeria's economic and cultural identity, powering the nation's economy and shaping its future for future generations while ushering in a new era of growth, sustainability, and global competitiveness.\nSpeaking to the rationale behind this latest study, Vice President of Communications and Public Relations, Moniepoint Inc, Edidiong \nDidi\n Uwemakpan noted that the decision to focus on family businesses was driven by their significant contributions to Nigeria’s economy despite their varying sizes and sectors.\n“At Moniepoint, we pride ourselves on being more than just a financial services provider; we are an astute partner to business owners, helping them to be financially happy while ensuring that our innovative solutions power the dreams of these enterprises. We believe that the growth of family businesses directly supports the entire economy, which in turn essentially extends our ability to positively impact everyone else, which aligns with our brand's mission,” she said. \nStating Moniepoint’s commitment to helping these businesses embrace digitisation, “Our services have helped several family-owned businesses improve their operations through simplified payment collection, cash flow management, and access to capital. Our recent partnership with the CAC will further catalyse technology adoption for these businesses while providing a foundation for them to adopt better record-keeping, financial reporting and governance practices which are pivotal for their efficiency, productivity and long-term viability, and also drive market access and trade facilitation into regional and global value chains for them.”\nIn 2023, Moniepoint MFB, was honoured with the prestigious \nRising Star Family Business Award\n in recognition of the giant strides made by the firm over the years and their contribution to the Nigerian economy at the Businessday, My Family My Business, and PwC Nigeria Family Business Summit.  \nTo learn more about the case study, visit – \nwww.casestudies.moniepoint.com/familybusinesses\n

Strong cultural bonds, high levels of trust and strong cash flow: key drivers of Nigerian family businesses, Moniepoint study reveals

Forgive this title, but if you’re reading it, something sure got your attention, and I hope I can keep that attention till the end. \nNow, where do I start? \nMy name is Emmanuel, and I work as an IT Governance Risk and Compliance Analyst at Moniepoint. I have many “how it started versus how it’s going” stories, but I’ll focus on my growth across teams here at Moniepoint. Yes, I said across teams. Typically, people grow within a team, but in my case, I switched teams, and here’s how that happened.\n\nThe journey to Moniepoint\nAs a kid, my dream was to study either medicine or computer science. Reading the book “Gifted Hands” automatically sealed the medicine path for me. I did everything possible to achieve that dream, including travelling to Ukraine to study. \nFor whatever reason, I did not think about what it meant in its entirety and by my third year in medical school, I realised that I had an aversion to seeing blood. I remember witnessing a session in the theatre one day, and I couldn’t just go on. That day, I started considering my options.\nA few weeks later, I packed my “Best Student of the Year” award (which I had won twice), and returned to Nigeria to pursue my other dream - computer science. After completing my study in Computer Science, I got an opportunity to work with GTbank as a graduate trainee. After 6 months of training, the department realised I had a skill for documenting product processes. So, I was drafted to the business analysis and solutions architecture team. \nOne of my highlights working there was when we had staff members from Moniepoint (then TeamApt) come around for meetings. We were one of the vendors for whom TeamApt had built a core banking system, and every time we had sessions with the people from TeamApt, I always found myself admiring the level of work they were delivering. Deep down, I knew I wanted to work here, even if I wasn’t an engineer. So, even when I left the bank to help a start-up build a new product, my eyes were still set on the goal, and the moment an opportunity came to join the team, I jumped at it. \nWhat has Technical Writing got to do with Security and Risk Assessment?\nEven while studying medicine, I loved to break processes down and look for areas that fascinated me. When I joined Moniepoint as a Technical Writer, my favourite part was documenting the whole software development cycle. I was so into writing that I started paying attention to areas I thought needed extra attention, one of them being security.\nAs my interest grew, I fanned them to flames and eventually went to the UK to study Security threat Intelligence and Forensics. All this while, I was still a Technical Writer at Moniepoint. About a year into my studies, I started looking for opportunities to apply what I was learning and that’s when I found out that we were hiring for that role internally. I applied to join our Cyber security team and got it!\n\n\nA new path: expectations vs responsibilities\nOne would think it’d be easy to switch from technical writing to cyber security since I had a Master’s Degree in Security threat. Still, I’ve realised that theories have no place near practicals or, should I say, reality. Thankfully, we have a great onboarding system that helped me transition easily.\nMy team lead, Albert, was always available to help, and he didn’t leave any stone unturned when showing me the rings. I was well settled in a few weeks and could apply my knowledge. One of the reasons I love our \n4Ms framework\n is how it hits the nail on the head. Mastery is my favourite motivation here because I have seen multiple opportunities to apply my skills and improve. I have a very supportive team, and when I work with other departments to ensure all loose ends are tied, the technical depth is so evident that you just learn something new. \n
\nIf I kept your attention until this point, then you’re probably interested in joining the team. I think you should push that interest by checking for an \nopen role\n that suits you.

From Technical Writer to Cyber Security Analyst: Is That a Technically Secure Transition?

\nFamily-owned businesses contribute over $200 billion to the Nigerian economy. This is particularly important, considering that these businesses account for one in two Nigerian businesses.\nAs the business banking partner for millions of businesses across Nigeria, we’ve seen how often businesses in the country are run by members of the same family. In 2023, we were awarded the PwC Rising Star Family Business Award, reinforcing the impactful of our work on businesses in this sector.\nExcited by this, we’ve explored the world of family-owned businesses, which form the backbone of Nigeria’s economy. Our latest case study explores these family-owned businesses and how they contribute significantly to Nigeria’s economy despite their varying sizes and sectors.\nIn this case study, you’ll get insight into what keeps these businesses going across generations, how they navigate challenges, and their opportunities for growth and innovation.\nBut that can’t be, all right? Yes, we’re doing more than just research. At Moniepoint, we pride ourselves on being more than just a financial services provider; we partner with businesses to help them gain financial happiness. We’ve also highlighted how our services have helped several family-owned businesses improve operations through simplified payment collection, cash flow management, and access to capital. \nThis deep dive highlights remarkable examples of thriving family-owned businesses we support. \nTo learn more, visit \ncasestudies.moniepoint.com/familybusinesses\n; and if you’d like a great financial partner for your own family-owned business, click \nhere\n to experience firsthand what several family businesses already enjoy. \n \n

Case study: A deep dive into Nigeria's family-owned businesses.

\n\nEnjoy offline banking on point. The Moniepoint USSD code *5573# allows you to easily perform your quick, secure, reliable, and convenient financial operations, simply dial Moniepoint's USSD code *5573# with your registered phone number. \nNow, let’s answer some questions you might have concerning the Moniepoint USSD code and its functions.\n\n1. Does Moniepoint have a USSD Code?\nYes, the Moniepoint USSD code is *5573#. You can use it to perform the following transactions:\nTransfers\nBuy airtime for yourself and others.\nBuy data for yourself and others.\nCheck account details and balance.\nBlock/Unblock accounts for self and others.\nChange the user PIN.\nGet and see OTPs.\nGet usernames.
\n2. Will I be affected as an existing customer?\nYou can enable the USSD channel from your mobile/web applications via settings as an existing customer. You will need to authorise this action using your user PIN.\n3. Will everyone with my phone have access to my private information?\nNo, any sensitive operation (seeing the balance, performing any kind of transaction, changing the user PIN, etc.) will need to be authorised through the user PIN.\n4. What if I see a message telling me that the channel is not enabled after trying to dial the USSD code?\nThe channel can be enabled from either the mobile application (business or personal) or the web app.\nOn the mobile apps, click on your profile picture  -> Click on settings -> Turn on the USSD Banking feature.\nOn the web app, click the settings icon -> security tab -> USSD banking toggle.\nNote that enabling/disabling the channel requires PIN authorisation.\n5. What if I see a message telling me that I don't have a Moniepoint account even though I do?\nMake sure you dial the USSD code from your registered mobile number with your account; this could happen when you dial the USSD code from an unregistered mobile number.\n6. How do I transfer money with USSD?\nYou can transfer money from your Moniepoint Personal or Business account by dialling *5573#.\n7. Can I disable the USSD channel after enabling it?\nYes, you can always enable/disable the channel from the settings pages in the personal & business applications and on the web application.\n8. What if I don't see all my Moniepoint accounts in the list of accounts?\nIf you have chosen to use a different phone number during your onboarding experience (onboarding from business to personal or vice versa), that will affect the accounts you see when you use the phone number to dial the USSD code.\nFor example, a user already has a Moinepoint business profile and account using a particular phone number. \nIf he/she uses it to log into the personal app and chooses an entirely different phone number instead for their personal use, dialling the USSD code with the original phone number will only allow them to see their business account(s), while dialling the USSD code with phone number B will allow them to see only their personal account.\n9. Can I block my own account(s)?\nYes, you can by dialling the USSD code \n*\n5577*911# \nfrom your phone number and choosing the 
“\nStop Debit transactions\n” and then \n“for yourself” \noptions, which will prompt you to enter your user PIN. If verified successfully, it will block all your Moniepoint accounts (business, personal, and business owner accounts).\n10. What if my phone was stolen, and I don’t have access to the SIM? \nYou can still block your account(s) if you have a friend/family member with access to the Moniepoint USSD channel. All you/they have to do is dial the same USSD code ( \n*\n5577*911#)\n, \nchoosing the 
“\nStop Debit transactions\n” and \n“for others” \noptions, then provide the phone number or account number of the intended user whose accounts are to be blocked. \nYou/they will be asked to provide the user PIN for the account(s) owner, not the owner of the channel(phone). If verified successfully, this will block all your Moniepoint accounts (business, personal, and business owner accounts).\n11. Can I unblock my account(s)?\nAt any point the user who blocked the account(s) (whether they were their own accounts or others) is the \nonly\n user who can unblock the accounts back.\n12. Can I open a new Moniepoint account using USSD?\nNot yet, but this will be available soon.\n13. How much would it cost to use USSD?\nDialling the Moniepoint USSD code *5573# doesn't cost anything.\n14. What are the shortcodes for all services on USSD?\nYou can access the specific flow by dialling the main USSD code *5573# and selecting the relevant flow from the main menu or dialling a slightly extended code that can directly lead you to the needed flow. The available direct codes include:\nCheck balance and account details\n  *5573*5#\nTransfer to Moniepoint\n*5573*1*Amount*Account Number#\nTransfer to other banks\n*5573*2*Amount*Account Number#\nBuy Airtime (SELF)\n*5573*Amount#\nBuy Airtime (OTHERS)\n*5573*Amount*Phone Number#\nBuy Data\n*5573*4#\nReset user PIN\n*5573*6#\nGet OTP\n*5573*73Code#\nBlock account\n*5573*911#\nForgot username\n*5573*73*1#\nGet OTP (signup)\n*5573*74Code#\n15. What are the limits for USSD transactions?\nThe various USSD functions and their limits include;\nTransfer Single limit: 20,000\nTransfer daily cumulative limit: 100,000\nAirtime single and daily limit: 10,000\nData single and daily limit: 10,000\nConclusion\nWith the Moniepoint USSD code, you get to experience convenient, reliable, speedy, and secure offline transactions anywhere, anytime. \nSimply download the Moniepoint \nPersonal\n or \nBusiness\n banking app, activate the USSD feature on the app settings, and enjoy banking on point.

15 Frequently Asked Questions About Moniepoint USSD Code Answered!

\n\nWe’re pretty sure that you already know what a USSD means. \nBut just in case you don’t, with a USSD code, you can perform that quick transfer, check your balance, reset your PIN, top-up airtime and data, and block your account without an internet connection. \nWhat’s better, you can now transact using Moniepoint’s USSD code!\nTo easily perform your quick, secure, reliable, and convenient financial operations, \nsimply dial Moniepoint's USSD code *5573# with your registered phone number.\n \nLet's look through the various functions you can perform with the USSD code.\nWhat can I do with Moniepoint's USSD Code *5573#?\n\nWith the Moniepoint USSD code, you can perform the following transactions:\nTransfer money\n: By dialling the code *5573#, you can make payments and transfer funds from your Moniepoint account to another Moniepoint account or any other bank in Nigeria. Easily transfer funds to your friends, family, and vendors without the challenge of a hanging network connection.\nCheck Account Balance\n: Stay informed of your financial details and conveniently retrieve them anytime. You can check your Moniepoint personal or business bank account balance by dialling the USSD code.\nBlock and Unblock your Account:\n Are you offline? Your peace of mind is guaranteed. You can easily block and unblock your account with or without your phone by dialling *5573*911#. We’ll explain further as you read on. \nBuy Airtime:\n Keep your conversations going. Dial *5573# and buy airtime for yourself and your friends speedily. The best part is that you do not need an internet connection. You can easily top up your airtime on any network providing service in Nigeria.\nTop-up Data\n: No data to buy data? You can easily purchase data for yourself and anyone else by dialling *5573#.  Always stay in touch and updated.\nReset PIN\n: Forgot your PIN? No worries! You can securely change and reset your transaction PIN, even while offline, and stay in control of your financial security.\nInstantly Retrieve an OTP: \nScale through extra security even without an internet connection. Simply dial *5573# to retrieve OTP and enjoy banking on point. \nYou can activate the USSD banking feature by navigating to the settings in your personal or business app and selecting 'USSD BANKING.' \nUpon signing up, new users will have the USSD banking feature activated by default.\nOn the mobile apps, go to settings -> USSD Banking toggle.\nOn the web app, click the settings icon -> security tab -> USSD banking toggle.\nNote that enabling/disabling the channel requires PIN authorisation.\nHow to Transfer using Moniepoint's USSD code *5573#\nTo make easy transactions using Moniepoint USSD code, follow the steps below;\nDial the USSD code *5573# with your registered phone number.\nChoose the Transfer option from the menu options displayed on your screen.\nInput the amount you wish to transfer and the destination bank. If you do not find the destination bank on the list of banks, you can search by typing the first 3 letters of the bank or scrolling through the displayed list.\nIf you have only one account associated with the phone number, you can then confirm the transaction details: amount, bank name, account name, and account number.\nIf you have more than one account associated with the phone number, you then select the account number to debit from a list of accounts.\nGo ahead to enter your PIN for the domain the account belongs to.\nOnce you are done, you'll receive a text message confirming your successful transfer.\n\n\nHow to Top-up Airtime using Moniepoint's USSD code *5573#\nTo top-up your airtime on any network operator in Nigeria using Moniepoint USSD code, follow the steps below;\nDial the USSD code *5573# with your registered phone number.\nSelect from the ‘Airtime for myself’ and ‘Airtime for others’ options from the menu options displayed on your screen.\nIf you select ‘airtime for myself’, enter the airtime you want to buy.\nIf you select ‘airtime for others,’ select the network provider (MTN, GLO, Airtel, or 9Mobile) for the phone number you want to recharge.\n Enter the amount of airtime you want to buy.\nIf you have only one account associated with the phone number, confirm the transaction details: amount, network, and phone number.\nIf you have more than one account associated with the phone number, select the account number to debit from a list of accounts.\nEnter your PIN for the account you wish to use.\nIf successful, you will receive a prompt; “transaction successful”.\nIf failed, you will receive a prompt - “transaction failed”- and the reason for the failure.\n\n\n\n\nHow to Top-up Data using Moniepoint's USSD code *5573#\nTo top-up your data on any network operator in Nigeria using Moniepoint USSD code, follow the steps below;\nDial the USSD code *5573# with your registered phone number.\nSelect from the ‘Data for myself’ and ‘Data for others’ options from the menu options displayed on your screen.\nIf you select ‘data for myself’, enter the data plan you want to buy.\nIf you select ‘data for others,’ select the network provider (MTN, GLO, Airtel, or 9Mobile) for the phone number and the data plan you want to recharge.\n Enter the amount of data you want to buy.\nIf you have only one account associated with the phone number, confirm the transaction details: amount, network, data plan, and phone number.\nIf you have more than one account associated with the phone number, select the account number to debit from a list of accounts.\nEnter your PIN for the account you wish to use.\nIf successful, you will receive a prompt; “transaction successful”.\nIf failed, you will receive a prompt - “transaction failed” - and the reason for the failure.\n\n\n\n\nHow to Reset New PIN using Moniepoint's USSD code *5573#\nTo reset your PIN using the Moniepoint USSD code, follow the steps below;\nDial *5573# and choose between Change PIN and Forgot PIN from the displayed Menu options.\nTo reset or change your PIN, enter your old PIN.\nThen input your new PIN.\nConfirm it again by re-entering it.\nYour new PIN will successfully be reset.\nIf you select Forgot PIN, you will prompted to visit the nearest agent or branch.\n\n\nHow to Check your Balance using Moniepoint's USSD code *5573#\nTo check your balance using the Moniepoint USSD code, follow the following steps;\nChoose the Check balance option from the menu displayed.\nIf you have more than one account, you will see a list of accounts and their account names.\nChoose the account you want to use and enter your PIN.\nYour details( account name, account number and balance) will be displayed.\n\n\n\n\nHow to Retrieve OTP using Moniepoint's USSD code *5573#\nTo quickly retrieve an OTP from an OTP service provider, simply;\nDial the USSD code with your registered phone number to retrieve OTP from the OTP service for that phone number.\nYour retrieved OTP will be displayed.\n\n\nHow to Block your Moniepoint Account using Moniepoint's USSD code *5573*911#\nTo easily block your Moniepoint account, simply;\nDial *5573*911# with your registered phone number.\nYou will see the options to ‘stop’ debit transactions and ‘resume’ debit transactions.\nProceed to stop debit transactions.\nYou will be asked whether you are blocking the account for yourself or for others.\nProvide your account number or phone number.\n Authorise the process by inputting your transaction PIN.\nIf successful, a success message is displayed on the terminal screen. “Your account 8082475267 has been blocked successfully. You can unblock it by dialling *5573*911#\nA PND is placed on all the accounts associated with you.\n\n\nHow to Unblock your Moniepoint Account using Moniepoint's USSD code *5573*911#\nYou can easily unblock your account by following the steps below;\nDial *5573*911# with your registered phone number.\nYou will see the options to ‘stop debit transactions’ and to ‘resume debit transactions’.\nChoose to \nresume\n debit transactions.\nYou will be asked whether you are unblocking the account for yourself or others.\nInput your account number or phone number.\nAuthorise the process by entering your transaction PIN.\nIf successful, a success message is displayed on the terminal screen. “Your account 8082475267 has been unblocked successfully.”\nA PND is lifted on all the accounts associated with you.\n\n\nWhy you should Use Moniepoint's USSD Code\nThere are many benefits to using Moniepoint's USSD code *5573#. \nSome of them include;\nConvenience\n: Nothing should stand in between you and a successful transaction. Moniepont's USSD code allows you to perform your desired financial operation without a smart device or internet connection. \nSecurity\n: You can perform safe transactions with Moniepoint's USSD code using your verified phone number and PIN. You can also block your account if you lose your debit card or suspect fraudulent activities on your account.\nReliability\n: You can rest assured that you can access our reliable services continuously using the USSD code.\nInstant Processing\n: You can use Moniepoint's USSD code to transact and instantly get your funds reflected.\nSpeed\n: No need to wait around longer than necessary when transacting. By dialling the Moniepoint USSD code, you can quickly transfer, pay bills, and reach customer support in minutes.\nCost-Effective\n: You do not have to worry about the cost of data when making transactions. Simply dial *5573# to perform operations without the internet.\nCheck this post for some of the \nfrequently asked questions about the Moniepoint USSD code\n.\nConclusion\nYou can enjoy speedy, reliable, secure, and convenient financial operations on your Moniepoint account even without an internet connection. \nSign up on the \nMoniepoint Personal\n or \nBusiness Banking app\n, activate the USSD feature in the settings option, and dial the USSD code *5573# to get started.\n\n

What is Moniepoint USSD Code?

\nIn accordance with regulation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), we’re updating our account tiers. Based on your level of KYC verification, here are the transaction limit restrictions we’ll be enforcing for Moniepoint banking accounts from April 2, 2024;\nBusiness banking transaction limits.\n\nPersonal banking transaction limits.\n\nIf you’re not sure what level you’re on, you can check within your app. But here is a breakdown of the different levels and their KYC requirements;\nLevel 1\nFor this level, you must have completed your BVN verification, liveness verification, residential address and signature.\nLevel 2\nKYC requirements for Level 2 include, in addition to Level 1 documents; next of kin, Govt-ID document verification, and Proof of Home Address.\nLevel 3\nFor level 3, you’re required to have your Proof of Home Address verified, and Indemnity provided, in addition to the requirements for level 2..\nLevel 4\nAt this level, you must submit your Legal name, Business Registration Type, CAC number, and all relevant CAC documents.\nLevel 5\nOperating at level 5 requires verifying all your CAC documents, in addition to the requirements from the previous levels.\nIf your current balance exceeds your KYC level, Moniepoint is legally mandated to place a restriction on your account. \nBut not to worry – by providing the \nrequired KYC documents\n, you can have your account upgraded, and go ahead with banking as usual. If you need any assistance, kindly reach out to us within your app, and you’ll get prompt support.\n

We’re updating our banking account tiers.

Every day at Moniepoint, we process over 750 million transactions monthly, leveraging data to provide financial happiness to users across our business and personal banking products.\nIn this lightning round, Habib, our Data Engineering Lead, breaks down why he loves working with data and how he got into data engineering.\n\n\nWhat led you to Moniepoint?\nI got into tech while I was still in university, studying mechanical engineering. I used to work on drones, so I learned to code because I wanted to build drones that could fly themselves. This main motivation to learn how to build drones, over time, evolved into something I enjoyed.\nTosin, Moniepoint’s CEO, came to deliver a lecture at OAU around the time I was getting immersed in programming. I was not at the lecture, but people told me about it and how good it was. This registered Moniepoint (then TeamApt) in my mind, and I was fascinated. 

A few days later, someone shared a vacancy at Moniepoint. I applied and went through the interview, and that's how I got into Moniepoint four years ago. Towards the end of 2019, I returned to school for my Masters degree and rejoined the company afterwards. \n
\nCan you think of anything you've enjoyed working on in the last year?\nThe most interesting thing I've worked on recently is this data pipeline for our business loans product. I worked on a data pipeline that gathers our data from all our data sources, harmonises the data, and presents it in a way the product can understand.\nThat's the largest data set I've worked with, so it was challenging getting it to work. If you have a very large data set it can take days to process if you don't do things the right way. So the challenge was to make it run as fast as possible, and achieve something workable and usable by the product.\n\nIf you were to describe your role as a type of food, what would it be?\nMy role as a data engineer is like ponmo (\nponmo refers to cow skin, a favourite beef part enjoyed as a side dish, snack and condiment in southwestern Nigeria\n). Yes, I'll compare it to ponmo, and the reason I'm describing it that way is because sometimes it's soft work, and sometimes it's so tough, it almost blows your teeth dry. \nWhat’s one weird challenge you’ve dealt with?\nOne of the main challenges I have at work is talking to or maybe reaching out to people. You see, I’m incredibly shy, and if I absolutely have to reach out to someone, I might think about it for an hour before making the move. Sometimes, I will just talk to a person I already have a rapport with to help me talk to the person. \nBut with time, I've been getting better at reaching out to people.\n\n\nWhat’s your favourite M, in the 4Ms Framework?\nOut of the \nfour M's\n the one that resonates with me the most is mastery. And that's because whenever I take something or start working on something new I'm not always satisfied with just being ordinary. I always want to take it to the next level.\nAt least be the at least best or the closest to being the best at doing that thing. So it's mastery. If I wasn't a data engineer I'd probably be a university professor. I might still become one in the future. \nWhat do you love most about working with Data?\nWhat I love about working with data is that data doesn't lie. It's pretty much the way a scientist makes hypotheses.\nYou have a question, conduct research, establish your hypothesis, then run an experiment to verify whether your hypothesis is true, and analyse the results. \nWorking with data is similar to that. You can hypothesise that on Fridays, you're likely to make more money because of a couple of conditions or events. Then you work with and check your data, you run your analysis and find out, “Oh okay, it's not actually Friday”, maybe it's Mondays you're supposed to make more money.\nSo, just like the scientific process, you make a hypothesis, and you verify your hypothesis.\nIf you found this fascinating, you should check out the \nvideo version\n, and stop by our \ncareers page\n to see our open roles.\n

I love the scientific process behind working with Data - Habib

\nGiven the critical importance of financial inclusion to national development and building a sustainable economy, Group CEO Moniepoint Inc, Tosin Eniolorunda has reaffirmed his organisation’s resolve to increase financial inclusion and driving the adoption of technology by the underserved consumers in the country. \nThe Moniepoint boss was speaking on the sidelines of the 16th edition of Leadership Newspapers Conference and Awards where Moniepoint Inc received an award as the Fintech Company of the Year. The event, which took place at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja also coincides with the 20th anniversary of founding of the Leadership Group. The selection of the award recipients followed a critical review of their various contributions to the growth and development of Nigeria, as laid down by the founding chairman of the LEADERSHIP Newspaper Group, the late Sam Nda-Isaiah.\nThe prestigious Fintech Company of the Year award recognises Moniepoint's innovative efforts to increase access to financial services for underserved and unbanked populations across Nigeria. Through its nationwide network of point-of-sale terminals and digital payments platform, Moniepoint has empowered millions of Nigerians, including petty traders and roadside businesses, to participate in the digital economy.\n"We are immensely proud to receive this recognition from Leadership," said Tosin Eniolorunda. "From the start, our mission has been to democratize financial services and create equal opportunities for every Nigerian to thrive. Powering dreams and ensuring that the large majority of our people, irrespective of where they live experience financial happiness is our reason for being. This award validates our commitment to driving genuine financial inclusion in tandem with the government’s mandate, and we are spurred to do more in terms of leveraging innovative solutions and technology to create more value for Nigerians."\nIn her welcome remarks, Chairman, Leadership Newspapers, Zainab Nda-Isaiah signposted the role of the awards in recognising individuals and organizations who are taking bold strides towards creating a more peaceful, stable, and prosperous nation. While paying homage to the legacy of the legendary and visionary Founder and her late husband, Sam Nda-Isaiah, she noted that awards spotlighted those considered deserving and exemplary in their various categories.\n“We may not be where we would like to be, but these men and women are making strides in the direction that we hope will lead us to a nation of peace, stability, and the possibility of prosperity for all who dare to seize it”, Nda-Isaiah said.\nKeynote presenter, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, who was speaking on the theme, "An Economy In Distress: Which Way Forward?", made a case for fixing the fundamentals and advised that the current economic crisis must not be allowed to go to waste.\n“There is no better time to fix these challenges than now. The CBN’s policy actions are well intended and will serve to stabilise the macroeconomic environment. We must fully understand the causes that have led us to where we are and ensure that they are fixed by deploying real strategies.” He canvassed for property rights, innovation and access to capital as core pillars for a successful and productive economic growth.  \nProminent personalities at the event include, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi, who represented awardee for Person of the Year, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu; presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, who received the Politician of the Year award; Governors Fr Hyacinth Iornem Alia of Benue State; Dikko Umaru Radda of Katsina State; Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Mohammed Umar Bago of Niger State; Managing Director/CEO of First City Monument Bank Plc, Mrs. Yemisi Edun who received Banker of the Year Award and Salisu Auwalu, a \nkeke\n rider from Kano who returned a bag containing 15m naira left in his tricycle,  received an award as outstanding Young Person of the year.\nIt will be recalled that in 2023, Moniepoint MFB received the prestigious Rising Star Family Business Award Pwc/Businessday Family Business Summit; the Most Outstanding Microfinance Bank in Consumer Engagement at the Brandcom Awards, while Moniepoint Inc was listed for the second year running amongst the 100 most promising private fintech companies by CB Insights and the reputable Financial Times named it Africa’s second fastest-growing company. Moniepoint Inc also received critical acclaim as the “Most Outstanding Fintech Company in Financial Inclusion at the Brandcom Awards. Group CEO, Moniepoint Inc, Tosin Eniolorunda was named the 2024 Legit Business Leaders Awards in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Nigeria's economy.  

We’ll continue to use innovative technology to bridge the financial inclusion gap – Moniepoint Boss

\n\nAre you looking to kickstart your business career but need help deciding what you can easily and affordably do? I've compiled a list of 20 small business ideas you can start easily in Nigeria today. \nThere are many opportunities, as the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics shows that small businesses make up \n96% of businesses \nand 84% of the country’s employment rate.\nYou can start your small business in Nigeria today with little or no capital. Let's explore these business ideas!\n1. POS Business\nThe point-of-sale terminal business has boomed over the past few years thanks to the increasing demand for agency banking by financial institutions. Running a POS business allows you to gain commissions on transactions you perform for your customers. \nYou can \nquickly start a POS business\n by visiting a financial institution like \nMoniepoint MFB\n. Ensure you provide all required documentation, such as your business account details. Begin this profitable small business today without needing a large shop space and with as little capital as N30,000. \n\n2. Cleaning Services\nMost people working in busy cities in Nigeria rarely have time to clean their homes or offices thoroughly. You can explore this significant opportunity by offering your services as a house or office cleaner with little capital to purchase your basic equipment. \nThe cleaning service business has a high growth potential, and you can employ more hands as your offers increase with time. \n\n(\nSource\n)\n3. Photography Business\nPhotography is a small business that allows you to turn your creativity and passion into income. By learning and fine-tuning your photography skills and investing in a good-quality camera, you can cover weddings, birthdays, or business events. \nYou can also boost your business by selling images online on \niStock\n, \nUnsplash\n, or \nDreamstime\n. Today's world is highly digital, and the demand for photography skills is increasing, making it a profitable and fun small business you can start in Nigeria. \n4. Fashion Thrift Business\nThe famous 'okirika' or thrift fashion market continues to boom as time passes. Fashion trends keep evolving daily, and most people love to look their best on a budget. You can explore this opportunity by investing in high-grade thrift clothes and footwear. You can also create awareness for your clothing goods by opening a social media page or website to advertise them. \nAmazingly, you can do this from the comfort of your home without bothering about shop rent and utility bills. \n5. Event Planning\nAs someone who loves to organise, decorate, and coordinate celebrations, this small business idea is just for you. Organisations and families celebrate events daily, and you can explore this opportunity for profit. \nYou can build your portfolio by planning small-scale events for family and friends. If you're consistent enough, you can get referrals that can help you upscale to planning larger events. You can also upskill yourself by staying updated on the latest planning tools and ideas. \n6. Open a Palm Oil Storage Business\nNigeria is blessed with agricultural resources, and the palm oil trade is one of the numerous profitable businesses you can venture into. \nHere's how - you can buy palm oil cheaply when the palm kernel dries from February to April. Store it until July, its peak season, and its demand is expected to increase. You can then begin selling your stored palm oil in this high-demand period and enjoy a significant profit of about 50% to 60%. \nYou can grow and have distribution channels nationwide by maximising this profitable small business and setting up a \nreliable business account\n in your name.\n\n(\nSource\n)\n7. Catering Services\nIf you love to create magic with your cooking skills, you can earn very well through it. Opening a catering service business is a profitable idea you can start from your kitchen with little capital. \nAll you have to do is buy the essential ingredients and cooking equipment, hire reliable dispatch riders and start cooking for family and friends. You can upgrade to cooking for bigger events and celebrations by getting good referrals. \n8. Copywriting Service Business\nAs a creative and passionate writer, you can earn a high income by creating a copywriting business. Over the past few years, businesses have realised the importance of hiring copywriters to prepare compelling advertisement content, email campaigns, etc. \nYou'll need good writing skills, creativity, fundamental copywriting knowledge, and the ability to know your clients' needs. \nYou can begin as a one-person team for startups and smaller brands and expand your service to larger organisations or freelance platforms like \nUpwork\n. \n9. Sports Viewing Centre Business\nThe game of football brings almost all Nigerians together. If you live in an environment, for instance, a university, where people don't have access to watch live football matches, you can open up a viewing centre. \nYou can set it up with a comfortable venue, well-equipped gadgets, suitable seating arrangements, and a reliable cable connection. Through consistency, you can grow this business with loyal clients revisiting with friends. \n10. Confectionery and Baking Business\nCakes and pastries like puff-puff, small chops, doughnuts, etc., are typical treats served in almost every Nigerian celebration. You can start this business from home with your unique recipes and essential baking equipment, such as a small oven, baking pans, mixers, etc. \nGrow your business through your social media pages or word-of-mouth referrals and enjoy maximum turnovers.\n\n(\nSource\n)\n11. Laundry Business\nA laundry business is another small business idea you can easily start in Nigeria today. You can begin in your neighbourhood by doing door-to-door marketing and taking laundry orders from family and friends. \nAll you need are basic washing supplies like your detergent, soaps, and clean water supply, and you can buy a small washing machine with a bit of investment.\n12. Zobo or Hibiscus Drink Business\nMost people are taking the healthy path regarding their eating, thanks to the heavy risk awareness of over-processed foods and drinks. Zobo offers \nseveral health benefits\n, such as aiding weight loss, preventing kidney stones, regulating blood pressure, etc. \nYou can start a Zobo manufacturing and distribution business with basic ingredients like leaves and other natural spices. You can earn good profit from this ever-green market with the right market penetration.\n\n(\nSource\n)\n13. Blogging and Content Creation\nThe blogging business is another lucrative business you can venture into as a passionate and skilful writer. Blogging lets you carve out a niche for yourself and write about anything your audience wants to read about. \nBy creating high-quality and valuable content for your audience, your blogging site gets increased website traffic. You can monetise your blog through \naffiliate marketing\n and placing ads on it through \nGoogle Adsense\n from the comfort of your computer screen.\n14. Perfume Oil Business\nThe Perfume Oil business is a lucrative venture you can explore as a small business owner. You can begin with \nas little as N5000\n by buying perfumes in small quantities from reliable wholesalers at a subsidised price and reselling them to customers. \nBefore you start, research your market to find out what type of customers you would approach, their budget, and what type of perfumes they would be interested in. \n15. Become a Professional Driver\nRegister with companies like Bolt, Uber, inDrive, and Lyft and become a professional driver. For instance, as a top Bolt driver in busy cities like Lagos or Abuja, you can \nearn as much as 311,000 monthly\n. \nYou don't have to own a personal car to do this business; you can access one based on a hire-purchase agreement with a trusted party. All you require to start this business is a valid driver's license and other required documentation from your desired company. \n16. Scrap Metal Sales Business\nYou can contribute to an eco-friendly environment and profit by doing so. By gathering scrap metals in your environment, you can sell them to recycling companies using them for further production. \nTo begin this business, you'll need tools like magnets, wheelbarrows, a small truck, etc. You can create an advantage by cordial relationships with recycling companies and collectors.\n17. Road Transportation Business\nYou can start a road transport business within or outside your state, depending on your capital size. You can register with your community's road transport union and begin your private charter trips or public pickups. \nAs with company-driving businesses, you don't need your car; you can use auto rickshaws (or Keke). You can get a hire-purchase agreement with a trusted investor.\n18. Social Media Marketing\nYou can earn money through your smartphone as a social media marketer by advertising for brands. With increased social media engagement, most businesses leverage social media advertisements to boost their sales. \nYou have to set up a social media page on any platform you choose, such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc. Ensure you create engaging content for your target audience, and if your page has gained enough relevance, companies can reach out to you with marketing deals.\n\n(\nSource\n)\n19. Ice Block Manufacturing\nIn some parts of Nigeria, the power supply is often unsteady, and ice blocks are needed to run perishable commodity businesses, drink supplies, etc. \nTo begin this business, you need a suitable site, adequate power-generating equipment, and reliable delivery agents. You can profitably earn in the long run by supplying ice blocks at competitive rates.\n\n(\nSource\n)\nConclusion\nEvery business idea deserves the opportunity to operate. From catering services and copywriting to fashion designing, there are countless small business ideas you can easily start in Nigeria today. \nLike all successful businesses, having a reliable and speedy banking service like \nMoniepoint Business Banking Solution\n for your transactions and necessary business equipment makes the difference.\n

19 Small Business Ideas You Can Easily Start in Nigeria 

The role of women and their centrality to the growth and evolution of technology has been widely acknowledged. Yet, recent statistics show that women remain underrepresented in the technology industry. The last census results by the National Population Commission show that there are almost as many women as there are men in Nigeria, however data from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on women and men in the country reveal that women occupy just 25% of the employment rate in the technology industry even as 22% of annual STEM graduates from Nigerian universities are women. Although a global challenge, these gaps have underscored the need to increase female representation in the tech industry in Nigeria.\n\n\nAs the world marks the 2024 International Women’s Day, IWD and against the backdrop of the successful execution of its three previous editions, leading digital financial services provider for emerging markets and the second-fastest growing company in Africa\n, Moniepoint Inc\n has announced the launch of this year’s edition of the \nWomen-In-Tech initiative\n. This year’s IWD campaign theme of #InspireInclusion calls for action to break down barriers, challenge stereotypes, and create environments where all women are valued and respected.\nGiven that previous editions had 5 women in each cohort, this year the 6-month internship programme which is aimed at ensuring that young women have access to building a career in technology will see 10 women take on roles in various teams that include Cloud Engineering, Backend Engineering, Technical Product Management, Data Engineering, Systems Administration, Technical Support and User Experience. Christened as the \nDream 10\n, these women will be provided with direct mentorship during the internship. Other perks include; a salary, work tools, merch, the opportunity to work on live projects during the course of the internship and an offer of full-time employment depending on assessment post-internship.\nThe goal of the Women in Tech initiative has always been to provide women with the opportunity to grow their skills by gaining the necessary experience to advance their careers. As such, selected applicants get to spend time working on real projects to help shape digital finance in Africa. Alumni from the programme have become active contributors to the development of their products making a huge difference in the world while making significant strides within the tech ecosystem.\n\nSpeaking on this year’s edition, Chinaza Nduka-Dike, Head, People Operations at Moniepoint Inc noted that with this initiative the organization is going over and beyond inspiring inclusion to demonstrating a genuine commitment to making a difference in the lives of women. \n“Increasingly we are seeing that diversity, inclusion can ignite innovation and growth. Intentional outreaches such as our Women in Tech which have helped to increase female representation and have had a transformative power to create meaningful inclusion while ensuring that we can keep pace with the talent development in a global economy. We have been able to fill talent gaps while giving women great jobs and a sustainable livelihood. Looking back at the past editions, we are filled with an immense sense of pride at the progress made and looking forward to adding more women to the pool who in turn can grow as leaders and build thriving, successful organizations”, she said.\n\n\nTefe Oladejo, a frontend engineer and member of the pioneer cohort of the Moniepoint Women in Tech expressed her delight at the increased number of internship roles available for the 2024 programme.\n“I am a living witness to the transformative power of bold action initiatives like this. It’s been a privilege to work on products that you can see making a visible difference in the lives of millions. Moniepoint’s supportive ecosystem has been very pivotal to my growth and personal development,” she said.\nSince 2019, Moniepoint’s technology has powered the dreams of over 2 million business and individuals, offering personal and business banking, payment, credit and business management tools to help them succeed. \nThe internship is open to women across Africa who are interested in starting a career in technology. Interested applicants can find out more about available roles and apply for the programme via the \nWomen in Tech\n website, \nhttps://womenintech.moniepoint.com\n

Moniepoint commemorates IWD with call for applications into 4th edition of Women in Tech Programme 

\n\nYour finances are valuable, and this is why, at Moniepoint, we constantly provide new ways to make your banking experience more convenient, speedy, safe, and reliable. \nYou can now sign in to your Moniepoint personal bank account with your email address or phone number. \nIt gets better because, in addition to your BVN, you also have the option to use your National Identification Number (NIN) as verification for your KYC-level upgrades. \nLet's explore the simple steps to follow.\nWhat is your National Identity Number?\nYour National Identity Number (NIN) is an 11-digit number assigned to you when you complete enrollment into the National Identity Database (NIDB). This unique number is randomly generated and given to individuals aged zero and above. \nFinancial institutions such as Moniepoint MFB use your NIN to confirm your records in the database and verify your identity. \nYou can easily \nenrol for your NIN\n at any verified enrollment NIMC Enrolment Centre with any of the required original and valid supporting documents such as your BVN, driver's license, voter's card, etc.\nGetting Onboarded to your Moniepoint Personal Banking Account using your National Identity Number\nYou can open a Moniepoint Personal Banking account in minutes using your NIN and verify your identity at different KYC levels. Follow the steps below:\nDownload the updated Moniepoint Personal Banking application from the \nApp Store\n or the \nGoogle Play \nStore.\nSign up using your phone number or email address and set up your password and transaction pin.\nLog into your account and click “Proceed” on the “Create Account” section.\nYou will see the requirements for upgrading to KYC level 1.\n\n
\nYou will receive an option to select either the NIN or BVN verification. Choose NIN and click on "Next".\nAn NIN detail is displayed if your registered phone number links to it. If the details belong to you, click "Yes, it is". If it doesn't, click "No, it's not". \n\n\n\n\nIf the displayed details do not belong to you, you can input your NIN and click "Next". You can also dial the code *346# on your registered phone number for a network service fee of N20 if you can’t remember your NIN, \n\n\nYou will be required to carry out a face verification to confirm if an actual person is opening the account and to verify that your picture matches that on your NIN database. You will be presented with prompts on the steps to follow. Click on "Proceed". Properly position your face in the oval and smile for a camera capture.\n\n\nOnce you confirm that the image is of good quality, click "Yes, use this" and "Continue" until you see the identity verified screen. Note that if your image does not match that on your NIN, you can retry verification.\n\n\nAfter this, you will be asked to provide other KYC level one upgrading verification, such as your residential address and attestation.
\nWhat are the KYC Level Requirements for my Moniepoint Personal Banking Account?\nOnce you have successfully logged in to your Moniepoint personal banking dashboard, you will be required to upgrade your KYC levels. \nThis allows you to access the beneficial features of the app. Your Moniepoint Personal Banking app has three KYC levels with varying features and transaction limitations you can upgrade to.\nYou will need to provide the following requirements to upgrade:\nKYC Level 1\n\n\nYour NIN or BVN details\nFace Verification\nResidential Address\nAttestation\nThe single credit limit for this level is N500,000, while the single debit limit is N50,000. On the other hand, the daily credit limit is N500,000, while the daily debit limit is N200,000.\nKYC Level 2
\n\nBVN or NIN\nNext of Kin details\nID Verification\nProof of Address\nAt this level, the single credit limit is N5,000,000, while the single debit limit is N900,000. Additionally, the daily credit limit is N5,000,000, while the daily debit limit is N900,000.\nKYC Level 3
\n\n\nProof of Address Verification\nIndemnity\nThis final level has an unlimited single and daily credit limit; this means that your account has no credit transaction limit. On the other hand, your single debit limit is N1,000,000, while the daily debit limit is N25,000,000.\nWhat do I do if my NIN is not Successfully Verified?\nIf you input your NIN and it does not go through successfully, follow the tips below;\nEnsure you put in the right NIN. You can dial *346# from the number you used to register your NIN to confirm your NIN number. Note that this comes at a N20 cost from the network provider.\nPlease pay attention to the error you receive. If it reads "Invalid NIN", the NIN number you put in is invalid, and you will need to try again or retrieve the correct one.\nIf you encounter an error of "Verification failed", contact our customer support representatives by calling +234 201 888 9990 or email \nsupport@moniepoint.com\n. Doing so gives you a better explanation of the ongoing issue and a solution to it.\nConclusion\nYou can easily sign up for your Moniepoint Personal Banking app using your NIN verification for your KYC levels. At Moniepoint, we offer you banking services at your convenience. Download the personal banking app and \nsign up\n to get started.\n

How to Open a Moniepoint Personal Banking Account Using Your National Identification Number

\n\nEntrepreneurship, which is the process of setting up a business to make a profit, is essential for the economic growth of a country. In Nigeria, the entrepreneurial field has created many opportunities like career growth, innovation, and increased national income. \nHowever, as promising as this field sounds, there is a noticeable gap in the ratio of male-to-female entrepreneurship success in Nigeria. \nAccording to data from the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria, women participate primarily in the informal sector at 42.1%. \nWith a staggering representation of just \n13.57% in the formal business sector\n as opposed to their male counterparts of 86.43%, some factors hinder the success of women's entrepreneurship in Nigeria. \nFrom limited funding opportunities to a lack of networking opportunities, etc, let's explore some challenges women entrepreneurs face in Nigeria and how they can overcome them. \nKey Takeaways\nThe 2024 International Women's Day Theme is "Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress."\n"Nigeria ranks \nlow on the gender gap parity\n, ranking 123 (with a score of 0.639) out of 146 countries. Women continue to experience deficits in decent work related to the business and regulatory environment and access to financial and business development services critical in formalising and growing their businesses" (\nNational Gender Policy, 2021\n).\n\n\n"According to the results from the \nWomen Entrepreneurs Survey (WES)\n undertaken under this research study and supported by evidence from the National MSME survey 2021, women have a high level of interest in becoming entrepreneurs but face challenges related to the business and regulatory environment, including access to financial and business development services critical to formalising and growing their businesses."\nNetworking can aid women entrepreneurs in accessing funding, valuable knowledge, and partnerships, which are crucial for the growth and success of their businesses.\nDigital solutions like Moniepoint MFB's business banking app can ease banking processes, allowing women entrepreneurs to manage their finances and strike a work-family balance efficiently.\nBy leveraging digital marketing tools, women entrepreneurs can combat the challenges of limited market access and create a strong foothold in the market.\nChallenges Women Entrepreneurs Face in Nigeria\nWomen entrepreneurs in Nigeria often face challenges when setting up and growing their businesses. Some of them include;
\n#1. Limited Access to Finance\nLimited access to finances to fuel their business is a significant limitation women face when growing their businesses. Most women rely heavily on personal finances when starting, which can ultimately become insufficient in the long run. \nIn addition to the limited funds, some women face obstacles like financial illiteracy and ignorance, which limit their chances of accessing funds for their business ventures. \nThe National Bureau of Statistics in Nigeria states that about \n80% of women-owned enterprises fund\n their businesses from their finances due to difficulties accessing external funding. \nWomen can combat this challenge by exploring alternative funding opportunities such as business loans, \nbusiness savings accounts\n, financial awareness training, etc. \n\n\n(\nSource\n) \n
\n#2. Insufficient Access to Networking Opportunities\nA strong professional network is vital for success in entrepreneurship; however, most women only sometimes access such networks. As a result of these limited networks, they often get limited access to capital expansion, mentors, etc., which can boost their business growth. \nWomen in today's age can overcome this limitation by attending business seminars and industry events and connecting to industry experts on platforms like LinkedIn. The rise in technological advancement also gives women an edge in business. \nThis is where they can leverage tech upskilling internships like the \nWomen in Tech internship\n by Moniepoint MFB. \n#3. Balancing Business and Family Responsibilities\nA major challenge facing women entrepreneurs in Nigeria is the need to balance household responsibilities as caretakers and businesses. To overcome this, women can hire household helpers, seek support from friends and families, delegate business tasks, and prioritise tasks. \nDigital financial institutions like Moniepoint MFB make it easy for women to handle their financial needs by providing convenient \npersonal\n and \nbusiness banking solutions\n. This way, women entrepreneurs can run their e-commerce businesses, for instance, without the stress of physical visits to banking institutions. \n#4. Limited Access to Customers and Markets\nDue to limited access to markets and clients, some women entrepreneurs face challenges in growing and profiting from their businesses.\nLimiting access to profitable markets, national or local, comes from insufficient market information and the inability to scale up and enhance their competitiveness (often due to scarce resources). \nOther factors include limited capacity building, poor product quality, limited access to Information and communication technologies (ICT) tools or skills, or inadequate market integration.\nUltimately, the small size of employees in women-owned businesses creates a barrier to their \nparticipation in international markets\n where volume is a major requirement. \nThe limited market access can further hinder businesswomen from achieving a broader customer base and boosting their businesses efficiently. Women can overcome this challenge by leveraging digital marketing tools, websites, and social media platforms to target specific audiences and increase their online presence.\n\n\n(\nSource\n)\n#5. Social and Cultural Barriers\nSocietal and traditional practices in some tribes of the country restrict women's access to economic opportunities, property rights, land inheritance, and use. For example, the Land Use Act offers equal access to land ownership; however, \nsome social customs or regions present contrary practices\n. \nThese factors pose a challenge to women entrepreneurs, thereby impacting their business growth potential. To overcome these barriers, women can advocate for gender equality by actively participating in movements that promote women's empowerment. \nInnovating Trends and Opportunities for Women Entrepreneurs\nThe Emergence of Technology-driven Businesses\n: Women entrepreneurs are making a mark in launching innovative startups and digital platforms. For example, Damilola Olokesusi, the co-founder and CEO of a Nigerian transportation startup, Shuttlers, Oyindamola Honey Ogundeyi, the founder of Fashpa.com, a Nigerian e-commerce site, etc\nGrowth of Social Enterprises\n: Women entrepreneurs like Sandra Chukwudozie, a Nigerian female entrepreneur and clean energy activist, are addressing societal challenges through social enterprises. \nThe Power of Collaboration and Networking\n: Women-focused networks and mentorship programs empower entrepreneurs.\nAccess to Financial Inclusion and Funding\n: Financial institutions like Moniepoint MFB are developing tailored digital banking products to support women-owned businesses.\nUpcoming Opportunities in Agribusiness\n: Agribusinesses offer many opportunities for women entrepreneurs in Nigeria.\nRetail and e-Commerce Growth\n: The retail industry, specifically e-commerce, is booming in Nigeria thanks to technological innovation. This provides women with a fairer competing ground to execute their business operations.\nWellness and Health Entrepreneurship\n: Women are delving into fitness, healthcare products and services, wellness coaching, etc.\nFinal Words\nOnce viewed as a man's field in Nigeria, entrepreneurship has since evolved to include women, thus embracing the 2024 International Women's Day theme "Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress." \nAt Moniepoint, we believe in financial inclusivity for everyone, regardless of gender. By leveraging our digital banking solutions, more Nigerian women can access convenient and reliable business and \npersonal banking solutions\n to boost their ventures.\n

5 Challenges Women Entrepreneurs Face in Starting and Growing Their Businesses in Nigeria

\nIf you missed the last one, the wait is over, and the search for the Dream10 is on 🚀\n\nFor the past three years, every International Women’s Day, we’ve made it our mission to provide women with access to building a career in technology. Through the women-in-tech internship, five women have joined the Moniepoint team in tech roles every year since 2021. \nThis time, we’re making it bigger.\nThis year’s International Women’s Day theme is “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress,” and in that spirit, we’re putting the medal to the pedal. Ten internship slots—twice as many as in previous years—are open for women like you to join Moniepoint in eight roles.\n\nThis six-month internship will give you real-world experience building financial technology products for emerging markets, under the mentorship of industry leaders. But that’s not all. The Moniepoint women-in-tech internship also includes perks like a salary, work tools, and some pretty cool merch (we say so ourselves).\nOpen roles for this year’s internship include Cloud Engineering, Backend Engineering, Technical Product Management, Data Engineering, Systems Administration, Technical Support and User Experience. If you’re interested in any of these industries, we’ve got a spot for you.\nVisit \nhttps://womenintech.moniepoint.com\n to apply, and come improve the financial experience for over 2 million businesses and individuals in emerging markets.\n

The Moniepoint Women in Tech Internship 4.0 is live! 

\n\nI’m usually fascinated by people taking unconventional leaps, and even though this is a bit common at Moniepoint, it is nonetheless interesting. Interesting enough that I believe it deserves a blog post of its own. \nOne of such stories is that of our VP of Mergers & Acquisitions. Peter Oriaifo used to be an investor in Moniepoint - yes, you read that right. A pretty early investor who believed in our vision. Today, many years later, Peter is driving our growth and expansion from within. \nNaturally, I sat down with him to understand why he moved. Peter’s career has always been at the intersection of finance and technology in unexpected but profoundly impactful ways, and in the next few minutes, you’ll find out how.\nHi Peter, let’s take it back to the beginning. How did your career start off?\nHi Chidinma. Younger me was fascinated with technology; you would usually find me dismantling computers for fun. This led me towards being a computer science major.\nHowever, an internship in finance unexpectedly veered my path towards the financial sector. This decision was not a departure from my tech roots but an expansion, blending my understanding of coding with the financial world.\nPost-graduation, I ventured into the financial services sector, influenced by an uncle who was in the Nigerian banking sector. My time at a boutique investment bank was instrumental in refining my expertise in growth strategies, acquisitions, and mergers, particularly within the community banking sphere. Here, I was a part of historic transactions, including handling the acquisition of JIKO by a fintech company, marking the first fintech acquisition of a bank in U.S. history—a testament to being at the right place at the right time. Witnessing another acquisition - Radius Bank's by Lending Club, helped seal my excitement for this path. \nI tried out becoming a product manager but ultimately started off as a consultant, when I couldn’t land a role. I specialised in evaluation and growth strategies for high-growth tech and life science companies. During this period, a lot of fintech companies came to my plate. One of them was Toast, which gave a foundational prep to what working in Moniepoint would be like as they share some similarities. \nSounds like equal parts fun and intense hard work. Let’s talk about investing in Moniepoint. How did that happen?\nIt certainly was a lot of work; but I had to learn, so I was happy to do the work. I knew I wanted to do more in the African tech space, and it was a delight to join the  Oui Capital team to do this. Our early investment in Moniepoint was not just a financial decision but a belief in the company's vision to redefine banking for the Nigerian consumer. My role transcended mere investment; it was about nurturing and supporting an ecosystem where every startup's success story is a collective victory.\nAha. That’s brief but packed. So why did you choose to do the work from within?\nJoining Moniepoint as VP of Mergers and Acquisitions speaks to my belief in the company and commitment to driving sustainable growth within the African tech ecosystem, particularly at a juncture marked by ‘funding winters’ and economic volatility. Today, as I witness Moniepoint's influence from local markets to family gatherings, my conviction in the path we're carving for financial inclusivity and empowerment in Africa only strengthens.\nMoniepoint, with its extensive resources and strategic position within the market, emerged as the perfect platform for me to execute this vision. The company stands at the forefront of the ecosystem's consolidation, offering a beacon of hope and a pathway for businesses facing adversity. My role in M&A is pivotal in this context, enabling Moniepoint to bolster its own growth while assisting other companies in gracefully concluding their stories or embarking on new chapters.\n…but why Moniepoint specifically?\nMoniepoint ticks the box for me in a lot of ways. Some of the reasons why I decided to join Moniepoint include: \nImpact on small businesses: \nThe work at Moniepoint significantly supports small businesses, and I find this important and fulfilling. The impact is a driving force for me, emphasising the company’s role in fostering economic growth and empowerment at the grassroots level. One instance that stands out for me is Moniepoint’s critical role during the cash crunch period, where it served as a lifeline for many businesses in Nigeria. The ability to make a tangible difference during challenging times reinforces my belief in the company’s mission and its importance to the community. \nCompany's Trajectory:\n Moniepoint's rapid growth and the dynamic nature of its business also excite me a lot. I see working at Moniepoint as an opportunity to accelerate a career within a fast-paced, ever-evolving environment that continues to grow in importance and impact. The quality of talent at Moniepoint, across all levels, stands out to me. I’m inspired by the people I work with, including specific colleagues like Habib, a data engineer whose skill and work ethic is outstanding.\nCompany culture and environment: \nThe phenomenal work culture at Moniepoint makes it a vibrant and enjoyable workplace. The remote work dynamic at Moniepoint is particularly attractive, especially in the post-pandemic world where the concept of work has evolved. I appreciate that the organisation doesn’t confine productivity to a traditional office environment. It allows for a more balanced and enjoyable approach to work. \nEnough of the serious side of you for a minute. What’s life like outside of work?\nOutside the walls of mergers and acquisitions, I’m an avid collector of African art in general. I have a deep appreciation for culture and heritage. You will find me collecting, going to, and visiting African art exhibitions. \nI also have a love for music and travelling, as I have a curious mind and am open to new experiences. I would love to visit Marrakech as my next destination as I’ve heard a lot about the country and its tourist scene.\nMarrakech is certainly a vibe. Thank you for speaking with me, Peter. It’s been a pleasure. \nIf you made it this far. Thank you for reading. With every new challenge and opportunity, we're not just changing the game at Moniepoint; we're redefining it. But here's the thing— we’re always looking for more stories like this. Moniepoint is on the lookout for curious minds, passionate hearts, and daring spirits who believe in making a real difference.\nIf that sounds like you, join us at \nMoniepoint\n. Let's innovate, impact, and inspire together. Your next big adventure awaits!\n

From Investor to Operator: Peter’s Path to Moniepoint 

I have a PhD in researching and finding things out. Okay, not an actual PhD, but a curiosity that drives me to understand, in-depth, the nuances of any problem I’m working on, and burrow into the possibilities and solutions that may be applied to the problem. This has, over time, helped me develop a keen sense of technical experimentation, failing fast, and applying practical solutions, all leading to a life of Product. \nThis short piece is an attempt to take you into how I became this research nerd today, and how it’s shaped my career.\n\nLet me go back to the beginning.\nWhen I was a tad younger and trying to shape my career, I was bent on studying Architecture but couldn’t seem to navigate my way into it, so I ended up doing project management. I had assumed studying architecture was the optimal way to explore my passion for designing and building things and seeing them come to life.\nEventually, I decided that my love for intricacies and design could be fulfilled by studying computer science. I, therefore, went back to school to study Computer Science! I fell in love with the design and principles behind how computers work, how the Software Development Cycle works, and how to solve problems. \nMy first job was at a mobile payments company, in their Research & Development(R&D) department as a junior engineer. And I’m pretty sure that was how my obsession with research kicked in. Soon, I was working directly with the head of R&D on both the hardware and the software side, building prototypes for what we saw was needed in the market. \n
When I left that company,  a couple of us came together to run a business. I ran the technical aspects, honing my love of research and development and answering the question, \n“How do we solve a problem most optimally?”\n \nI then went on to consult for various startups trying to build products that needed market and architecting solutions to achieve their MVP. Those were the first 6-7 years of my career. \n\n\nArriving at this (Monie)point\nAfter the first 7 years, I evolved into core systems and startup architecture (yay, architecture). I’ve therefore spent time on the board of a few startups, where I served as an advisor. My role involved guiding their roadmaps; what products to use, and how to design their system using open-source and cloud-hosted technologies.\nI went on to be a systems architect at a very up-and-coming IoT business in Africa that was owned by Vodafone; optimising what they had and how to future-proof the solution for the next five to ten years. \nI did this until I saw the call to join Moniepoint as Technical Product Manager, R&D. I found it exciting and decided to join the team.\nLife as an R&D Technical Product Manager\nMy current role as technical product manager in R&D is to coordinate and build out solutions that will create new products for the business. I’m also looking to solve current growing pains that none of the departments can solve by themselves, which affects the entire business as a whole. \nFor example, one problem that we're working on now is solving a pain across the entire organisation and no one has time to actually concentrate and focus on it. The other is building a completely new business unit. \nSo, between my VP and I, we work hard in researching and carving out new markets, to push the business into new areas while also solving issues that have held different departments back from achieving their goals. It sounds a bit tricky swinging between these two major bull’s eyes, but that’s the crux of what we need to do.\nWhy R&D?\nNow, you’re probably wondering why my obsession with Research is unrelenting, and I’ve decided it's because of the rapid prototyping approach that it gives me. I'm a big fan of the fast approach to building things - \ntry something, try it quickly, and if it works, then perfect; if it doesn't work, can it and find something else\n.\nI have an inbuilt mental model premised on the process - \n“don't be afraid of failing, but if you fail, make sure you fail fast, don't waste a lot of resources trying to prototype something”.\n \nThat mental model, combined with my academic perspective getting honours in artificial intelligence and the research that went into that. I enjoy applying throughout any kind of product that I design and figuring out what would be the best principles to apply while achieving the goal in the shortest time.\nLooking ahead - what impact do I want my work to make?\nI would love my contribution to have made a dramatic change in how the business operates and the products we can deliver as a whole in quality, robustness, and scalability. 
As a bank, we need to deal with vast amounts of data with pen testing security issues, all of which play a role in what my products need to solve and protect against. I therefore want to look back one year from now and be excited about all the problems I’ve solved across departments and company-wide.\n\n\nWhat do I do when I’m not geeking out on Products or GTM strategies?\nI have a 4x4 vehicle that I take out to obstacle courses with my friends and see how far we can push the car before damaging it. We're a group of friends, usually doing four to ten cars that then tackle the obstacle course and see how far we get.\nIn addition to this, I play golf a lot! 😅😅\n
\nYou’ve read Nicolaas’ curiosity-driven career path. We’re always hiring people who are driven by problem-solving and curiosity. If that sounds like you,\n join us at Moniepoint.\n\n

Nicolaas’s path to research-led technical product management at Moniepoint.

\n\nThe GC Powerlist: Nigeria recognises the most influential and innovative in-house counsel driving significant change within Nigeria's leading companies. As the first edition focused solely on Nigeria, it spotlights standout general counsels navigating complex regulatory environments and advancing their organizations through technological transformation.\nEvery year, the Legal 500 invites law firm partners and in-house counsels to nominate in-house lawyers who have been instrumental in driving their organisations and businesses forward. In-house lawyers are especially recognised for changing or forming commercial opinions; developing outstanding technical solutions to complex issues; creating innovative structures to ensure that the in-house legal function is supporting and driving the business; and providing business working models that other in-house counsels can follow.\nThe Legal 500 has been analysing the capabilities of law firms and in-house lawyers across the world, with a comprehensive research program revised and updated every year to bring the most up-to-date vision of the global legal market. The Legal 500 assesses the strengths of law firms and in-house lawyers in over 150 jurisdictions, the results of which can be viewed free of charge. Research is based on feedback from 300,000 clients worldwide, submissions from law firms and interviews with leading private practice lawyers, and a team of researchers who have unrivalled experience in the legal space.\n\nSpeaking, Lead Researcher, GC Powerlist: Nigeria 2024, Funke Olufon expressed her true delight at introducing this inaugural edition, after previous years of covering Africa in its entirety. \n“This inaugural edition not only showcases the landmark cases and impressive deals undertaken by these deserving legal professionals. Interviews conducted in this Powerlist present truly varied and thought-provoking perspectives on a gamut of issues, among which include a shared focus on leading a digital transformation in legal departments and processes; the race to align Nigeria’s compliance requirements with international standards; and the efforts being made to refurbish the legal department’s reputation to that of true business partners,” she said. \nNotable legal professionals that made the cut include Moniepoint's General Counsel, Okechukwu Eke; Adesua Dozie, Vice chairman, General Counsel, Mobil Producing Nigeria; Chidi Momah, General Counsel and Company Secretary, NNPC; Dr. Irene Robinson-Ayanwale, General Counsel and Divisional Head, Business Support Services, NGX Group; Ifedayo Lawal, Senior Director, Legal Africa, Coca-Cola Nigeria; Michael Otu, General Counsel and Company Secretary, Zenith Bank and Oluseye Alayande, Group Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary, BUA Group among others.\nSpeaking to his inclusion in the prestigious list, Okechukwu Eke noted that Moniepoint’s legal team has been involved in a number of key initiatives, including the implementation of a contract management platform which has resulted in some significant benefits. “We have developed standardised agreements for Moniepoint’s products and services, contributing to our recognition and ranking as one of Africa’s fastest-growing companies.”\nOn the use of AI in day-to-day legal work, Okechukwu opined that "the AI feature has played a crucial role in enhancing efficiency within our legal team’s contract management process. It has significantly reduced the time spent on reviewing and drafting contracts, enabling team members to focus on more complex and strategic assignments. Furthermore, it has enhanced the efficiency of contract reviews by assisting in the elimination of errors during the review process, and it consistently improves negotiating outcomes."\nThe GC Powerlist: Nigeria 2024 showcases the fascinating stories and perspectives of the most exceptional, richly deserving in-house counsels Nigeria has to offer, and see how legal professionals continue to innovatively drive their companies forward, while skillfully navigating the nuances of the Nigerian economic landscape.\nSince the launch of the Legal 500 Powerlist in 2013, 3,000 individuals, 2,000 teams and 100+ law firms have been recognised for inclusion in 38 regions and countries across the world (also known as jurisdictional lists).\n

Moniepoint's General Counsel, Others, Named in Legal 500's Inaugural GC Powerlist for Nigeria

MPR. CRR. BLR. What are these terms?\n\n\nOver the past few months, the prices of goods and services have been climbing so high, they're practically giving everyone headaches. It's a tough pill to swallow for everyone in Nigeria, from the person pricing tomatoes to big businesses budgeting for the next quarter. \nThe Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has decided to step into the ring to save us all, by tweaking the monetary policy rate. This article looks to break things down, but let’s have the raw facts. \nThe CBN has increased the MPR by 400 basis points from 18.75% to a record high of 22.75%. \nThe cash reserve ratio (CRR) has increased from 32.5% to 45%\nThe bank liquidity ratio remains at 30%\nThe asymmetric corridor is at +200/-700 basis points of the MPR. \nThis is a lot, but there’s good news. We talked with Bayo, our Chief Financial Officer, who broke things down for us, so we can do the same for you. \nFirst, let’s break it down…\nWe know you’re not 5. But that doesn’t mean the terms might be less confusing. To understand what these recent policy adjustments mean, there are a few terms you need to get. Let’s break down what these big finance terms mean:\n1. Monetary Policy Rate (MPR):\nWhat it is\n: The MPR is the benchmark interest rate set by the CBN, which influences the cost of borrowing in the country. The increase of 400 basis points just means the interest rate increased by 4% (why didn’t they just say so, right? I know). \nWhat this means for you\n: It means that the lowest you can get charged for interest is higher now. With the previous MPR, banks charged between 25% - 30% interest. Now, it could get as high as 35%.\nThat sounds scary, yes. But it can be a good thing. A higher MPR also means that banks can give you higher interest rates on your savings. It could move from the typical 10% to 15%. Sweet.\n2. Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR):\nWhat it is\n: The CRR is the percentage of a bank's deposits that must be kept with the CBN as a reserve. At an MPR of 45%, for every 100 naira a customer keeps with a bank, the bank must keep 45 naira with the CBN. This money cannot be used for lending or any other purposes.\nWhat this means for you\n: With the CRR increased to 45%, banks have less money to lend. While it becomes more difficult for businesses and individuals to get loans to do anything, it also means less cash in circulation, which is good for tackling inflation.
\n3. Bank Liquidity Ratio:\nWhat it is\n: This is simply the amount of money or assets a bank must hold compared to its total deposits. This can be either cash in the bank or assets like government bonds that can be quickly converted to cash if needed. The purpose is to ensure banks can promptly meet customers' withdrawal demands. \nWhat this means for you\n: Maintaining the liquidity ratio at 30% ensures that banks remain stable and can cover withdrawals by customers. This means that your deposits are safer, but conversely affects how much banks can lend to you.\n4. The Asymmetric Corridor:\nWhat it is\n: This is the rate at which the CBN either lends to or borrows from banks, with the MPR rate of 22.75% as a starting point. If the bank has excess cash and decides to lend to the CBN, the apex bank says it will borrow at MPR - 700 basis points (15.75%). If the bank needs cash urgently, the CBN then lends at MPR + 200 (24.75%)\nWhat this means for you\n: This adjustment gives the CBN more control over interest rates and discourages banks from borrowing money from or lending to the CBN.\nWhy's the CBN doing this? The big picture.\nSo, disclaimer: we’re not the CBN. But since World War II, global central banks have used Monetary Policies or something related to regulate inflation. Now, why has the CBN implemented these specific changes?\nReduced inflation\nThe primary aim of raising the MPR is to curb inflation by slowing down money circulation. Higher borrowing costs mean businesses and consumers will likely borrow less and spend less.
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⁠Nigeria’s inflation rate as of December 2023 was 28.92% and goods and services have become super expensive. With the higher MPR, a bottled water business, for example, might initially raise prices to cover the higher costs of repaying their loans. Then, the overall demand for that bottled water is expected to decrease as consumers become more cautious about spending. 
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⁠This reduced demand could decrease inflation over time, as businesses may be forced to lower prices to encourage customers to buy stuff. Since 2022, over 45 countries have increased interest rates to fight inflation.\nIncreased control over money in supply\nIncreasing the CRR helps control the money supply more directly. With banks required to keep a larger portion of their deposits at the CBN, there's less money available for lending, aiming to temper inflation and stabilise the flow of the naira.
⁠\nInterestingly, some banks already operate at higher than 45% reserve, and others operate lower than the previous 30%. The CBN is now trying to harmonise everything to 45%. \nAdjusting the Asymmetric Corridor\nThe asymmetric corridor discourages banks from lending to the CBN and pushes them to lend to other businesses or invest in intrustments that would be profitable for them. \nBetter days ahead?\nWe wish we could see the future, but our time machine is still in R&D. However, it’s not difficult to see how these changes by the CBN, are intended to move Nigeria off the inflationary pathway. We hope you found this breakdown helpful. If you’d like to learn more about banking, finance and technology, \nvisit our blog\n to read more.\n

What’s the point of increasing the MPR?

Ever stood in line at your local supermarket, watching as receipt after receipt gets printed out for each customer? Ever wonder where all those slips of paper end up? In many Nigerian stores, they often land in the waste bin close to the security at the entrance. But have you ever stopped to think about why we still get them, and what role they play in our daily lives?\nThese slips of paper, especially from our everyday transactions at the Point of Sale (PoS) machines, are more important than we might think. They're not just for customers but also for businesses and banks. Even as everything moves online, I've noticed that paper receipts are still the go-to, even though digital options are available (companies like ours offer this choice).\n\nEzekiel, our head of distribution, shared his insights for this story. Together, we'll explore why PoS receipts are still around, why they matter to everyone involved in a transaction, and peek into what shopping could look like in the future without them. First, how did we get here? \nHistorical context on receipts\nThe journey of the receipt through history is fascinating. From the earliest days of trade, merchants and customers have used receipts for record-keeping, and trust-building. As buying and selling changed, so have receipts. \n\n\nPoint of Sale (PoS) Terminal receipts\n\n\n\nGlobal Milestones\nSweden: Often leading in digital innovations, Sweden saw a major shift towards digital receipts in the 2010s, with many retailers and banks promoting digital transactions to move towards a cashless society.\nJapan: Known for its meticulous record-keeping, Japan introduced electronic receipts in major retail chains in the late 2000s, blending tradition with technology.\nToday, digital receipts are offered by businesses globally, from small stores to multinational corporations. However, the transition isn't uniform, with many consumers and businesses still preferring or requiring paper for various reasons.\nWhy PoS paper receipts are still a thing\nReceipts, whether digital or paper, are important to help businesses and customers confirm and reconcile every transaction they make. It’s what you present to the bank if there’s an error or a dispute. Most importantly, it’s required by law. Even though you can get these receipts digitally, there are still practical reasons why paper will still be a thing. \nPracticality for Businesses\nPaper receipts help businesses stay efficient and prevent fraud.\nImagine a cashier in the middle of a high-traffic festive shopping season, with several, mostly impatient customers, waiting in the queue. The cashier can quickly verify the printed receipt without inspecting the PoS device closely or checking an email for each transaction. \nIf the PoS is configured to print a second receipt only for successful transactions, the attention-stretched cashier can quickly spot a failure if a second receipt doesn’t come out. It reduces the risk of errors or customers trying to play a fast one. It also helps both customers and merchants keep a record of the transaction.\nSettlement\nNetwork glitches can sometimes prevent the bank from settling the merchant. When this happens, the merchant can provide physical evidence that the bank’s systems may have missed. This is even more important in Nigeria, where banks can settle merchants instantly. \nFor Consumers\nThe cashier is not the only one stressed in that busy shopping traffic we just pictured. Customers standing in queues waiting to checkout amidst the sensory overload can be draining, and they could miss important details. \nEvidence of failed debit and for invoicing\nIf a customer has a failed debit, the receipt can help them seek redress at their respective bank. If the transaction is successful, the receipt is still important for record purposes. Especially if said customer is helping someone else with that transaction. \nAccuracy\nIt happens, sometimes accidentally, that the cashier enters N10,000 instead of N1,000. Instant receipts allow the customer to check that they paid for the right products at the right amount, and that there was no mix-up. \nReaching everyone\nNot everyone can access a smartphone or the Internet, but everyone shops. When merchants give customers a record of their purchase, it’s a simple step towards ensuring everyone is included in the financial system. \nFor service providers\nPoS device adoption\nAs you’ve probably guessed from our historical timeline, not all PoS terminals can issue digital receipts, so paper allows some financial institutions to comply with the law. \nBackup for service disruption\nIf network glitches prevent receipts from sending to the merchant's email, paper can be used as a backup. \nThe above benefits capture a typical Nigerian shopping experience, and while digital receipts have their benefits, paper receipts offer practicality for a typical merchant and consumer. It’s instant, easy to use, and dependable. Interestingly, Nigerians are not alone in preferring paper receipts. \nOn the global stage \nDifferent countries have varying levels of preference for receipts. Surveys conducted in 2022 and 2023 might surprise you: \nThe United States\nAbout 72% of American consumers prefer paper receipts to digital receipts. They do this because it makes them feel safe and certain. Those younger than 44 tend to lean towards digital, while those between the ages of 16 and 24 don’t even care for receipts at all. \nEurope\nSurprisingly, 54% of European consumers prefer paper receipts, and 27% have no preference at all. Most of them cite some of the practical scenarios we listed above as their reason for opting for paper receipts. \n\n\n\nHow we approach PoS receipts\nWe’re all about giving businesses and customers the tools they need to create financial happiness, so we employ an innovative approach to PoS receipts that focuses on benefits to the user. \nFueling digital adoption with reliability\nWe built our site reliability services to maintain 99.99% uptime. When we added instant settlement to the mix, confidence, fewer and fewer people (merchants or customers) saw the need for paper receipts, which are most important for disputes. As a result, merchants opt for our smaller terminals that don’t give receipts, which is usually cheaper.  Network glitches happen often, but we make sure this never happens on our systems 99% of the time. In the unlikely event of downtime, we work on rectifying the transactions during the affected period. \nTapping into culture to digitise people\nDigitisation is a gradual process, and we first tap into the existing culture by giving people paper receipts, which they’re comfortable with. Some merchants don’t want paper receipts, others can’t do without them, and we cater to all in a way that suits their operations. \nAccessibility\nWe allow merchants to download these receipts from their apps. Digital receipts might exist, but some do not allow merchants access to these receipts whenever they want. We provide end-of-day reports summarising daily transactions, making it easier for merchants to verify sales against receipts.\nSustainability\nPaper receipts take their toll on the environment, and we’re making steps to cater to the current user habits while providing more sustainable digital options for merchants. This work extends beyond transaction receipts, and it saves costs for the merchants. \nBringing it together\nGlobally, paper and digital receipts play a big part in how people interact with money, from cities to remote villages. This blend helps bridge the gap, ensuring no one's left behind as the world moves more online. However, as long as there’s Internet and power infrastructure failure in Nigeria, and payment rail failure, paper receipts will remain a thing. \nUltimately, it’s all about finding the right balance with innovation, and we're committed to doing that every day. If you'd like to be a part of our journey, there's room for you. Visit our \ncareers page\n to get started. \n

What’s the point of PoS receipts?

An employee is cruising through the career highway and suddenly senses a gap. Maybe it’s a lack of hard skills, or they think it’s time to upgrade the soft skills they already have. Moments like this can be pivotal for your employees, and how your company addresses this could impact overall productivity.\nThis is where mentorship comes in as a trusty co-pilot in creating the best employee experience for your staff. Mentorship helps people go beyond their current checkpoints, and let’s face it: life is a learning curve. Let’s take a dive into how you can help your employees when they come across this path.\n\n\nWhy you should care about mentorship.\nAs the Employer Brand Lead at Moniepoint, I’ve seen firsthand how mentorship can turbocharge careers and also the trajectory of an organisation. From employee engagement to improved culture, here are some reasons why mentorship is something we care about;\nEmployee development\nMentorship initiatives give employees the opportunity to learn and enhance certain skills. They gain valuable insights that enhance their professional capabilities and this can have a positive ripple effect on the organisation.\nKnowledge transfer\nMentorship is an excellent way to foster the transfer of knowledge, best practices and organisational culture, from experienced employees to newer or less experienced ones. It helps preserve organisational knowledge and ensures continuity, especially during periods of transition or turnover.\nIncreased engagement\nEngaging in mentorship programs and initiatives fosters a sense of belonging and support among employees. At Moniepoint, we also call this Membership. They feel more valued and supported which leads to higher levels of job satisfaction. This in turn increases their level of motivation and commitment to the organisation. \nLeadership development\nA strong organisation is one where all employees have a certain level of leadership skills, and you can build such skills through mentorship. With mentorship, mentors have the opportunity to hone their coaching, communication and leadership capabilities. On the other hand, mentees develop leadership qualities through guidance, feedback, and role modelling. \nEmployee retention and loyalty\nIncorporating mentorship programs in the organisation strengthens the bond between employees and the company. Through the value they gain, they have a higher commitment to staying long-term with the organisation. This reduces turnover rates and its associated costs. \n
\nPutting the “M” in Mentorship.\nWithin an organisation, mentorship can take different forms. At Moniepoint, here are a few ways we explore it on our team;\nA dedicated L&D team\n\n\nMoniepoint has a commitment to nurturing talent and fostering growth through its learning and development department. Our employees can always reach out to the team if they’ve identified a skill gap they desire to fill and get linked with the right resources. This extends to every level of our organisation. \nOpen communication system\nWe also run an open inter-team communication system. This extends beyond our \nopen-door policy\n, to a system where you can get and receive feedback from anyone, irrespective of level or department. Anyone can collaborate with anyone, getting knowledge and insight to ensure that they can give their best. \nInternal hiring system\nFor employees looking for a path to grow, we make it possible for them to shadow teams outside of their own. This gives them an opportunity to explore other career paths they might be interested in and allows them to pivot. For anyone on our team, it’s possible to gain new skills, or switch paths with ease.\nWomen in Tech Initiative\nEach year, Moniepoint selects five women for its Women in Tech initiative, placing them in various departments across the company. These women are then assigned mentors within their designated teams, and they get to learn while executing projects. This initiative not only provides invaluable opportunities for career advancement but also provides a path for these teams to grow as well.\n\nGive mentorship a shot. \nIf you want to include mentorship, you need to define the goals and objectives of the mentorship program you have in mind. It helps determine what skills or knowledge gaps the program aims to address and how it aligns with the organisation's overall mission and values. \nThen, develop a structured mentorship program with defined roles, responsibilities, and expectations for both mentors and mentees within divisions or departments. In developing this structure, you should also provide guidelines and resources to ensure participants understand their roles and how to maximise the benefits of the programs. \nIt’s important to put careful consideration into matching mentors and mentees. It could be based on skills, experiences, and career goals. You can consider factors such as personality compatibility, communication styles, and shared interests to facilitate meaningful mentorship relationships. \nDiversity and inclusion are also integral aspects of any mentorship program. While incorporating mentorship initiatives, encourage participation from people across different departments, backgrounds, and levels of experience to foster a rich exchange of perspectives and ideas. It is also important to foster a culture of open communication and continuous improvement by encouraging regular feedback and evaluation from both mentors and mentees. \nGet it right!\nWhen knowledge flows seamlessly within a team, efficiency skyrockets. Everyone is equipped with the knowledge they need to give their best. Win-win! \nIf you’d like to work in an organisation that prioritises your growth just as much as its own, \nwe’ve saved you a spot\n. We’re waiting for you.\n\nThis article was first published on techeconomy.ng.

What’s mentorship got to do with employee experience?

\nIn line with a critical mandate, of the Federal Government to unleash Nigeria's full economic potential by focusing on job creation, access to capital for small and large businesses and inclusiveness, the definitive bank for small and medium-sized businesses in Nigeria, as well as their customers and employees, Moniepoint Microfinance Bank Limited and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) have joined forces to digitize and formalize operations for over 2 million small and medium businesses across Nigeria.  This unprecedented move will foster economic growth, ensure alignment with regulatory compliance whilst providing SMEs with access to capital that will enable them unlock their potentials, contribute significantly to job creation and drive shared prosperity.\nIn a brief ceremony which was held at the Bank of Industry, BOI office in Abuja, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, while describing the initiative as monumental, reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to catalyzing economic development by supporting small and medium businesses with funding, thus creating a conducive environment for them to flourish and generate more opportunities.\nAcknowledging Moniepoint’s innovative strides, Dr. Uzoka-Anite pledged greater collaboration towards formalizing additional MSMEs. She noted that the Federal Government was prepared to deepen its engagement with the company, adding that it would consider its request for provision of cheaper funding and grants to enable it draw more small businesses into the formal space, as well as create an enabling environment for them to thrive.\n\n\n“The current administration is excited and passionate about creating jobs, ensuring financial inclusion and poverty alleviation. These things add up towards economic development. A lot of people have ideas but are impeded by lack of access to the right learning environment and education. Which is why we are happy to collaborate and support players like Moniepoint to bring more people into the financial sector and help the government achieve its mandate,”, the Minister said.\nOn his part, Managing Director, Moniepoint MFB, Mr. Babatunde Olofin expressed delight at the partnership and said that the engagement was in furtherance of the organization’s mantra of powering dreams while creating a society where everyone experiences financial happiness.\nHe said, “"We recognize that these businesses are the lifeblood of economies, so their growth directly supports the entire economy, essentially extending our ability to positively impact everyone else. We are heavily invested in super charging Nigeria’s economic ambitions so that enormous employment opportunities can be created and lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty. This initiative is in strong alignment with the Federal Government's agenda - financial inclusion, job and wealth creation and economic growth. Our target is that in 5 years, we will onboard 30 million businesses in collaboration with the CAC as we leverage technology to create a win-win situation for all stakeholders." \nRegistrar-General/Chief Executive, CAC, Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, SAN lauded the Minister for her visionary strides since assumption of office, noting that the feats recorded by the agency were results of the robust support and guidance she has consistently provided. He stated that the commission’s objective of formalizing 20 million small businesses while describing the 2 million businesses sign-up with Moniepoint MFB as a watershed moment in Nigeria’s economic trajectory which heralds a transformative shift that will lay a sturdy foundation for sustained growth and prosperity in Nigeria.\n“Mr. President has promised 50 million jobs for the youths. This ground-breaking ceremony will set the target off. What we are witnessing today has never happened before in Nigeria. The participation of all these stakeholders underscores the profound significance of this occasion, symbolizing a unified resolve to propel Nigeria’s economic landscape towards unprecedented heights of progress and promise,” said the CAC boss.\nThe registration of businesses and organizations across the nation has been a core mandate of the CAC over the years. This mandate which confers legal identities on businesses has been instrumental to connecting enterprises to essential opportunities that have facilitated access to financial facilities, and enabled them to increase their revenue streams.

Moniepoint MfB, CAC partner to boost SMEs development, target 30 million businesses in 5 years 

\nSolving problems barely sounds like the most fun thing to do. But little else is as exciting for someone like me, who grew up fixing things. From starting out in electrical engineering to exploring a career in tech, here’s how I found myself at Moniepoint - solving problems for people using our products to power their dreams.\nA little about how I got here\nIf you’re one of those people who read other career stories and think, “Well, good for you that you already knew what you wanted to become from a child; I figured mine along the way…”, then welcome. You and me both. Although I would not consider myself someone who is totally clueless, I didn’t think I would be in tech. I mean, how many homes knew “tech” to be what it is today at the time? \nAs a child, I always wanted to fix things. I grew up in a family of 5 girls. And believe me when I say my dad had no intention of leaving any stone unturned (or any wire uncovered in this case). He taught us all the “handy jobs” that were referred to as boys' jobs. As a teenager, I could change tyres, fix electricals in the house, service generators, name it (lol).\nBy the time I was applying to a university, I already knew that I wanted to have a career that had to do with fixing problems, so I went for mechanical engineering. \nEngineering school, and a career detour.\nAs excited as I was to study mechanical engineering, I began to have a change of heart as I went along with it. By the time I graduated from Ambrose Ali University in 2016, I already knew I wouldn’t be an electrical engineer professionally.\nBut what then? I still had my urge to solve problems. I just wanted to do it in a different way. As someone who liked to read a lot, I could already see that tech was the “now” of Nigeria. And it was the surest way problems were being solved. I started taking online courses, watching YouTube videos, and attending conferences. I consumed everything I could about tech and started applying for jobs.\nFive months after graduating, I got my first job in tech. I worked with Fintrak Software Limited as a three-year graduate trainee, shuffling departments until I found the one that aligned the most with my problem-solving skills - Application Support.\nToday, I work with Moniepoint as a technical support engineer. \n\n\nWhat it’s like working as a technical support engineer.\nSo, yes, I’m fixing problems for the customer. But what does this look like? And how do I make this happen in collaboration with other teams like customer support and product engineering?\nOn a daily basis, my responsibilities involve monitoring various services, including onboarding and front office services, to ensure there are no impediments that could hinder customers’ experiences. Additionally, I provide support to customers through the customer support team, addressing issues ranging from onboarding difficulties for business owners to KYC upgrade issues. Ultimately, I aim to ensure customer satisfaction and smooth utilisation of our services.\nEvery time I fix an issue for a customer, I still get that joy I got as a kid from checking what was wrong with a fan and telling my dad the problem so it could be fixed - only on a higher level. \nCollaborating with other teams\nThe customer support personnel is typically the first point of contact with a customer who has an issue. The goal is first to find out what the customer needs and manage their expectations as we work to resolve the issues they may be having.  Some of these issues can easily be resolved by guiding the customer to take the right steps; some are technical corrections that need to be made. This is where we usually come in.\nThe customer support personnel escalates the issue to me, the technical support engineer, to fix it. I examine the customer records and technical logs to diagnose and resolve the problem. I take my time to breakdown the problems and solve them step by step. Once I’ve resolved it, I  inform the customer support personnel, who relate to the customer.\n\nWhy Moniepoint?\nThree years ago, I didn’t know or hear much about Moniepoint. But now, I don’t even have to explain for people to recognise where I work. The impact we have had in helping businesses is very visible, and when I was applying, I just knew I wanted to be a part of it.\nI have a personal story of a friend whose parents were struggling with bank issues for their business. They would have cases where alerts were not dropping on time, or they could not reconcile daily transactions seamlessly. When they opened a business banking account with us, that story changed. She calls me randomly to sing our praises, and I feel proud to be here.\nAnd it’s not just about our impact externally. Before joining, I had heard stories of staff highlighting the culture, and I was curious (I mean, people lie about these things). But I’m here now, and I can attest to the fact that everyone is respectful of each other. The fact that I know my ideas are heard and implemented is also something I feel good about, and I’m excited to be a part of this team.\nIf you love solving problems like I do, then you should absolutely join us. Visit to find your path to us.\nhttps://moniepoint.com/careers\n

Making a career at Moniepoint out of my passion for fixing problems.

For Yemi, navigating the sometimes turbulent waters of communication challenges and finding creative answers is an apt description of his daily routine. Sitting through an interview with him to talk about his work process felt like an education in how ​​non-linear roadmaps can bring meaning - that there’s always a rhythm and rhyme even in a world of ever changing, ever increasing variables.\nIn this conversation, we explored what it means to be a creative director at a financial institution, and everything in between. Come on the journey with me.\n\n\nWhat does the creative direction process look like, from the moment a brief gets on your table?\nA major thing for me when receiving a brief for the creative team is clarity. Having a good understanding of the end goal and the big-picture objective of the brief. We've got to have as much understanding of what is being sold as the product owner does. You can’t sell what you don’t know. Once we interrogate the brief and have that understanding, we then proceed to work on it.\nOnce the creative team has attended to the brief, they share what they've done with the creative strategist; he's the first gatekeeper who takes a look at what has been done, speaks to them about it, and ensures that it's as close to perfection as possible, and then I come in.\nAt this point, my role would require me to do some quality assurance, ascertaining the quality of the idea generated -  whether it's from a copy perspective, a visual perspective or a holistically conceptual perspective. I take a look at it and decide if the idea(s) actually tick the boxes required in the brief.\nIf not, I have another discussion with the creative strategist or the creative team where we interrogate the idea(s) and strip them completely bare, looking for that tiny gem of brilliant simplicity that can actually turn that idea around. \nMy objective at this point would be to assist the creative team with what I call concept generation triggers, especially if I notice there’s some creative fatigue or mental blocks, I’d suggest my own thoughts to help the team rediscover their creative elixirs. Once I can open up their minds to see other possibilities and inspire them, then they're able to break out of their mental blocks and come up with great stuff. \nHow do you think through tasks, and manage expectations in a sometimes unpredictable workspace?\nWe work in a very fast business environment. Aside from the usual administrative and creative management responsibilities, certain things pop up without warning and this could be due to a number of factors: market trends, sentiments, economic policies, industry regulations, and a host of other things. We are also very data-centric at Moniepoint, so whatever the data tells us is what informs our next line of action.\nHowever, I work very closely with the director of product marketing, Chinedu, and from that relationship, I'm able to understand where the brand is, what the brand needs from a communication perspective, what objectives need to be met, as well as determining what kind of communication the brand requires to meet its objectives at any given point in time.\nNot everything can be solved by TV, radio, or still visuals. This means there are times you may have to proffer solutions that are outside of the regular spectrum. In other words, \n“How else can we push certain products, or features to our target audience out there?”\n including the \n“Who?”, “What?”, “When?”, “Where?” and “How?” \nquestions. Sometimes the most effective channel to use may not be the obvious one, and you just have to determine which one will deliver the best results at what time.\nThat's where I come in as a creative director - to guide the creativity of my team; guide their thought processes, and the ideation creation processes, and also proffer solutions, wherever there are creative roadblocks.\n
\n\nAs Creative Director, are there times that you get into a rut? That place where you are tunnel-visioned and really cannot ideate about a particular product or a thing? How do you come out of that?\nI go through that pretty much all the time. Having a creative roadblock is not a sign that you’re losing your creative touch. It's just a sign that you are trying not to do the obvious but you just haven't figured out the way to break through the usual, into the unusual.\nHere's a secret - for every brief that I'm given, I'm usually blank at first.\nAt the beginning of my career, it scared me. However, I came to realise that what I called a creative block or blankness, was my brain trying to reconfigure itself to absorb the new information that's presented in the new brief.\nFirst, I reach out to my team members. There's a lot of value in constructive teamwork, so when I hit a roadblock, I'm not too proud to go to my team members and say \n“Hey, I'm working on so-and-so, and I don't seem to be making any headway. Maybe I've gotten too close to the brief and I need a fresh pair of eyes to take a look at it and then just tell me what you think.”\nWhatever they say when they take a look at the brief may not directly be what I'm looking for, but there just might be something in between the lines (or even nuanced) that’ll lead to \nthe\n \nlight-bulb\n moment.\nThe second thing I do is to take a break. The best figurative expression for it is - \nwhen you sit too close to the TV, you can't see the entire TV… you can't see the entire screen, and you can only watch one character at a time\n.\nThat's how I see it mentally. A mental block may be a sign that I'm too close to the screen. I’ve probably been looking at the brief from just one particular angle and I've become tunnel-visioned. I need to step back and develop a much broader understanding.\nWhat does stepping back and taking a break look like?\nOne of the ways I step back from the brief is to jump on another brief. It doesn't mean that the other one would stop (because mentally, I’ve not completed it yet).\nOr I do something different - watch something, play a video game, or play with my dogs. I call it constructive distraction. Your brain probably has been overheating and you need to calm down by doing something else that relaxes it, and as it starts to relax, your subconscious ruminates on the brief at hand.\nAnd how I know that I've actually hit a gold mine is that I actually feel a thump in my chest. Like \nshoot,\n this \nis it\n. This is the Eureka moment. And, that's pretty much how I handle creative blocks.\nI’ve always been fascinated by creative backgrounds and how they shape a Creative Director. What's the difference between having a copywriting background and having a design background for a creative director role?\nNaturally, our core abilities will play a role in how we analyse work. A creative director with a copywriting background will probably have a copy-first approach ie. look at the copy first and try and see that the copy actually says what it's meant to say.  And the same goes for the more graphic-design-oriented creative director; they would probably have a design-first approach. However, personally, I disagree with either route and I try to consistently wean myself off the “stereotype”. \nHere’s my reason; Over the course of time globally, the lines between copywriting and art direction have been blurred; meaning that you don't actually have to be a copywriter to put your idea into words, nor do you have to be a graphic designer to direct art.\nA copywriter no longer behaves the way a traditional copywriter will behave, because now they no longer see the creative challenge from just a copy perspective. They see the creative challenge from a more holistic concept-led perspective. And the designer shouldn't see a creative challenge from just a visual expression perspective. Rather, they should see it from a conceptual point of view. \nThe developed concept is then cascaded across communication channels; digital banners, print ads, TV commercials, radio commercials, or whatever IMC combination you choose. It's all driven by concept. \nWhen it therefore comes to being able to direct creativity, I would rather that a creative director has elevated himself or herself above the constructs of copy and graphics into the realm of concepts. Because as a creative director, you cannot say that you don't know how to direct art because you have a copywriting background, or that you don't know how to direct copy because you have a design background.\n\n\nThe role of a Creative Director is not usual at a financial institution or bank. Did you ever think you’d work with a financial institution?\nHahaha. Nope! I grew in my creative career, seeing financial institutions as conservative and thinking they would stifle freedom of expression. Working at Moniepoint has changed that narrative for me because Moniepoint values creativity and technical depth - “\nWhat do you bring to the table? How well do you do what you do?”\nI know a couple of organisations are adopting the strategy where they have an entire creative unit in-house, but it's not common just yet, especially in our industry. And for that reason, I would applaud Tosin, our CEO, for having the vision of domiciling a properly structured creative unit in-house.\nAnd we can see the impact of that in our communication across the board. If there's one thing people look out for now, it is “What's Moniepoint going to come up with next?”. People have so far enjoyed the creative output from the brand. And it's really not just because there's a creative director, but because there is a properly structured creative unit. \nYou talked about your dogs as being part of your constructive distraction. Would you call them a creative muse?\nCreative muse? No, they are not, they are way too lazy and eat too much of my food to be muses. 😅😅\nWhenever I feel overwhelmed, I try to distract myself; and sometimes I do so by playing with my dogs. Other times, I don't have to play with them, I just have to watch them and then I relax immediately because they always get up to mischief, and do something ridiculous that would make me laugh. That helps me relax. And in my relaxed state, I'm more productive.\nI guess that's the function they play in my professional life.\n\n\nWhat’s your favourite Moniepoint campaign?\nAs the Creative Director, I cannot choose. 😂 I love all the campaigns, honestly! But if there's one that I absolutely cherish, and I wouldn't call a campaign, it's the brand tagline, “Powering Dreams”. \nMy team and I developed that on my second day of resumption, and looking back at the work and discussions that went into it, it makes me extremely happy, every time I see how it has evolved from being a tagline to becoming the ethos of the brand.\n
\nAnd there you have it! I learnt quite a lot from this conversation with Yemi, and I’m sure you did, too. If you’d like to do cool things with a creative and effective marketing team, we're waiting for you. \nJoin us\n.\n

On being a creative director in a financial institution, with Yemi Arawore

\n\nWith Moniepoint, your financial dreams can only get better! Introducing our latest innovation – the new savings feature available on your \nMoniepoint Personal Banking app\n. \nWhether you wish to lock away your money for long-term goals or conveniently deposit and withdraw it at any given time, the \nFlexible savings, Strict Savings, and Fixed Deposit\n plans allow you to save smart and reliably. \nWith a minimum of N1000, get to enjoy interest rates of up to 16% p.a, and watch your money grow to finance your desired future. \nLet’s explore these convenient savings plans.\n\nMoniepoint Personal Savings Plans\n1. Flexible Savings \n\nA savings plan suited for rainy days and emergency expenses. With the Moniepoint Flexible Savings plan, you can easily save up extra funds and withdraw them any time you need them, with no strings attached. \nEnjoy a flat rate interest of 9% annually without incurring any breakage fees. Simple, flexible, and rewarding!\nBe prepared for unexpected financial challenges and create your personal emergency go-to wallet for unforeseen emergencies.\nEasy access\n: Save and withdraw anytime \nFlexible\n: Withdraw without penalties\nStable\n: Ideal for unpredictable incomes and urgent needs.\nInterest\n: Accrue interest daily, withdraw monthly\nTop up\n: Add more funds to your existing savings\nRoll over\n: Roll over your plans upon maturity\nSecure\n: NDIC-secured\nHalal complaint\n: Opt out of receiving interests \nSave your spare funds,\n \naccrue interest daily,  and watch your emergency fund grow. The flexible savings plan offers you a personalized way to save and withdraw without penalties.\n2. Strict Savings\n\nDevelop a saving culture and become a disciplined save\nr\n. It is a smart and safe way to lock away funds for a fixed amount of time and accrue up to 16% interest annually. \nWith Strict Savings, you get to avoid distractions and stay focused on your financial goals while resting assured that your money is secure and growing. \nYou should also note that breaking the terms of your Strict Savings plan will lead to a loss of all interest rates you have accrued.
\nInterest\n: Accrue interest daily and receive payments monthly\nTop up\n: Add more funds to your existing savings\nRoll over\n: Roll over your plans upon maturity\nSecure\n: NDIC-secured\nHalal complaint\n: Opt out of receiving interests \nRule\n: If the Strict Savings contract is broken, payment of the principal will be delayed for 48 hours, and the accrued interest will be forfeited\nAvoid spending funds dedicated to a long-term goal with a Strict Savings plan. Lock away a fixed amount for 1 to 12 months with ease.\n3.  Fixed Deposit\n\nWith a minimum deposit of N1000, you can save for your big goals using the Fixed Deposit plan. Save a lump sum for a longer term, receive interest upfront, and earn up to 16% per annum. \nThe Fixed Deposit plan allows you to choose when and what to save for and how long you want to save up for. \nInterest\n: Upfront payment of interest\nGrowth\n: Ideal for substantial, long-term investment\nRoll over\n: Roll over your plans upon maturity\nSecure\n: NDIC-secured\nHalal complaint\n: Opt out of receiving interests \nRule\n: All accrued interest will be forfeited if this plan is broken before the contract’s maturity.
\nSet aside lump sums and get rewarded with highly competitive interest rates. The Fixed Deposit plan is perfect for long-term investment plans or big-budget projects.\nHow to Start a Savings Plan on your Moniepoint Personal Banking App\nTo start saving for your financial goal on any of our savings plans, follow these steps:\nLog into your \nMoniepoint personal banking app\n.\nClick on the savings icon.\nSelect your preferred savings plan.\n\nSet up your savings by filling out all necessary information, such as your target name, target amount savings frequency, and more. Click “Next” when you’re done.\n\nClick “Create plan” and make your dreams happen with Savings.\nFor support, send an email to support@moniepoint.com\nFAQs\nWhat is the minimum amount required to start a savings plan?\n1000 naira is the minimum amount you can use to start a savings plan.\nCan I change the duration or tenure of my savings plan?\nYes, you can change the duration of your savings plan after creating it by going through the Manage plan flow to make any necessary changes.\nIs there a penalty for withdrawing before the maturity date?\nPenalties depend on your savings plan of choice. For Flexible Savings, there are no penalties, while for Strict Savings & Fixed Deposit, you lose all accrued interest. \nIs the interest rate fixed or variable for the savings plans?\nFlexible Savings – Interest is fixed at a flat rate of 9% p.a. \nStrict Savings & Fixed Deposit – Interest varies based on tenure but can go as high as 16% p.a.\nHow frequently is the interest credited to my savings account?\nFlexible Savings – Interest is accrued daily and paid at the end of every month. \nStrict Savings – You can access interest at the end of your savings cycle\nFixed Deposit – Interest is paid upfront. \nCan I have multiple savings plans simultaneously?\nYes, you can have as many savings plans as you desire\nWhat are the benefits of opting for a rollover at maturity?\nRollover at maturity allows you to maintain the same savings plan at any tenure you choose, making it easier to reconcile your savings instead of creating a new one.\nIs there a limit on the number of rollovers I can perform?\nNo, there is not.\nConclusion\nYour financial dreams are possible thanks to the power of savings. Explore our different savings plans, from the Flexible Savings to the Strict Savings, and the long-term Fixed Deposit, each set up to suit your personalized savings needs. \nSimply install the \nMoniepoint Personal Banking app\n and click on the savings option to get started.

Moniepoint Personal Savings Feature: What You Need To Know

\n\nIncorporating a good savings culture into your business helps you stay within your budget and accumulate resources for reinvestment. \nWe understand this at Moniepoint, and are introducing our business savings feature with four customized savings plans – \nSave As U Transact\n, \nFlexible Savings, Strict Savings, and Fixed Deposit \n– you can activate with a minimum of N1000. \nWith a soaring annual interest rate of up to 16%, you can use any of the plans available on the \nMoniepoint business banking app\n.\nWith an inclusive halal-compliant feature on request for our Muslim users, our different savings plans offer you the discipline, convenience, and flexibility to manage your business savings on your terms. \nLet’s explore the Moniepoint business savings plans.\n\nMoniepoint Business Savings Plans\n1. Save as U Transact\n\n\nAs a Business owner, you can effortlessly save a portion of each transaction, starting from N20. Start saving on transactions today and boost your business and saving simultaneously.\n2. Flexible Savings\nThe Flexible savings plan is ideal for managing your business’s cash flow, it acts as an emergency fund with immediate access. Save with no strings attached and enjoy a competitive 9% annual interest rate. It’s simple, flexible, and profitable!\n\n\nEasy access\n: Save and withdraw anytime \nFlexible\n: Withdraw without penalties\nStable\n: Ideal for unpredictable incomes and urgent needs.\nInterest\n: Accrue interest daily, withdraw monthly\nTop up\n: Add more funds to your existing savings\nRoll over\n: Roll over your plans upon maturity\nSecure\n: NDIC-secured\nHalal complaint\n: Opt out of receiving interests \nSave your spare funds,\n \naccrue interest daily,  and watch your emergency fund grow. The flexible savings plan offers you a personalized way to save and withdraw without penalties.\n3. Strict Savings\nAre you targeting a significant business milestone? Secure your funds with and maintain your focus! Watch your capital grow at a lucrative 16% interest rate per annum, enabling you to reach your business objectives. It’s an incredible opportunity for growth! \nYou should also note that breaking the terms of your Strict savings plan will lead to a loss of all interest rates you have accrued.\n\n\nInterest\n: Accrue interest daily and receive payments monthly\nTop up\n: Add more funds to your existing savings\nRollover\n: Roll over your plans upon maturity\nSecure\n: NDIC-secured\nHalal complaint\n: Opt out of receiving interests \nRule\n: If the Strict Savings contract is broken, payment of the principal will be delayed for 48 hours, and the accrued interest will be forfeited\nDedicate to a long-term business goal with a strict savings plan. Lock away a fixed amount for a period of time with ease.\n4. Fixed Deposit\nGot a substantial amount to save for 1-12 months? Choose our Fixed Deposit plan. Deposit a lump sum and earn up to 16% interest per annum upfront, based on the duration of your savings. You should also note that this is a one-time deposit for maximum returns. \n\n\nInterest:\n Upfront payment of interest\nGrowth\n: Ideal for substantial, long-term investment\nRoll over\n: Roll over your plans upon maturity\nSecure\n: NDIC-secured\nHalal complaint\n: Opt out of receiving interests \nRule\n: All accrued interest will be forfeited if this plan is broken before the contract’s maturity.\nSet aside lump sums and get rewarded with highly competitive interest rates. The fixed deposit plan is perfect for your long-term business investment plans or big-budget projects.\n\nHow to Start a Savings Plan on your Moniepoint Business Banking App\nTo start saving for your business goals on any of our savings plans, follow these steps:\nLog into your \nMoniepoint Business Banking app\n.\n\n\nClick on the savings icon.\nSelect your preferred savings plan.\n\n\nSet up your savings by filling out all necessary information, such as your target name, target amount savings frequency, and more. Once you’re done, click on “Next”.\n\n\nClick “Create plan” and make your dreams happen with Savings.\nFor support, send an email to support@moniepoint.com\n\nFAQs\n1: What is the minimum amount required to start a savings plan?\n1000 naira is the minimum amount you can use to start a savings plan.\n2: Can I change the duration or tenure of my savings plan?\nYes, you can change the duration of your savings plan after creating it by going through the Manage plan flow to make any necessary changes.\n3: Is there a penalty for withdrawing before the maturity date?\nPenalties depend on your savings plan of choice. For Flexible Savings, there are no penalties, while for Strict Savings & Fixed Deposit, you lose all accrued interest. \n4: Is the interest rate fixed or variable for the savings plans?\nFlexible Savings – Interest is fixed at a flat rate of 9% p.a. \nStrict Savings & Fixed Deposit – Interest varies based on tenure but can go as high as 16% p.a.\n5: How frequently is the interest credited to my savings account?\nFlexible Savings – Interest is accrued daily and paid at the end of every month. \nStrict Savings – You can access interest at the end of your savings cycle\nFixed Deposit – Interest is paid upfront. \n6: Can I have multiple savings plans simultaneously?\nYes, you can have as many savings plans as you desire\n7: What are the benefits of opting for a rollover at maturity?\nRollover at maturity allows you to maintain the same savings plan at any tenure you choose, making it easier to reconcile your savings instead of creating a new one.\n8: Is there a limit on the number of rollovers I can perform?\nNo, there is not.\n\nConclusion\nRest assured, your Moniepoint Savings plan is secure, flexible, and designed for maximum business benefit. \nJoin us in making your business aspirations a reality. Start your savings plan today on your \nMoniepoint Business Banking App\n. Build your business’ future, one deposit at a time.\nDream big, save smart, make it happen!\n

Moniepoint Business Savings Feature: What You Need To Know

\nMoniepoint Inc, Africa's leading digital financial services provider, in collaboration with NITHub Unilag, has announced a call for applicants into the second cohort of the highly competitive HatchDev programme. This initiative, aimed at nurturing the next generation of market-ready software engineers, has received widespread recognition for its impactful contribution in helping to bridge the skilled tech talent gap and supporting the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy’s goal of creating two million digital jobs in the country.\nThe nine-month specialized training programme follows a strict recruitment policy and aspires to produce 300 junior software engineers, 100 intelligent systems developers, and 100 IoT/embedded systems engineers annually. Upon completion of the course, these professionals are readily absorbed into a market eager for their expertise. The program, which began in October 2022, has successfully trained and placed professionals in the industry.  \nThe transformative learning experience provides six months of hands-on training where participants take a deep dive into the world of full-stack development from the fundamentals to advanced techniques, and they’ll gain a solid understanding of the tools and technologies that power the web. Participants will also experience an immersive 3-month internship where their newfound skills can be deployed in a real-world setting, gain invaluable practical experience, collaborate with industry experts, and build a network that will open doors for their future careers. \nAccording to Chukwudum Ekwueme, VP Engineering, Moniepoint Inc., “As a business, we have always envisioned a transformative approach to the use of technology in powering dreams and creating financial happiness in society.  The HatchDev programme is an excellent exemplar of this mandate and one that will allow participants gain practical experience, upskilling, startup incubation, and product development, making them valuable assets to the tech industry upon completion. We are excited to be associated with an initiative that will support the government’s effort to build a robust digital economy for Nigeria.”\nDr. Victor Odumuyiwa, NitHub Director and HatchDev project lead, said, “We sincerely appreciate Moniepoint for collaborating with us to bring the inaugural edition of HatchDev to life in 2022. We have seen firsthand the programme’s transformative power to change lives and empower young people with a future that they can be proud of. I’d encourage those interested to apply and seize this unparalleled opportunity to be a part of an initiative that will shape the future of technology in Nigeria.”\nThe application deadline is set for February 18, 2024, and intending participants are expected to have some knowledge of HTML, CSS and foundational JavaScript to enable them to make the most of this program.\nTo apply or learn more about the HatchDev programme, visit \nhttps://bit.ly/HatchDev2\n.

Moniepoint, NITHub Unilag call for applicants into HatchDev programme  

\n\nIt’s the season of love, and the pressure is getting “worser and worser.” \nYou’re probably considering how to surprise your loved ones with a memorable gift or experience, but the problem is Nigeria’s inflation rate, right?\nRelax; I’ve got you covered with a list of practical and cost-effective activities you can do this Valentine’s season. \nYou can plan that perfect date, movie night, or prepare memorable activities without breaking the bank. \nReady to move beyond matching red and white outfits to creating cost-effective and unforgettable moments?\nLet’s explore!\n1. Movie Date Night\nThe classy date move is to visit a cinema or a hyped-up restaurant for a lovely time, right? However, reality check shows that the prices of movie tickets and meals are hitting the roof. \n\n\n(\nSource\n)\nYou can skip the noise of overcrowded eateries and cinemas by creating a cozy movie environment with candle lights, blankets, and good old romantic movies. \nYou can binge-watch your favourite romantic series by subscribing to your favourite streaming platform using your \nMoniepoint debit card\n details shown on your Moniepoint Personal Banking app. \nWhile everyone else struggles to navigate the traffic of a busy February 14th, enjoy homemade meals and cuddle up in front of your lit-up television screen. \n2. Prepare a Home-made Dessert for Your Partner\nYou can treat your partner or loved ones to special homemade desserts like pastries, cakes, ice cream, shawarma, or pizza. Look up an easy dessert recipe and without spending much on dessert shops, you can prepare your partner’s cravings at home.\n3. Plan a Game Night\nWho doesn’t love a friendly competition in the air? With affordable board games such as Ludo, scrabble, monopoly, etc., you and your partner can play fun games. \n\n(\nSource\n)\nYou can also add a touch of romance by creating a lover’s treasure hunt with cute love notes as clues to the final price. \n4. Spa Night\nSpa night is a fun and cost-effective activity to do this Valentine’s season with your partner. Gather your skin care products, watch YouTube spa tutorials, and give your partner a relaxing spa treatment from the comfort of your home. \n\n(\nSource\n)\nYou can also spice the moment up by taking selfies and videos to post later on your social media pages.\n5. Take a trip down Memory Lane\nDo you see that box that contains old album photos of your partner’s chubby cheeks and bulgy eyes as a baby? Go through those pictures while laughing together. \nYou can recreate old love sparks on this special day by returning to old love letters, text messages, and Google photo archives of your first date. \nFurthermore, you can go the next mile by writing heartfelt love notes to your partner that you can look back on in the future.\n6. Slow Dance to your Favourite Playlist\n\n(\nSource\n)\nYou can create a playlist of your favourite love songs or even Afro beats and dance carefree to its melody. You can enjoy a memorable moment by subscribing to streaming platforms like \nSpotify\n,\n iTunes\n, \nBoomplay\n, etc., using convenient and reliable cards like the Moniepoint debit card.\nFrom loud karaoke to intense slow dance movements, you can make this Valentine’s season special and affordable.\n7. Go Together on Volunteering Activities\nNothing beats the feeling of sharing love with the underprivileged. You can visit orphanages, hospitals, and the streets and share gifts, your services, or your time. Doing this allows you to bond with your partner and give back to the community well.\n8. Paint Together\nAwaken the artistry in you both by painting together. You can paint portraits of yourselves, beautiful views, or even your future dreams, anything involving bonding times and paint brushes. \n9. Cook a Meal Together\n\n(\nSource\n)\nFind the secret ways to each other’s hearts by cooking a delicious meal together. You can get help from online tutorials or cookbooks to create magic in the kitchen. \nWhat matters is the time you spend together laughing, cutting, frying, and bonding over hot, boiling soup. \nWrapping Up\nYou don’t have to spend a fortune showing love to your family and partner this Valentine’s season. You can create a memorable Valentine’s celebration by simply re-creating romantic indoor dates, playing games, and watching movies together. \nRemember to be intentional with your finances this season by opening up a secure bank account like the \nMoniepoint personal bank account.\n This way, you can make quick and smooth transactions that won’t spoil the love mood this season.

Cost-Friendly Activities That You Can Do This Valentine's Season.

\n\nAlright, picture this – you have to fill out that government form, open or upgrade your \nMoniepoint \nbank account, or fill out a financial-related form. \nHere’s the challenge; you need to input your BVN and you might not remember the first digit let alone all 11 digits. \nI understand this and can help you out.\nLet’s explore what a BVN is, how to check your BVN, and why you may need to check it. \n\nWhat is a Bank Verification Number (BVN)?\n\n(\nSource\n)\nOn the 14th of February, 2014, the \nCentral Bank of Nigeria\n, in collaboration with the\n Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS)\n, introduced the concept of the BVN. It is an 11-digit number used to identify all customers of financial institutions in Nigeria. \nThis means that your BVN is the number attached to your financial accounts that your bank can use to identify you as a customer. Like your \nNational Identification Number (NIN)\n, your BVN is linked to your biometric information, including date of birth, full name, and contact details. \nThese details are captured when registering your BVN at any bank or verified registration center. The aim of creating the BVN is to improve financial security through banking in the country by preventing financial crimes and fraud nationwide. \nHow to Check for your BVN Number\nIf you need to retrieve your BVN to access an essential financial process quickly, here are some simple steps.\n1. Dial the USSD code to check your BVN\nYou can check your BVN by simply dialing the code \n*565*0#\n using the phone number you used to register your BVN. By following the prompts displayed after you dial the code, your BVN will be displayed on your mobile device for a service fee of N20. The method is fast and doesn’t require any internet connection. \n\n(\nSource\n)\n2. The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Website\n\n(\nSource\n)\nWith a vision to be the leading provider of innovative financial services in Nigeria, the NIBSS website provides a BVN lookup tool to enable you to verify and retrieve your information. You can check your BVN through the NIBSS website by following these steps;\nVisit the \nNIBSS website\n on your mobile device or computer\nInput your name and date of birth\nType in the phone number linked to your BVN\nClick on “Submit.”\nChoose your desired payment option and pay the required verification fee of N20.\nOnce your payment is successful, you will see the verified BVN displayed on your screen. Do well to take a screenshot or write it down in a safe place.\n3. Contacting the BVN Helpdesk\nAnother simple way of retrieving your BVN is by contacting the BVN helpdesk through their toll-free number – 0700-2255-226 or email – bvn@nibss-plc.com.ng. Ensure you provide the correct details, such as your full name, date of birth, email address, and phone number linked to your BVN. \nOnce they verify your details, you’ll receive your BVN details from the comfort of your current location.\n4. Go to a National Identity Management Commission Office (NIMC)\nIf you have registered for your National Identification Number and have your ID details, you can visit \nany NIMC office\n. By providing them with your correct information, they can assist you in retrieving your BVN quickly.\nHow to Check your BVN on MTN, GLO, Airtel and 9Mobile\nWhether you’re using MTN, GLO, Airtel, or 9Mobile, you can check your BVN using the following steps:\nDial the code *565*0# on the phone number you used to register for your BVN\nConfirm that you agree to the prompted N20 fee\nInput your transaction pin\nYour BVN is displayed on your screen.\nWith the same code number, you can check your BVN across the network service providers in Nigeria. The best part is that you don’t need to be connected to the internet. With just N20 naira, your digits get displayed.\nWhy do you Need a Bank Verification Number?\nAs a Nigerian citizen, your BVN is your secret identity to access innovative banking financial services. Here are some reasons you will have to check it;\nTo Verify your Identity\n: Banks like \nMoniepoint Microfinance Bank\n require you to verify your identity when opening new accounts, upgrading your KYC levels, or performing transactions. By providing a valid BVN, you are cleared to perform your desired financial operations.\nFor Security Purposes and Fraud Prevention\n: Your BVN is your unique banking identification number, which the CBN put in place to ensure that your account is not susceptible to fraudsters. If you notice suspicious activities on your bank accounts, contact your customer representative to cross-check using your BVN.\nChanges in Personal Information\n: If you undergo a vital change in your details, such as your name, biometric data, and contact information, you will need your BVN to complete the required forms.\nLinking Different Accounts\n: In cases where you have different bank accounts and wish to link them, you must provide your BVN to do so successfully.\nLoan Application\n: When you apply for a loan or credit service, the lender may require your BVN to verify your identity and facilitate the process.\nPayment and Beneficiary Verification\n: In most cases, NGOs or governments may require your BVN to process payments or verify beneficiaries. It can occur in grant applications, social welfare programmes, etc, and your BVN is a qualifying factor to access such payments.\nAccount Recovery and Emergencies\n: If you need to recover your blocked or lost account, you’ll need to verify your identity by providing specific details, including your BVN.\nFinal Words\nUltimately, your BVN allows you to access unlimited financial operations in the Nigerian banking sector. \nThankfully, in case you forget it, you can always check it through the \nUSSD code\n, NIBSS website and other helpful means listed in this article. \nFinally, keep your BVN details secure and never share them on public and unverified platforms so that you don’t get duped or scammed. 

How to Check Your Bank Verification Number(BVN)

\n\nYou see, the great thing besides opening your Moniepoint personal bank account speedily without long bank queues is the ability to control it effectively. \nWhat other way to do this better than from the comprehensive dashboard of your \nMoniepoint personal banking app\n? \nBy now, you’ve probably installed and signed up for your \nMoniepoint personal banking app\n and are one step closer to exploring its quick and easy benefits. \nFrom tracking your transfer histories to checking your current account balances, I’ll walk you through how to log in to your Moniepoint personal banking app dashboard to access other features.\n\nSteps to Login to your Moniepoint Personal Banking App Dashboard\nAfter installing your Moniepoint personal banking app, you sign up with your desired username and password. To log back into your dashboard, follow these steps below whether you are using an \niOS\n or \nAndroid device\n;\n\nOpen the Moniepoint Personal Banking App on your device.\nType in your username in the username field\nEnter your password in the password field\nClick on the “Login” button to access your dashboard\nNote that if you have forgotten your password, you can easily reset it by clicking “Forgot Password.”\n\nSome Login Issues and How to Rectify Them\nWhen logging in to your Moniepoint Personal Banking App dashboard, you might happen to run into roadblocks like these;\n1. Login Failed\n\nIf you encounter this error when logging into your banking app, it’s possible that your network connection was interrupted or is weak. You can also encounter this challenge if you input the wrong password. To rectify this, recheck your internet connection and try again or reset your password in case you have forgotten it.\n2. Account Locked Out\nYou might be unable to access your Moniepoint dashboard and get locked out of your account if you have inputted the wrong password five times. To avoid this, input the correct password or reset it if you have forgotten your current password.\n3. Using a New Device to Log in\nIf you try logging in using a device different from the one you used to register, you will be prompted to enter the OTP sent to your registered phone number. You will be required to do this for security purposes and to verify that you are the one trying to access your dashboard.\n\nFeatures on Your Moniepoint Personal Banking App Dashboard\nYour Moniepoint dashboard allows you to perform your banking operations easily and ensures you get maximum value. Here are some features you’ll see on your dashboard;\n\nCard Feature\n: Ordering your debit card is as swift as ever using the card feature on your dashboard. You can also make payments using your card and view the card payment success rate of other banks and their varying card type, from the Mastercard to the Verve Card and Visa Card.\nYour Bank Account Details\n: On your dashboard, you will see details such as your full name, verification picture, current KYC level, account number (which could also be your phone number), and current account balance.\nBank Transfer Feature\n: This allows you to transfer funds swiftly to any bank account you choose.\nAirtime Topup feature\n: On your personal banking app dashboard, you can also top up your airtime or data on any verified telecommunication network. \nBill Payment Feature\n: You can pay your bills on time using this feature on your dashboard, ranging from utilities to cable TV.\nQR Code Payment\n: Thanks to this Moniepoint dashboard feature, you can now pay and get paid quickly using the scan QR option.\nNotifications\n: On your dashboard, you can view all your notifications to stay updated on all occurrences on your bank account, from successful transfers and payments to required operations.\nTransaction History\n: You can stay on top of your expenses and track payments by viewing your transaction history, from the newest to the oldest. You can also view your spending trend either weekly or monthly.\nConclusion\nUsing a clear dashboard with features that allow you to monitor and transact quickly from the convenience of your smartphone gives your financial management the extra advantage.\nThe \nMoniepoint Personal Banking app\n equips you with a reliable platform to perform secure, easy, quick, and straightforward operations without leaving you stranded. 

How to Log in to Your Moniepoint Personal Banking Dashboard

\n\nYou’ve just been notified and might wonder, “Why is my Moniepoint account restricted?” \nDealing with a restricted account can get frustrating, especially if you don’t know the reason why. From not upgrading your KYC level to uploading incomplete documents, there are several reasons your account can get restricted.\nFirst, understand that a restricted account notice is put in place for your security rather than slowing down your financial operations. \nLet me explain some reasons your account can get restricted and how you can rectify them.\n\nReasons Why your Moniepoint Account can get Restricted\nBelow are some of the reasons why your accounts can get restricted.\n1. Incomplete Document Upload and Verification.\nWhen opening your Moniepoint personal banking account, you must upload verification documents at different KYC levels. Some documents include your Identification means, utility bill, tenancy agreement, business registration proof, etc. By not uploading the required documents, your account can be restricted. \n2. KYC Level Limitation.\nThe Moniepoint business and personal accounts have different KYC levels with credit and debit limitations. The levels range from one to three for a personal account and one to five for a business account. \nWhen using your account, there are transaction amounts that can not be made at lower KYC levels. Ensure to pay attention to your current KYC level and its limitations to ensure it is not below your desired transaction.\n3. Suspected Account Compromise or Fraudulent Activities\nYour Moniepoint account can be restricted if any suspicious activity occurs on it. At Moniepoint, we care about the safety of your transactions and enable you to stay on top of every activity on your account. \n4. Multiple Failed Login Attempts\nIf you try logging in to your account unsuccessfully after five wrong attempts, your account will get deactivated. Ensure you input your correct username or reset your password in case you forget it to avoid a restriction.\nWhat can I do if my Moniepoint Account is Restricted?\nIf your account gets restricted due to some of the reasons listed above, there’s no need to panic. Go through the following tips to rectify it;\nContact your business relationship manager or our customer support team by calling the number +234 201 888 9990 or sending an \nemail\n. By doing so, you get a better explanation of the ongoing issue and a solution to it.\nVerify your current KYC level and the attached credit and debit limitations.\nEnsure you complete the verifications and upload the required documents for your current KYC level.\n By attempting to log in with the wrong password multiple times, your account can get restricted. Ensure you reset your password if you have forgotten it to regain access to your account.\nWhat are the KYC Limitations for my Moniepoint Personal Bank Account?\nYour Moniepoint personal account is grouped into three KYC levels – levels 1 to 3. Here are the credit and debit limitations on each level.\nLevel 1:\n The single credit limit for this level is N500,000, while the single debit limit is N50,000. On the other hand, the daily credit limit is N500,000, while the daily debit limit is N200,000.\nLevel 2:\n At this level, the single credit limit is N5,000,000, while the single debit limit is N900,000. Additionally, the daily credit limit is N5,000,000, while the daily debit limit is N900,000.\nLevel 3\n: This final level has an unlimited single and daily credit limit; this means that your account has no credit transaction limit. On the other hand, your single debit limit is N1,000,000, while the daily debit limit is N25,000,000.\nWhat are the KYC Limitations for my Moniepoint Business Account?\nUnlike your Moniepoint personal account, the Moniepoint business account has five KYC levels. Below are the levels and their credit and debit limitations.\nLevel 1\n: The single credit limit is N500,000, while the single debit limit is N50,000. On the other hand, the daily credit limit is N500,000, while the daily debit limit is N200,000.\nLevel 2\n: The single credit limit for level two is N5,000,000, while the single debit limit is N900,000. Additionally, the daily credit limit is N5,000,000, while the daily debit limit is N900,000. \nLevel 3\n: Like the personal account, this level has an unlimited single and daily credit limit. It means that your account has no credit transaction limit. On the other hand, your single debit limit is N5,000,000, while the daily debit limit is N25,000,000.\nLevel 4\n: You have an unlimited single and daily credit limit at this level. Also, your single debit limit is N50,000,000, while your daily debit limit is N250,000,000.\nLevel 5\n: At the final level, you can access unlimited transactions, including single and daily credit and debit transactions. \nConclusion\nA restricted Moniepoint Personal Bank Account shouldn’t worry you. Paying attention to the KYC level requirements, document uploads, and customer care representatives will get your account back up in no time. \nWith the \nMoniepoint business account\n and \npersonal accounts\n, you can enjoy smooth transactions, pay your bills, and save up as you wish.

Why is my Moniepoint Personal Bank Account Restricted?

\nWith about 65% of Nigeria's population under 30 years old, the need to raise awareness of data protection rights and responsibilities especially among young people has been brought to the fore. The focus on this huge youth demographic follows from its ability to serve as a great incentive to boost Nigeria’s productivity credentials and the role that they can play in championing an ethical and healthy ecosystem in view of the country’s digital economy aspirations. \nIn a bid to raise awareness and ramp up sensitization for data privacy and protection as part of activities marking the National Privacy Week 2024, the definitive bank for small and medium-sized businesses in Nigeria, as well as their customers and employees, Moniepoint Microfinance Bank and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) teamed up to promote responsible use of personal data among young Nigerians.  \n"Our youth are the future of Nigeria's digital economy. It is crucial that they understand the importance of data privacy and use personal data responsibly and ethically as they engage with technology," said National Commissioner/CEO, Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Dr Vincent Olatunji.\nHe also highlighted the evolution of Data Protection in Nigeria, from the establishment of the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau to its transition into a Commission. He underscored the importance of awareness, which is paramount in building a globally competitive pool of Data Protection professionals to discharge requisite duties under the Nigeria Data Protection Act, NDPA, providing a legal framework for collecting, storing, and sharing personal data. \nAccording to the Managing Director, Moniepoint MfB, Babatunde Olofin, “Data is not just a commodity. It is a reflection of our identity.  We recognize that young people are a huge dividend to be harnessed for Nigeria’s socio-economic transformation in terms of innovation, enterprise, and job and wealth creation. Getting young people to become more aware about issues in data protection and privacy is key to succeeding in a digital and globalized environment.”\nFurthermore, he stated that, "we want to empower young people to take charge of their digital lives which starts with knowing your rights and recognizing the value of personal data. As a compliant and responsible data processor, we believe that financial happiness can only happen in an environment where data subjects behave well as responsible digital citizens and we’ll support industry stakeholders to build an ecosystem that encourages all Nigerians to take data protection and privacy seriously.”  \nMoniepoint Microfinance Bank continues to heavily invest in Nigeria’s digital economy, an industry that will create enormous employment opportunities for the country’s teeming population and lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty in furtherance of its visionary resolve to create a society where the dreams of Nigerians are powered.\nThe National Privacy Week 2024 serves as a reminder of the fundamental right to privacy and the importance of protecting personal data from unauthorized access, misuse, and exploitation.

Moniepoint, Data Protection Commission urge young people to use personal data responsibly

People say that the best strategy for achieving a dream is staying on the right path to that dream. But what happens when you do just that, get to the dream and realise it wasn’t what you thought it’d be? \nIn this episode of #BackToTheDream, Tobi walks the perfect path to a Big Tech dream, and after a year working at Microsoft, he realises he doesn’t really want to be there. Where does he go next? Well, you guessed right. Back to Moniepoint. \nCuriosity may have killed the cat, but it certainly won’t kill you and me. Let’s have a chat with Tobi and get into his headspace.\n\n\nHey Tobi. How are you doing today?\nI’m fine. Putting in the work as usual and making sure my engineers give their best.\nAlright. Talking about putting in the work. What do you do, and how long have you been doing this?\nI’m an Enterprise Architect. Think of an architect but for a digital structure. I listen to what the product team wants, take that dream, and create a structure for my software engineers to build with. The goal every time is to ensure the results from my engineers are functionally accurate and scale properly. I’ve been an Enterprise architect for about a year now, and that’s when I rejoined Moniepoint. \nThat’s interesting. You had been here before, then you left and returned. Let’s start from the beginning. How did you get into Moniepoint?\nI knew a couple of people who joined Moniepoint, and we used to keep in touch. Sometime in 2019, I did a personal review of my career growth and I wasn’t satisfied. I had risen to a senior software engineer role at the company I was and was meant to be leading a team, but it didn’t make much difference. We weren't creating code. I spent more time doing pre-sales and trying to convince customers to give us gigs. I mean, I was a software engineer, but there was nothing to engineer, and I just knew that it was time to leave.\nAround that time, I got wind of an opening in Moniepoint (then TeamApt), and I decided to dig a bit. I called someone I knew on the engineering team to give me a bit of context. After the call, I knew what I had to do. Moniepoint was a relatively small company at the time, with engineers who were ‘engineering’. I could picture myself learning from other engineers and growing. Simply put, I knew what I wanted -  to work on actual products and grow them to scale, and I knew I could find it in Moniepoint. So, I applied for the Software Engineering role and joined in 2020.\nA go-getter, I see. So, did we meet your expectations? And why did you leave?\nIt’s great that those questions came together because the reason I left, is directly tied to why I came back. I joined the team as a software engineer and worked with the cards team. I handled transaction processing - things around debiting cards, checking balances, creating cards, etc. It was thrilling. I’d say everything happened fast, even if I was here for about two years before leaving. I moved from a place where I wasn’t doing anything to a place where I was doing more than everything I wanted to do, if you get me. Moniepoint was so fast-paced that sometimes I couldn’t keep track of my growth or progress. I just found myself moving from one task to another and it was exciting. It felt great.\nBut after a while, I think about two years, I started feeling like I needed to slow it down a bit. I could see my growth not just in terms of my technical skills, but also in terms of the other core values I had built. I took some time to do a personal review and realised I had built for myself in two years, what would usually take 5 to build, and I was impressed. Beyond being impressed, I wanted more. I wanted to work for one of the big tech companies - the FAAMNNG. Honestly, I didn’t think there were many tech companies that deserved the level of capacity I had built. It had to be a big tech. I wanted to build for the world. I started applying to Amazon, Microsoft, all of them. Interestingly, I got an offer from both companies and went with the latter.  \n\n\nWhat was it like in your new dream company?\nIt was good, and to an extent, I enjoyed working there. But after a while, I just knew I wanted more. Even though the growth opportunities existed, they weren’t as easy to come by. It took a lot of intentionality to explore things that were outside of your primary role. So what you realise is that you have more access to resources that could help you grow but because of the way work was, you’d only grow in exactly what you came to do.\nLet me give a clear example: you’re learning the alphabet, and you’d get all the resources you need for that. But then, you would never get the need to learn numbers as there’d never be an opportunity to apply a knowledge of numbers, because it simply isn’t your work. However, I was building for the world and that in itself gave me joy. \n\nWhat was it like building for the world?\nIn itself, it is a good feeling. You see the number of daily users and subscribers and are over the moon. We’re doing this? The feeling is actually good but it didn’t always feel so close to home. I knew I was doing great work, and I enjoyed it, but the fulfilment wasn't the same as when I worked at Moniepoint.\nAt the time I was leaving Moniepoint, we had started working on launching cards for a wider population than just staff. And even when it was just the staff that used the card, it felt great seeing a colleague use what you work on and receiving direct feedback, so close to home. There, I could see the number of subscribers and be so thrilled, but I always felt distant.\nFor example, I don’t think my grandma had any or many reasons to do a PowerPoint presentation for example. But every day on Workplace (our intranet), you could see someone talking about how Moniepoint has made transactions more seamless for their parents, partners., neighbours, etc. And, of course, I have my personal experiences, too. \nWhy did you return? \nI missed many things - the drive, the autonomy, the culture and the people. \nAs I stayed longer at my ‘dream company’ (Big Tech), I realised that maybe the dream I wanted wasn’t the dream I needed. I enjoyed working there, but I wanted more. It felt a bit early in my career to be that relaxed. I started nursing the idea to leave and around that time, Felix reached out to me. I hope I didn’t give him a hard time, but from the first call, I knew I was coming back. Here I am today.\nWhat’s it been like since you returned?\nBalanced is the perfect word. I returned to a team with more engineers, including some of the people I worked with before. The team still had some of the best engineers I had worked with; we had grown more and delegated more, but the place for active work was still alive.\nAs I mentioned earlier, I returned as an Enterprise Architect. We were now a business bank working hard to launch our personal banking product, and I joined the cards team again. The excitement that was happening when I joined back gave me no minute to miss where I had just left.\nNow, we’ve launched personal banking, and as the number of users keeps increasing, our card requests go higher. When I see feedback that someone got their card in less than 48 hours, they were able to activate it, and they’ve been having seamless transactions, I feel great. I look back, and I’m pretty glad I took that call from Felix. But the work I do is not the only thing I'm proud of. I've seen growth in the structure and culture. I mean, I was here when we were way smaller and gave less attention to some things. To see a quarterly performance review structure that’s functional is impressive. \n\n\nWhat would you say to someone looking to join or rejoin Moniepoint?\nThe culture is excellent, and I have enjoyed working with my teammates. Even if the team has grown and it’s not the same people, one thing is constant: the engineers are great (sorry to other departments, lol). The company is also fast-paced, so be ready to roll your sleeves and do the job. \nIf you’re rejoining, I can tell you that we’ve grown, and the structure keeps improving. I think there are some advantages to returning. You already have an idea of the work process and culture; your worth is not up for debate. If it’s your first time, you’re welcome. The one thing I can assure you of is a growth in the scale of our impact. The difference between my first time here and now is glaring regarding how well people know and see us, so you’re welcome to grow with us. \nAt Moniepoint, we believe employees should have opportunities to grow, find meaning in what they do, and make decisions they’d never have to regret. There’s always a space for you, whether it’s your first or second time joining us. We can’t wait to hear about your journey and welcome you back when you’re ready. Visit \nwww.moniepoint.com/careers\n to pick your spot. 

#BackToTheDream: Tobi’s Journey from Moniepoint to Microsoft and Back

Imagine this: You just walked into your favourite restaurant to grab lunch. You skipped breakfast, so you’re already salivating over the native rice you just ordered. It’s your turn to pay, and the cashier asks you a question you’ve heard a million times before: “Cash, card or transfer?”. \nIf you’re like most Nigerians, the data suggests you’ll most likely whip out a card 8 out of 10 times. But the process might not always be smooth.  \nNot all cards process smoothly\nYou just tried to pay, only to see "issuer or switch inoperative"? That's tech speak for "Oops, we can't reach your bank right now." Let's not start with the trouble you went through to get that card or what it will take to file a complaint if there’s a problem.  \nAlso, business owners experience issues when transactions fail, and the customer is debited. There are also problems with fraud. No one wants to have headaches in their financial experience.\nTo resolve some of these roadblocks, we launched a card service that works and lifts the burden for millions. \nI spoke to Damilola, the Technical Product Manager behind our card product, to find out why people love cards and how we smoothen the card payment process. He shared valuable nuggets. Let’s dive in with the first step. \nHow do card payments work?\n\n\nSo you’re at the restaurant and decide to pay with your card. The entire process is quite complex, but let’s try to oversimplify what goes on behind the scenes.\nThe first player is the bank that gave you your card - the Issuer. The restaurant you’re eating at is the Merchant, and their bank is the Acquirer. Between the issuer and Acquirer is the payment gateway that captures the card details and sends them to a card processor. The processor then forwards the transaction details to the card network and issuing bank.\nAll this happens in seconds, and when you enter the right pin, the funds are earmarked for transfer. In most countries, the actual movement of funds to the merchant could take days, but Nigeria’s payment ecosystem has evolved to facilitate instant settlement of merchants. So the merchant gets credited for the native jollof, minus any charges from their acquiring bank or payment processor. Then you’re on your merry way.\nThe Cardolypse: Why cards are taking over. \nIn 2023, a regulatory change by the Central Bank reshaped Nigeria’s payment space. Before then, people used cards mainly to withdraw cash to spend in shops. The events that followed turned lots of us into regular card users. Because even the regular tomato seller down the street now has a PoS terminal. Transactions at PoS shot up by 40.9% during this period! But it wasn't just about the cash scarcity. There’s more. \nIn 2022 alone, Nigerians tapped, swiped, and entered PINs in a flurry of transactions—1.5 billion at ATMs and a staggering 3.9 billion at PoS terminals, cumulatively moving the economy with ₦73 trillion. So, there has to be some unspoken reason for this consistent increase in card usage. \nBanks within reach\nThe rise of mobile money in countries like Kenya and Ghana made banking accessible to millions of people. While services like Mpesa took over Kenya, agency banking became commonplace in Nigeria in the past few years. The former was mobile-driven, and the latter was card-driven. The ease and simplicity have contributed to the rise of card payments. You can read more about \nagency banking\n in this article. \nMillions of people are not tech-savvy\nTo do a bank transfer with an app or through USSD, you need either an Internet-enabled smartphone or the ability to read and write. However, smartphones are still expensive for most Nigerians, and literacy levels vary.\nThere’s a lot of friction involved with using banking apps\nThere’s even an added layer for literate people with smartphones. They’re extra careful with banking apps that are typically hard to use and don’t want to make any mistakes. Cards are straightforward. Insert, enter PIN, and done. \nOld habits look for the next best thing\nPeople love cash because it’s fast; cards are nearly as fast, especially when cash is not within reach. There’s no waiting to confirm if the merchant has received the money. Of course, it’s a different story if you use Moniepoint’s \npay-via-transfer\n feature, but that’s not the point of this story. Cards mimic the speed of cash, while offering the convenience and security of not carrying physical money. \nIt’s a global trend.\nNigerians are not the only ones who love paying via cards. UK shoppers use credit or debit cards more than any other payment method. Cards account for 57% of shopping transactions in the UK. \nThere are similar stories in the US and \nBrazil\n, as you’ll find someone using a debit or credit card for every two transactions. This number is 4 out of 10 in South Africa, another market where people love to pay by card. \nWhat we're doing differently.\n\n\nWith these few points of mine, I've shown you why cards are a big deal in Nigeria. Here’s how we’re making the card experience for millions of people despite all the bumps I mentioned above. \nSimplifying card deliveries\nImagine getting a new card faster than it takes to say, "Where's my card?" We promised customers a card in 48 hours and built a system to make that happen. Remember, when people face friction, it’s a massive barrier to financial inclusion, but simplifying the process brings more people to the financial sector. \nFraud-proof systems\nWhen there’s a fraud issue, it’s a headache for good-hearted people and businesses alike. \nWe give customers complete control over their card details, starting from the card itself. We reduce the chances of identity theft by removing any details from the card.\nThe fear of being defrauded can make people lose trust in the financial system, and we work hard to make that yesterday’s story. \nEasy card control\nFrom the app, users can prevent the card from being used at any channel they don’t want. Be it online transactions, PoS or ATMs. They also get to block the card at any time.\nHere again, we stripped down the clumsy processes and moved card ownership from a burden to a tool for financial happiness. \nThere you have it—we’ve shown how and why a simple piece of plastic is reshaping our financial landscape, making life a tad easier, one insertion at a time. So next time you're at the checkout and hear "Cash or card?" you'll know there's a story behind that simple choice. \nIf this story excites you, you could help us make the magic happen. We're not just building a future where card payments are easier; we're crafting a world where everyone finds financial happiness. So, if you've got a knack for innovation and a heart for inclusion, \nclick here to join the ranks.\n

What's the point of card payments?

\n\nAlright. Now you have a prepaid meter — finally, a relief from “estimated bills” that were squeezing your neck. You’re in full control because having a prepaid meter means you can now control the amount of electricity you use daily. \nNow you might be wondering how to recharge a prepaid meter. Don’t worry! You’re in the right place, and I’ll show you the best ways to recharge your prepaid meter. I’ll also show you how to get the meter, install it, and recharge it so you enjoy its full benefit. \nIf there’s one cool thing about using a prepaid meter, it’s that you can monitor your expenses and make the right spending decisions, especially in our current economy. \nHow to Load Your Prepaid Meter and Postpaid Electricity Bill\nOne of the easiest ways to \nrecharge your prepaid and postpaid meters\n is with \nMoniepoint\n. Let’s explore these simple steps below:\n1. Go to \nGoogle Play Store\n or \nApple App Store\n and download the mobile app.\n2. Once downloaded, open it and create an account if you are a new user. If you already have an account, log in to your personal Moniepoint bank app.\n3. Select the “Pay Bills” icon\n\n4. Click on Utilities. It will take you to a page where you can select your electricity provider.\n\n\n5. Then enter your Meter Number.\n\n\n6. Input the amount of electricity you want to buy. The amount will be deducted from your Moniepoint account. If you are using a postpaid meter, you can input the amount stated on your bill.\n7. After successful payment, you will receive your electricity token for the prepaid meter. Go ahead and input the token into your prepaid meter.\n8. For a postpaid meter, you’ll need to keep the proof to confirm your payment with the electricity official.\nAdvantages of Paying Your Electricity Bill With Moniepoint\nIf you think the convenience and high security are mind-blowing, here are more reasons you should use \nMoniepoint\n to pay your electricity bill;\nEasy to use:\n By utilizing your mobile device, Moniepoint makes it simple by providing a practical method of recharging your electricity.\nExcellent Reliability\n: You can access Moniepoint services anytime, thanks to our 24-hour availability.\nUser-Friendly Interface:\n Moniepoint has a straightforward user interface. Even if you’re not technologically savvy, you can easily use our platform to pay your electricity bills with little assistance. \nSecure Payment\n: Your safety is as important as your comfort. Moniepoint provides a robust security infrastructure against unauthorised access to our users’ accounts, providing a secure platform. \nVersatile:\n Bills come with daily breath, right? You can also pay bills besides electricity with Moniepoint, such as cable TV, airtime top-ups, and other services. \nDifferences Between Prepaid and Postpaid Meter \nLet’s dive into the differences between prepaid and postpaid electricity meters.\n1. Usage Management\nPrepaid power is more efficient than postpaid power as it gives you control over the recharge amount. On the other hand, you don’t have as much control when using postpaid electricity. \n2. Payment Methods\nBefore you can use your prepaid meter, you have to make a payment for an electricity token which you input to access power. Whereas, with a postpaid meter, you make payments at the end of the month through a monthly bill brought to you by your local electricity company.\n3. Late Penalties\nIf you pay your monthly bill after the due date using postpaid electricity, you will receive a late bill payment fee. Alternatively, using the electricity token system, prepaid customers will not receive late fees. However, if the electricity token runs out, they will experience a power cut.\nProcedure for Getting a Prepaid Meter and Postpaid Meter\nIt’s time to take the upper hand on your light bills, right? You can easily apply for either a prepaid or postpaid meter through the following steps below: \nLog on to the electricity distribution company website. \nClick on the “Download Application Form” menu to download the application.\nFill out the form carefully, providing all of the necessary information\nSubmit the completed form to your local electricity distribution offices. \nFollow up on your application forms to ensure that your prepaid meter arrives on time.\nFinal Words\nIt’s really no big deal, controlling your power expenses just got better. Simply download the Moniepoint mobile apps from the \nApp Store\n or \nGoogle Play Store\n, or visit the website at \nwww.moniepoint.com\n to begin.

How To Recharge Your Prepaid Meter (2024)

“Incorrect Password!” – I know, right? We’ve all been there. You want to access your Moniepoint account to make that quick transaction, pay a bill, or check out your transaction history, but you’re locked out. \nYou might be wondering, “How can I reset my Moniepoint password?” I’ve got you covered! \nIn this article, I’ll show you how to reset your password if you forgot it or want to tighten your security. We’ll also see other reasons why you might need to reset your Moniepoint password.\n\nHow to Reset Your Moniepoint Password\nIf you’ve made the decision to reset your Moniepoint password, follow the steps below to do so;\n1: Go to your Moniepoint online platform to log in.\n\n\n\n2: Click on the ‘Forgot Username or Password” section.\n\n\n\n3: A pop-up question will then appear on your screen asking you to choose whether you ‘Forgot Username’ or ‘Password’. Click on ‘Forgot Password’.\n\n\n\n4: Enter your Username and click on ‘Next.’\n\n\n\n5: Input the OTP sent to your registered phone number.\n\n\n6: Type in a new password while adhering to the password requirements listed and click ‘Next’. You’ll receive an email verifying if it’s you trying to make the change.\n7: After changing your password successfully, you can log in to your account using your new password. You’ll also receive another email updating you on the success.\n\n\n\nWhy You may Need to Reset Your Moniepoint Password\nTo ensure the safety of your accounts, here are some reasons you might want to reset your Moniepoint password;\n1. You Forgot Your Password \nIn our current digital age, the number of online platforms requiring passwords is no joke. This is why your finely combined letter-number password can easily slip your memory. You can use the Moniepoint password reset option if your memory fails you.\n2. Changing your Device\nYou might be required to reset your app password whenever you switch or upgrade to a new device. It ensures your account is safe to use on the new device.\n3. Security Concerns\nIf you notice any unauthorised access or suspicious activity on your bank account, it’s advisable to reset your account. You can avoid potential security breaches by constantly resetting your password to a stronger one. \nAt Moniepoint, we provide a tight security infrastructure against unauthorised access to your accounts, ensuring you have a secure platform. \n4. You’re Locked Out of Your Account\nWhile trying so many times to input your password without successfully logging in, you can create a security alert. You will have to take a security measure by resetting your password.\n5. Weak Passwords\nCreating a strong password is essential, with the number of threatening digital hackers on the loose. You may need to reset your Moniepoint password if you sense it is weak and susceptible to hacking. \nWhen resetting your password, it is essential to follow the guidelines provided to ensure a solid and impenetrable password.\nHow to Create a Strong Moniepoint Password\nWhat perfect password combination do you need to create to ensure your maximum account safety? Here are some tips for creating a strong Moniepoint password;\n1. Ensure your Password is longer than Eight Characters.\nWhen creating your password, ensure that you make it at least eight characters. This is because using fewer characters makes it easy for hackers to crack it quickly.\n 2. Combine Uppercase and Lowercase Letters, Symbols, and Numbers\nIf you are on the boat of using ‘password’ as your password, the time has come to upgrade. The Moniepoint password requirements include combining uppercase letters, lowercase letters, symbols and numbers. However, these strange combinations can be hard to remember. \nYou can avoid this by having an organised platform where you save all your passwords or play around with the first letters and favourite numbers of terms you remember easily.\n3. Use Passphrases Instead of Passwords\nIf you find remembering passwords tiring, I recommend going with passphrases. With passphrases, you can use longer words that make more sense to you. \nYou can also separate the words with hyphens, symbols, and numbers; the best part is that they don’t have to be grammatically correct. An example of a passphrase can be “overripe-pawpaw-falling-forever-letter”. Anything to access your accounts, right? \n4. Use Different Passwords for Your Accounts\nIt’s tempting to use the same password for all your accounts; no one wants to add the stress of remembering passwords to their daily struggles. However, it can be unsafe for your account as it makes the road smooth for hackers to compromise all your accounts. \nBy using unique passwords for your various accounts, be they your \nMoniepoint personal\n or \nbusiness banking accounts\n, you further secure them.\n5. Avoid Using Common Words or Family Members’ Names\nWhen you use common or personal names, you risk being hacked by a close person or even professional hackers. By using tools that speed up the hacking process, they can quickly swarm through words relatable to you and use them against you.\nFinal Words\nWhile it’s a good practice to use strong passwords and reset them often, rest assured that Moniepoint ensures that your accounts are safe using tight security measures. \nResetting your Moniepoint password is as straightforward as all our services. Head to our \nMoniepoint\n site to explore simple solutions to your business and personal financial needs.

How can I Reset my Moniepoint Password?

\nHi, I'm Adrian, and this piece is an attempt at rolling back the last 8 years of my career, which is also 8 years of working at Moniepoint. Here's to connecting the dots backwards, hopefully painting the picture of what growth within an organisation can look like!\nFirst, you set the stage.\nSince 2015, I’ve had the privilege of working and building impactful financial products and doing what I call the greatest job ever. I remember my interview with Tosin 8 years ago, more like a chat, really. I had just completed the mandatory NYSC after I graduated with a first class degree, and was looking at a couple of options for where to work. A number of companies were hiring at the time - Interswitch, PWC, etc. So, here I was, trying to decide where I'd fit in when my friend Felix reached out to me -  he had left Interswitch to start TeamApt Inc. (which is now Moniepoint Inc.),  and he asked me to join the company.\nI went to see Tosin at the TeamApt office, which at the time was also Tosin’s home at 1004 Apartments (one of Nigeria’s oldest housing estates) and we had this conversation where Tosin was painting a good picture about the dream he had for this company he was building, and how his goal was to create Financial Happiness.\nThe first thing that struck me that day was how atypical the interview was - I knew interviews were meant to be these straight-jacketed meetings, where things were formal. It was the first time I was hearing about stock options, equity, and things in that bucket. At that time, the mental model for jobs was - get a job, work at it, and keep getting promoted until you reach senior management. This was completely different.\nThe second thing was Tosin’s energy. He was so full of life and could describe in detail what the future would look like (for us and for customers/clients) if we were able to make a good impact. 
It was really an inspired conversation, and I thought to myself, “I'm young. I’ve got nothing to lose, and I’m among friends. Let’s do this!”.\nThat was it. I just gave it a shot and joined.\n\nNext, you go all in and do hard things.\nOne of the benefits and sometimes drawbacks (depending on how lucky you get), of taking a leap is that you have to go all in. There are no what-ifs, second-guessing, or being polarised.\nWhen I took the leap of joining Tosin as against going the traditional job-growth route, I went all in. At that time, we were a service business, working within the banks, and improving their internal tools. And it was fast-paced! Requirements came in frequently and fast! I was conscious of how high-stakes an environment it was; delivering excellently was paramount, or the bank could lose money.\nOur first major project was automating the Settlement and Reconciliation arm of Fidelity Bank. We also worked with a couple of banks on a project basis and built a suite of solutions that focused on automating backend processes for these banks. \nEvery day was as challenging as it was interesting, and I loved it! Coming in and doing that kind of work that you probably wouldn't do until you get to senior management was refreshing. \nWe made decisions on things that had a lot of ramifications, so it forced us to grow up quickly. We were building things that impacted the lives of people. So from that early stage, I already had a different way of thinking, knowing that what I was building was shaping a lot of people’s lives.\nA particular scenario that crystallised this for me, was after we automated Fidelity Bank’s customer support platform, which was a project I handled from A-Z. \nOne day, I was coming to work; I was living in Jakande at the time. On the bus I was in, there was a lady on the phone, talking about how good their new Customer Support Platform was. Apparently, she was a Fidelity Bank employee, working out of one of the branches. She was praising the Customer Support Platform, and she had no clue the person who built it was in the same vehicle as her. It was a mind-blowing, serendipitous moment for me.\nI've seen members of my team have moments like this over and over, which gives them renewed vigour and sheer joy. It makes them proud that the thing they are working on is really helping people - "I'm not just doing a job, but I'm actually helping people" because you can see the impact of your work in society.\nLesson: \nGo hard at things and build impact-driven solutions.\n\nYou evolve as the company evolves & pivot roles.\nAs we began to expand, to build more products, and build other things, more Engineers came in. The next major iteration was building for the bank's customers, this was now our 3rd/4th year, so we were gradually going from B2B to B2B2C. We worked on a couple of banking applications like Sterling 1pay, and Unified by Unity. \nThis required more engineers, and with more engineers came the need for me to be in charge of giving clear-cut directions on projects and products. This precipitated my being moved by Tosin into management, and being in charge of products at a new level and what a switch-up that was! 
I had to manage people, which was a different ball game entirely from doing the work yourself  - managing people, managing the products, managing what engineers were building. Testing, getting the requirements, all that good stuff. It was a change of pace and it was more hectic, with more responsibilities and more adventures for me.\nThe developers that came in, have today become Product Managers in their own rights. They're no longer developers because they've built within the company for a while. It was a natural progression. You come in as a developer, you grow - you can become an Enterprise Architect EA (for those who want to remain engineers), TPM or BPM (Technical PM or Business PM). You find your way up, or you are forced up because the reward for hard work is more hard work.\nSomewhere along the line, evolving and my innate passion for design met.\nI’ve forgotten what the motivation is now. But throughout my time from the beginning, I've always been design-inclined. Yes, I wrote code, but I liked designing more. I liked working on UI elements. I could translate almost anything into its design. Translation essentially means taking a design and converting it into something a user can interact with on a client - a website, an online software solution, a mobile app, etc.\nIt's one of the skills I have that I'm incredibly proud of, being able to translate any view. So, as my role evolved, it naturally tilted towards design, and I took on the aspect of product management that focused on design.\nLesson:\n Natural progression is always up when you are doing great work.\n\n\nYou lead and build out the Product Design team.\nFast forward to 6 years, I began officially handling the User Experience arm of the company, and I'd like to think of it as the homecoming my heart yearned for.\nThe first thing I did was restructure Design within the company. At the time, the team was structured such that every sub-product or channel had its own designer. And I recognised that we needed a cohesive experience for our users. So I took all the designers from all the teams and brought them into one funnel.\nI take all my experience of being a PM, being a developer, and being a designer, to vet all the requirements coming in from business and the PMs, to say, “Okay, this is what I think you should correct, this what I think we should do” so we just set up that funnel to make things a bit more efficient design-wise.\nIn a way, I’m the referee who tells everybody what everybody else is doing so that we are all on the same page. I am the interface between the requirements and design while being the information architect.\nA good example is with the BRM earnings. They earn commissions on different things - cards, POS, account deposits, etc. Every product team wanted to show their own commissions, but I felt that since the person earning these commissions was one person, all the money they earned would be shown on one dashboard regardless of where they were coming from.\nIn addition to structuring the team, the next thing I did was to set up a design language. We called it \nKamona\n, which is a growing library of all the elements you see anywhere on any app. \nToday all the UIs for all the user types across all the products Monnify, Moniepoint, Moniepoint business and personal and the Brms, the state coordinators, Moniepoint Kenya, Websites, etc, have a holistic design.\nDesigners no longer have to design from scratch. There's a library they can reuse and the output is very quick. It's very efficient and really good. Right now, we are a team of 7 designers and 1 illustrator.\nOf course, the team is young and still growing, right now we're trying to expand the team, make it a bit more mature, and improve the way we handle business requirements - marrying them with pain points we discover from our users during the discovery phase, removing biases. Getting more feedback channels in place to better serve our customers.\nWhat’s Next?\nI used to think I’d like to retire when I’m in my 40s, buy a boat and just sail across the Atlantic. But I know I’d get bored after a couple of months. I love how engaging my work at Moniepoint is. It feels like I started this journey yesterday, so I'm excited to continue being obsessed with maturing our User Experience.\nThere are new things we're doing, new processes we are implementing, and maturing as we go global. The frontiers are there, and we keep breaking the status quo, which gives me great joy. 
I'm evolving as the company's evolving. Everybody is learning and growing upwards. It's nice to say that after eight years, we still have that DNA of relentless growth that is still very strong.\n

Fullstack Engineer to SVP of Design: What 8 Years of Evolving within a Company Looks Like

\nMoniepoint’s products are often praised for their speed and reliability. From our terminals to our personal banking application, millions of our customers can trust that their transactions will not just go through, but do so at lightning speed. For a company of our scale, there are quite a few factors that contribute to this, but connecting them all, is our core banking application, and here’s the story of how it came alive.\nSimple origins\nA core banking application is a back-end system that handles banking transactions and financial records. Things like deposits, withdrawals, loans and more are all made possible by the core banking application.\nFor what Moniepoint initially was - an agency banking solution, these functions were handled by a simple table. It was a wallet table where the balances were saved and could be changed when a transaction occurred—just a basic database.\nThe problem with this was that it was too simplistic, prone to error and not at all scalable.\nBy the start of 2020, around a year after Moniepoint’s agency banking solution was first launched and had begun to gain traction, the risks associated with using the current system far outweighed whatever benefits of simplicity it brought. It was time to switch to a proper core banking application.\nOur first attempt at getting a CBA\nCaleb, who’s currently a project manager at Moniepoint, had spent less than a year at the company when the project he’d been working on was put on hold. He was excited to get on something new, and while he sought what that could be, he got a call from Felix about our plan to switch to a CBA.\nUntil this point, most of the transactions performed on Moniepoint were withdrawals and deposits. But the people who used the product were beginning to request more features, like loans, for example. And this was something to take into cognisance as we explored getting a new core banking application.\nThe first option was finding an open-source CBA that could handle our needs. Caleb spoke with Adrian, SVP of UX (who was a project manager at the time), about these needs. They started looking at assets, liabilities, expenses, and many other accounting terms and concepts they needed to familiarise themselves with to make sense of the project they were about to embark on.\nAfter doing this for a couple of days, he was called to work with Sulaiman, an enterprise architect,  on getting the new open-source CBA ready. Caleb’s job then was to study the system as a QA and figure out how it worked. Sulaiman’s job was to look at the code, and how we could integrate with it. Then, they would share their ideas with Tosin, our CEO.\nThe goal was to get an in-depth knowledge of this CBA, as that was the only way they could work with it. They explored how it worked in different scenarios and use cases.\nAfter about a week of working on that, trying to figure out if it had everything they needed, they were getting closer to perfectly understanding it, and could tell what was working and what wasn't. They understood how everything flowed and were preparing to go live.\nThe screw loose in the engine.\nGoing live with this open-source core banking application would involve connecting it to Moniepoint’s agency banking app, and using it for our agents. The plan was to have a demo the next day, then progress to staging, beta testing with some merchants, and eventually, migrating everyone onto it.\nOn the day before the demo, Tosin asked a question that would change our direction with this. As they discussed what they had discovered about the CBA we were planning to use, he asked a question about the transaction references.\nEvery transaction involves debit entries and corresponding credit entries, and although each transaction had a reference, Tosin asked if there was a reference for each debit and credit entry within a transaction batch.\nThe answer was No. With this CBA, you could track a batch, but not the entries within that batch. And that was a dealbreaker. We needed to be able to track the entries within each batch.\nLater that day, they stopped working on that CBA, as Felix had a decision to make; we either modified the code of the open-source application so it would have what we wanted, or we would build our CBA from scratch.\nTurning point\nBoth of those options had their pros and cons. The positives of modifying the code of the existing open-source software were that, firstly, we wouldn’t be starting from scratch. This meant that we could save time on months of development and updates, and have far less work to do. It also meant that we could deliver the entire thing faster.\nHowever, there were possibilities of the complexity of the code. Being an open-source application meant it would also be challenging to predict the maintenance of the codebase. The team discussed the pros and cons of whatever direction they’d take, and Felix decided on the next step. \nBuilding our own CBA\nA couple of weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic, Toba, SVP of core systems, got a call from Felix, our CTO, asking him to come into the office to discuss. Felix had decided to go with the option of building our own CBA.\nToba came into the office, and they had a deep dive. Everyone shared their knowledge of a CBA  - how it should work, and a couple of initial requirements that we needed for an MVP. They talked about the table structures, endpoints, expected behaviours, and more, and that 3-4 hour meeting went a long way in the product itself.\nWith this knowledge, Toba returned home to work on building something small for starters that they could test out. Part of it was influenced by the insight that Caleb and Sulaiman had garnered from extensively studying the open-source CBA we had hoped to use. The other part was years of experience gained from building similar solutions for Nigeria’s leading traditional banks.\nThe primary goal was to be able to post transactions. This involved a double entry - debiting an account and crediting another concurrently.  Ergo, for every debit, there had to be a corresponding credit to compensate for it, and vice versa. They also needed to put other things in place, which involved identifying the common properties they might need to manage on an accounting level.\nThey put everything together and created a scheme. Even though this was an MVP, they had to ensure they weren’t rushing things. A lot of the necessary context came from the product owners connecting to the CBA, who shared their insights from their previous experiences. The requirements were very clear, and that cut down execution time.\nIn under 48 hours, working on the code alone at home, Toba had an MVP ready. \nTesting and deployment\nAs soon as he was done, Toba called Felix to inform him that he had finished working on it. The team then got to work, verifying that this new application could handle our projected load.\nOnce that was confirmed, it was about converting that viable product and making sure that all the extra things that needed to be put in place down the line, that the CBA would not provide were available on it as well. And that took place over a couple of weeks.\nThe CBA today\nSoon after, integration started. Moniepoint was still primarily an agency banking product at the time, and became the first product integrated with the CBA. Every hand was on deck as they worked on migrating accounts from the previous system to the new application that had been built. They also continuously monitored it to ensure that all the posted entries were accurate.\nOver the next few months, Toba and Felix continued to make iterations and improvements to the MVP, and Caleb came on as a QA. With the bulk of the work done, Toba focused on making necessary updates with Felix, and Caleb would come on to test as soon as they were done.\nThe first of these updates happened a month after the MVP and periodically over the next 8-9 months. Every month, they would add something new or make a significant update on something we had before, based on the requirements of the other products that were using it, too.\nWith many more requests, they pushed the CBA to its limit and optimised it to help with the load. The initial data source was just MySQL, and then they introduced Clickhouse. They had a CDC (change data capture) system in place, so the main database could handle the writes, while the reads went to clickhouse. That allowed us to adjust the system and process more transactions.\nIt grew from a simple double-entry system to a proper core banking application that could handle many more features typical of a traditional core banking app. Features like interests, account sweeping, overdrafts, and liens, were introduced as we released more products, bringing us to the CBA we have today, that powers the dreams of millions across emerging markets.
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⁠If you'd like to be part of a team that's redefining the financial experience for the next million Africans, \nclick here\n to claim your spot.

Making the dream: How we built Moniepoint’s CBA.

\nIn this article, we meet Nerudo, a product manager from South Africa who just joined the Moniepoint team. His passion for learning new things, and a love for golf, have defined much of his life, and we’ll explore how he draws from those things to bring the best to his role.\nBefore joining Moneipoint, what did you do?\nI worked within the banking environments in South Africa and worked with most banks from a consulting perspective. I was at Dimension Data, RMB and then Standard Bank. I’ve also worked with financial investment houses. Enabling digital programmes for financial services companies has been my background throughout pretty much all of my career.\nIf you were to introduce South Africa to me, how would you do that? What would be your go-to place/activity?\nI think the coolest thing is the golfing community down here. There are a lot of golfers, and also a lot of world-class golf courses. So that's very unique for South Africa, for me. \nI play inter-provincial golf, so I get to travel around all the provinces to actually experience some of the golf courses for each and every province. And I can safely say we probably have the best golf courses - quite comparable to international facilities.\nThen obviously, there's hiking and outdoor things. There is the Drakensberg, one of the most extensive mountain ranges. Around that area, there’s also one of the best golf courses called Champagne Resorts. And then you go to Eastern Cape, which is in the more coastal region, and there's a plethora of golf courses almost every other hundred kilometres or so, and some of them are even 10 km apart. Most of them are very beautiful and world-class.\nGolfing seems to be your thing. How did that happen?\n\nWhen I was a kid, my uncle and cousins used to play when I visited them on weekends. I kinda got bored when I saw them play because I couldn’t play around, as I predominantly grew up in a township. They were very well-off, but watching them play this sport made me feel like I also wanted to play so that I could do something while I was there. \nDuring that period, I got interested, but back at home, we couldn’t afford it, so I was not allowed to play. And I put it at the back of my mind that I was going to go back and play the game.\nFast forward to when I started working, we organised a social golf event, and I seemed to be one of the few people who could get to play. So I started playing it consistently from then.\nIt was just something I wanted and wished to do, and once I got the opportunity to do it, I just took it with both hands. I wanted something I could control and just do on my own without needing to have a bunch of people, or forming a team, and it just became a therapeutic thing.\nNow, I do it almost every day by sunset. I'd walk on the golf course and play the course while I'm thinking about other things. It also became about mindfulness for me. I learned a lot of things throughout that time, including meditation, visualisation, and a couple of fundamental life skills. So, golf has become quite an integral part of me.\nDo you draw parallels between that and your work or, are they two completely distinct things?\nIn golfing, there’s a principle of surrendering to the elements and understanding that you can only control the next shot. Whatever has already happened is way past.\nThat aspect is quite important. You don't want to carry out what could seem to be failures, and have them hurt you in the future. You want to try and figure out what the present moment and its opportunities provide, be analytical and adept enough to understand it, and create a strategy based on that.\nThere's also a concept of understanding that you can only measure what you are and what you can do. Everything else is outside of your control. This gives you a sense of self. It can help you bring your mind back into context when it runs away.\nWe work with things that are very critical most of the time. You're almost always under pressure, and you can quickly burn out. So controlling anxiety and being able to be self-aware, and care for yourself allows you to perform at your best.\nThere are quite a lot of life lessons in golf. You learn small bits & pieces, and work benefits when you learn some of those skills.\n\n\nI stumbled upon your portfolio and saw a few documentaries. Do you want to share a bit about that? It’s not typical for what you described as your work life.\nI'm a very creative person. Growing up, I used to make things, and I'm very handy. I have a workshop where I make robots. I grew up in an environment where everybody used to think big, and it was not scary. So, people wanted to do as many things as possible. We had people who wanted to do electronics, and we had artisanal people around us who could give us access to some of their little knowledge. With these many people, I got exposed to many different lines of thought.\nI think of myself as a polymath. And by that, I mean I consider myself a person who would be inquisitive enough about multiple things, and try and get good at them.\nOne of those is storytelling. I’ve been learning that for a long time, and one of the reasons is that I want to tell the story of my grandfather, who lived up to a hundred years. So whenever I pick up a camera, I'm trying to simulate this one great story that I'm probably going to have to tell all my life. So that's one aspect of how I look at myself. Telling stories using visuals and pictures, and also trying to tell stories using music.\nHow do you think this connects to your work?\nThere's a lot of design involved in digital products. Now, because I’m creating things, I’m also carefully trying to craft this understanding of what makes good design - What’s a good font combination? What’s colour theory? How does it affect user experience? That means whenever I'm in conversations where people are very strongly design-oriented, I can help add my understanding of what they’re trying to achieve.\nIn addition, my being a person who’s usually doing a lot of things at a time comes in handy with my team. When you’re building a team, having to watch them grow to maturity and building efficiency at what we do, is an experience I've had in the past.\nWith my current team, I’m also looking forward to creating those patterns - increasing our efficiency and creating the systems and patterns that enable all of us to be able to work perfectly. That's something I'm looking forward to.\nFinally, what's your idea of perfect happiness?\nA perfect environment is one where all aspects of my health are well. It also includes feeling like all my efforts generate a purpose, either for those around me or for the greater good of those who might have to remember me one day. So, living a life of fully exploring learning new things, finding extreme difficulty at every single step, and going through all of those hurdles, and importantly, doing it for a purpose. So, yeah. Continuous learning on a path of purpose, with wellness of mind and body.

The New Dreamers: How Nerudo straddles golf, polymathy and building digital products.

Our attention has been drawn to several erroneous and misleading reports in the media about recent policy changes in the payment services space. Moniepoint MFB is a CBN-licensed Microfinance Bank, and as such, we are a deposit-taking financial institution. 

There have been no disruptions to our services even as customers have continued to make and receive payments via our personal and business banking apps.  

Moniepoint Inc. is a global digital financial services provider that invests in Nigeria and other emerging markets. In Nigeria, it is the parent company of two subsidiaries, TeamApt Limited, a Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) licensed Switch and Processor, and Moniepoint Microfinance Bank, a CBN-licensed Microfinance Bank. 

TeamApt Ltd doesn't hold deposits and payments as it is a switching infrastructure company that facilitates payment processing.

We remain committed to driving financial inclusion in accordance with the existing regulatory framework and we'll continue to work tirelessly to power the dreams of the millions of businesses and individuals.

Moniepoint MFB is still on the NIBSS payments transfer list

Yes, Moniepoint is safe. \nMoniepoint Microfinance Bank is regulated by the CBN and received an award for the most inclusive payment platform in 2022. \nTherefore if you are wondering if you can keep your money with Moniepoint or if you should adopt it as your preferred banking partner, the short answer is Yes and you will find more reasons to choose Moniepoint in this article.\nAbout Moniepoint\nTo provide financial solutions to businesses, Tosin Eniolorunda and Felix Ike founded Moniepoint Inc. (formerly TeamApt Inc.) in 2015. \nMoniepoint expanded its assistance for businesses using its solutions with the launch of its Personal Banking product line in August 2023. Individual customers can use this product to get \nbank accounts\n and cards for bill payments and money transfers.\nRecently, QED Investors invested in Africa with Moniepoint, a global platform for corporate banking and payments. In addition to its London headquarters, the financial institution operates remotely, with a diverse workforce across the globe. \nIs Moniepoint Safe to Keep Money?\nMoniepoint operations are governed by the CBN’s regulatory framework, which includes strict adherence to \nAnti-Money Laundering (AML)\n and \nKnow-Your-Customer (KYC) regulations\n.\nMoniepoint also currently serves over 1.6 million businesses and now records an average of 400 million transactions monthly valued at $12 billion. \nMany users have found it beneficial for different financial transactions. \nHere are some user reviews and responses:\nCustomer support at Moniepoint has been rated favorably by some users, who say they are helpful and responsive when they have questions or run into challenges\nCustomers value Moniepoint’s ease of use for routine activities like money transfers, bill payments, and airtime top-ups\nUsers say it saves them time and the stress of standing in long queues at physical offices\nMoniepoint frequently offers cashback rewards and transaction discounts, which users find enticing. It’s like getting a little something extra with each payment\nMany users praise the app’s user-friendly interface\n\nAdvantages of Having A Moniepoint Account\nYou get to enjoy all these and even more with Moniepoint:\nEasy payment of bills\nFast and Reliable money transfer\nLoan collection\nReceiving money\nBuying of airtime and data\nReliable POS Services\n24 hours daily service time.\n\nDoes Moniepoint Have a Physical Office?\nYes, Moniepoint has a physical office located in Ibadan and support offices in all states in Nigeria.\n\nHow Can I Contact Moniepoint?\nYou can place a call by dialing this number +23418889990  or send an e-mail to \nsupport@moniepoint.com\n. \nYou can also contact Moniepoint right here \nhttps://moniepoint.com/ng/contact\n or visit any of their physical offices at different locations in Nigeria from 8 am to 5 pm, every Monday to Friday. \nOyo Office Oyo-Ibadan Road, Idi-Agba, Ilora, Ibadan, Oyo State\nLagos Office 86 Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos\nLagos Office Blossom J Mall, Km 37 Lekki Epe Exp. Ibeju Lekki , Lagos\nAbia Office 3rd-floor slot building, 1 Ohafia Street, Aba, Abia State\nAbuja Office 22, Ajase Street, Wuse 2, Abuja Municipal Area Council, Abuja\nAdamawa Office Mubi Road Beside First Bank Jimeta, Yola, Adamawa State\nAkwa Ibom Office 2, Ikot Ekpene Road, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State\nBauchi Office 5 Banks Rd, 740222, Bauchi State\nBayelsa Office 31 Imbi Road Amarata Yenagoa, Bayelsa state\nBenue Office 73, Iorcha Ayu Road, Wurukum, Makurdi, Benue State\nCalabar Office 25/27 Murtala Muhammad highway, Calabar Municipal, Cross River State\nWarri Office 255 Warri-Patani Road, Delta State\nBenin Office 53 Mission Rd, Use 300102, Benin City, Edo State\nAdo-Ekiti Office Ago Plaza, Along Oba Aldesannmi way, Ajilosun, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state\nEnugu Office 2B O’Connor St, Achara 400102, Enugu State\nGombe Office Adamu Fura House, Adjacent Ecobank , Bui Road, Gombe State\nOwerri Office 27 Kagha Street, Owerri, Imo State\nJigawa Office Hadejia LG Maje Road, Nguru Road, Jigawa State\nKaduna Office 16 Muhammadu Buhari Way, adjacent to Bank of Industry, City Centre 802125, Kaduna State\nKano Office 29 Sokoto RdNassarawa 700213, Kano State\nKatsina Office Kurfi House No.193 2nd Floor. IBB Way, Katsina State\nLokoja Office Obason Plaza, opposite Idrinana Hotel phase 2 Lokoja Kogi State\nIlorin Office 14, Station Road G.R.A , Ilorin, Kwara State\nLafia Office Beside presidential lodge off Shendam Road, Lafia Nassarawa state\nNiger Office Turke house, before FRSC, Niger State\nAbeokuta Office Moyo House, Beside Ibara Police station, Omida, Abeokuta, Ogun State\nAkure Office 40 Suit A,2nd Floor, beside First Baptist Church, Oba-Adesida Road, Akure.\nOsogbo Office 53, Station Road, Ola Adura Plastic Building, Osogbo, Osun State\nIbadan Office 42, Keneth Dike way, Secretariat Road, OGC building, Favos junction, Bodija Ibadan, Oyo State\nJos Office 5 Bauchi Road, Jos, Plateau State\nPort Harcourt Office Oklen Suites, 1 Evo Road, GRA Phase 2, Port Harcourt\nSokoto Office Beside Fire Service Station Arkilla Lowcost, Sokoto State\nJalingo Office 2nd floor Hanny’s opposite Jalingo main motor park along Jalingo-Yola road, Taraba State\nGusau Office Trust fund house by UBA Kantin Daji, Gusau Zamfara State\n\nHow to Download and Install the Moniepoint App\nThe process is simple and takes only a few minutes to complete. Simply follow the step-by-step process below to download and \ninstall the app on both Android and iOS devices.\n\nFor iOS Users:\nOpen the \nApple App Store\n on your iOS device\nUse the search bar at the top of the screen to search for “Moniepoint” \nChoose the application from the search results\nTap the “Get” button to start the installation process\nEnter your Apple ID and password to confirm the installation if prompted\nTap the “Open” button to launch the app once the installation is complete.\nFor Android Users:\nVisiting the \nGoogle Play Store\n  on your Android device\nSearch for “Moniepoint” using the search bar at the top of the screen\nSelect the app from the search results\nTap the “Install” button to start the installation process\nTap the “Open” button to launch the app once the installation is complete.\n\nConclusion\nMoniepoint is safe, easy to use, and convenient to manage. To meet your various financial needs, Moniepoint provides reliable solutions available 24 hours every day. 
Do you need the utmost reliability and peace of mind in the ever-revolving financial world? \nOpen an account with Moniepoint now!\n

Is Moniepoint Safe to Keep Money? Plus Advantages of Having A Moniepoint Account

Yes, Moniepoint issues a debit card that can be either a Mastercard or Verve card.\nIf you need a card that works, then the Moniepoint card is designed just for you.\nWith the \nMoniepoint card\n, you can seamlessly carry out both online and offline transactions without fear of your card not working or dispense error.\nIn this post, we will look at the different types of cards that are offered by Moniepoint, how to request a card and how to activate your card.\n\nTypes of Moniepoint Cards\nMoniepoint offers a personal debit card and a business expense card. \nThe \nBusiness Expense Cards\n are issued to business owners who use it to manage their day to day business expenditures. These are the cards business owners give to their staff for supply payment, bill payment and daily operational costs.\nPersonal card is designed for individuals who need a card for everyday use. The personal card can be used to make payment either offline or online, pay bills such as electricity bills and much more. \n\nHow to Get Your Moniepoint Card\nYou can easily request a Moniepoint debit or expense card for your account. \nKindly follow the steps below to get your card:\nCreate a \nMoniepoint account\n if you do not already have one. You will need your BVN, Government id and Utility bill.\nLogin to your account\nThen Click on the "Card" icon.\nClick the “Order A Card” button.\nClick the "Get A Physical Card" Button\nFill in the Delivery Details\nClick Next\nFollow the prompts to complete your card request\nHow to Activate Your Card\nOnce you have your card delivered to you, it’s time to get it to active it. \nOpen the \nMoniepoint app\n and locate the "card" section.\nAfter that, you click “Activate” to start activating your card. \nFollow the prompts to complete your activation.\nYou can use the card for any kind of physical or online purchase once it has been activated.\n\nAdvantages of Having a Moniepoint Account\nYou enjoy several benefits when you sign up or register for \nMoniepoint personal\n or \nbusiness account\n. With a Moniepoint account, you can: \nEasily withdraw money at any location in Nigeria. \nPay bills for a variety of services, such as electricity, cable TV, airtime top-ups, and other payments.\nAcceptable on all ATMs and POS nationwide.\n\nFAQs On Moniepoint Debit Card Card\n1: \nCan I pay online with the Moniepoint card?\nYes, you can purchase items online and make online transactions with your Moniepoint card.\n2: \nDo I have to create an account to get the card?\nYes. You will need to create an account and request for a card. You can create an account by visiting the\n Moniepoint website\n.\n3: \nHow do I request a Moniepoint card online?\nTo apply for a Moniepoint ATM card, log into your Moniepoint account,  select the card page, and follow the prompts.\n4: \nHow long does it take to get the Moniepoint card?\nThis depends on your location, but you could get your Moniepoint card within 48 hours.\n5: Is it easy to use the Moniepoint card?\nYes. The Moniepoint does not require any technical expertise to use. It is easy to use.\nConclusion\nMoniepoint card makes it easy to carry out transactions both online and offline. Start your journey to financial freedom with either the Moniepoint Expense card or the Moniepoint personal card.

Does Moniepoint Give ATM Cards?

Whether you’re just starting your financial journey or you are seeking a better way to manage your money,the total number of personal banking accounts you should have will depend on your financial goal and lifestyle.\nWhile most people have two accounts: one for everyday purchases and one for savings, there are situations where you might need more than one or two personal accounts.\nSo what is the right number of personal accounts you should have.\nTwo, three, five?\nIn this post, we will discuss reasons why you may want to have more than one \npersonal account\n, advantages and disadvantages of multiple accounts and how to manage multiple accounts.\nLet’s dive in. \n5 Reasons Why You May Open More than One Personal Account\nHere are some common reasons why individuals have multiple personal accounts:\n1: Financial Organization\n: Separating funds for different purposes can enhance financial organization. By having separate accounts for bills, savings, and discretionary spending, individuals can gain a clearer overview of their financial health and make more informed decisions.\n2: Goal Savings:\n Opening multiple accounts allows individuals to allocate funds for specific financial goals. Whether it’s saving for an emergency fund, a vacation, or a major purchase, having dedicated accounts for each goal helps maintain focus and discipline.\n3: Emergency Fund and Security\n: Some individuals prefer to have a dedicated account specifically for emergency funds. This separation ensures that funds earmarked for unexpected expenses remain untouched and easily accessible when needed.\n4: Enhanced Budgeting Control:\n For those who are concerned about budgeting, having multiple accounts enables precise control over spending. Dedicating specific amounts to different accounts for various expenses ensures adherence to budgetary limits.\n5: Business and Personal Finances:\n Individuals who operate small businesses or have side ventures may choose to keep their business finances separate from personal finances. Maintaining distinct accounts helps in accounting, taxation, and financial tracking.\n\nPros and Cons of Multiple Personal Accounts.\nNow that we know why you may choose to have more than one personal account, let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of owning multiple personal accounts.\nPros of Multiple Personal Accounts:\nEnhanced Financial Organization\n: Keeping multiple accounts allows for a clear and organized financial structure. You can segregate funds for different purposes, streamlining budgeting and ensuring that each naira has a designated role. This organizational clarity simplifies tracking expenses and contributes to better financial management.\nInterest Earnings\n: Having different accounts enables you to capitalize on varying interest rates offered by different financial institutions. By strategically placing funds in accounts with higher interest rates, you can maximize the growth of your savings. This approach can potentially lead to increased earnings over time, especially in a low-interest-rate environment.\nCustom banking Benefits:\n Different accounts come with distinct perks and benefits. From waived fees to bonus interest rates and exclusive services, maintaining multiple accounts allows you to cherry-pick the features that align with your financial goals. This customization enhances your overall banking experience, providing tangible financial advantages.\nCons of Having Multiple Personal Accounts\nAdministrative Complexity\n: Managing multiple accounts can be administratively challenging. From tracking balances to monitoring transactions across various platforms, the complexity of handling numerous accounts may lead to confusion and oversight. This administrative burden could potentially offset the benefits of having multiple accounts.\nPotential for Increased Fees\n: While some accounts offer fee waivers and benefits, others may come with maintenance fees or minimum balance requirements.This drawback underscores the importance of vigilant account management to avoid unnecessary costs. \nLoss of focus\n: With each additional account comes the potential for diluted financial focus. Balancing multiple financial objectives and monitoring various accounts may divert attention from overarching financial goals. \n\nHow to Manage Your Multiple Personal Accounts\nIf you find yourself having more than one personal account, then here are some simple but effective tips to help you manage them effectively..\n1. Have Clear Objectives:\nDefine the purpose of each account. Whether it’s an emergency fund, savings for a specific goal, or discretionary spending, clarity on the purpose of each account sets the foundation for effective management.\n2. Use Technology:\nCapitalize on online banking tools and apps. Most banks provide user-friendly interfaces, allowing you to monitor multiple accounts from a central dashboard. Additionally, financial management apps can offer a holistic view of your financial landscape, aiding in efficient tracking.\n3. Set Up Alerts:\nConfigure alerts for each account to receive notifications for transactions, low balances, or any unusual activities. This proactive approach ensures that you stay on top of your financial affairs and can respond promptly to any potential issues.\n4. Use Automation:\nAutomate recurring transactions such as bill payments and transfers. This not only saves time but also reduces the likelihood of missing important financial obligations. Set up standing instructions to ensure seamless financial operations.\n5. Merge Similar Accounts:\nIf possible, consider consolidating accounts with similar purposes. For instance, merging multiple savings accounts into one may simplify management without compromising your ability to segregate funds for different goals.\n6. Regularly Review and Reassess:\nSchedule regular reviews of your accounts to track balances, assess interest rates, and evaluate the overall performance of each account. This periodic reassessment enables you to make informed decisions about the continued relevance of each account.\n7: Get Professional Advice:\nIf the management of multiple accounts becomes overwhelming, consider seeking advice from financial professionals. They can provide tailored guidance based on your specific financial situation and goals.\n\nConclusion\nThere is no simple answer when it comes to the question of how many personal accounts you should have. \nWhile having multiple bank accounts comes with its own advantages and disadvantages, at the end of the day, the number of bank accounts you have will depend on your financial goal and lifestyle. 

How Many Personal Banking Accounts Can I Have?

\n\nYou probably wanted to skip this as soon as you saw “financial inclusion” in the title, but hold on for a minute. While it’s easy to chuck it up to a buzzword that’s probably even beginning to lose its fervour, there’s much real work to be done about it to meet the CBN’s 95% inclusion target by next year.\nWith our products being used by over 33 million Nigerians, across Nigeria’s 774 local governments, a wide range of micro-cultural influences and nuances come into play when people interact with them. Ensuring an inclusive experience for every one of those people remains front and centre when we create products, and this translates into every line of code we write.\n\nWhat does financial inclusion mean to the excluded?\nPicture a business owner situated in any of Nigeria’s local governments that do not cut across major cities. Given the location of this business owner, Mrs Maryann, and her customers, access to banking services is constrained.\nThe closest bank to them is an uncomfortable distance, and even if they were to make it, resolving whatever challenges they might have depends on several other factors. Because of this, the relationship between people like her and the banking system is tenuous, to say the least.\n\nThe more issues she encounters, the less likely she is to feel included in the banking system, or that what exists is meant for her. Compound this over months and years, and you might get an inkling of what’s meant when the financial ecosystem is described as “low trust”.\nBut this is just one piece of the jigsaw puzzle. For this business owner, whose monthly turnover is just enough to keep her business afloat, ensuring her funds are safe is a top priority. Safety of funds, in this context, goes beyond just fraud. It also means that it’s inconvenient to have her money tied up in unsuccessful transactions, with her money somewhere in financial limbo.\nFor business owners like this, financial inclusion extends beyond just getting access to financial services. A huge part of the burden involves ensuring that the services they get access to are reliable enough that they can depend on them, and this is where our engineering team swings in with code.\nRedundant, but in a good way.\n\nHypothetically, financial transactions should work simply. To the user, money moves from A directly to B with no drama. But behind the scenes, it’s far more complicated. Several components are involved in making even the most basic transactions a success.\nIn this context, inclusive engineering goes beyond mapping the direct path from A to B. It also has to include all the likely unlikely things that may occur between the person initiating a transaction, and the person receiving it.\nThis is why building redundancies forms a core part of engineering at Moniepoint.\nRedundancies, in engineering terms, refer to multiple versions of specific components and flows created to improve the reliability of a system. Think of it as plan B-Z, in case plan A doesn’t work.\nSo, a fire breaks out. Ideally, the fire wasn’t supposed to happen, but here we are. Thankfully, we already made a fire extinguisher available. But what if the fire doesn’t let you get to the extinguisher? What if the extinguisher somehow fails? What if, for some reason, the extinguisher makes the fire get bigger?\nOf course, we focus on the more probable “what ifs”, but building redundancies involves accounting for these possible problems. We create multiple fail safes to ensure that, as much as possible, our processes have the highest chance of success.\nHow we apply this to our products.\nA live example of this is our “request for refund” feature. Failed POS transactions may occur for a lot of reasons, and when they do occur, they traditionally take a long time to resolve. The customer takes a printout of their failed transaction to the bank, where they’re told it might take a couple of days for the transaction to be reversed. Sometimes, a reversal never happens.\nBeyond building a system that reduces the number of failed POS transactions, our terminals also come with a system that enables merchants to log these failed transactions and request refunds for their customers.\nFrom days, the reversal process is brought down to minutes, without the merchant or their customer needing to disrupt their day. The efficiency of this system increases the likelihood of the customer choosing to make a card payment next time. \nBuilding redundancies like this means that we end up writing more code. The code to get the thing to work could be 10 lines (wouldn’t that be great if it was actually 10). But accounting for eventualities and handling what happens if it fails could extend it to a 100.\nYou write more code to make sure what you wrote doesn’t fail. Or that if it does, it can be resolved as smoothly as possible.\nBecause, in the financial system, there are so many moving parts. Many people you talk to, systems you integrate with, and quite a number of middlemen between the user and the person they’re trying to get to. So we want to make sure, even when it’s “out of our control”, we create systems that ensure that our users don’t experience failure.\nOur mentality is that, on the off chance that there’s a problem, solving that problem involves building a system to prevent it from happening again. And that keeps our product teams busy - finding and solving new problems.\nWhat this means for our users.\nFor the business owner, in our earlier story, most of this is invisible. Our first step is ensuring she has direct access to support as soon as needed. There’s someone down her street who understands our products and likely speaks her language too, and can, thus, give her tailored solutions.\nOn the side of our engineering team, they’re working to ensure she never even needs the help in the first place. Failed transactions are next to zero, and even when they happen, she knows they’ll get reversed as soon as possible without needing to go anywhere.\nAs with the “\nrequest for refund”\n feature, financial inclusion for her means having a solution that she can rely on to never fail. And if she can depend on us, so can a million businesses more.\n

Redundant systems: how Moniepoint engineers for financial inclusion.

In a world where financial transactions often feel routine, what if we told you that every transaction your customers make could now be a source of excitement and rewards? \nAt Moniepoint, we’ve just launched a new initiative – The Moniepoint Refer and Earn! \nIt is a program where you, as a Business Owner or a Moniepoint agent, \nget rewarded for every transaction made by people who download, sign up, and transact on the \nMoniepoint Personal Banking app\n through your referral code/link. \nBefore we dive into the details of The Refer & Earn, let’s take a moment to acknowledge the unsung heroes of our success – YOU, our cherished customers.\nWithout your trust, loyalty, and transactions, Moniepoint wouldn’t be the thriving entity it is today. This program is our way of expressing gratitude and ensuring that your journey with us is not just transactional but also rewarding.\nWe’ve crafted this initiative with the understanding that your involvement and loyalty deserve more than just a thank you.\nIt’s a symbiotic relationship where, as you use our platform, we want to reciprocate in a way that adds value to your financial journey. Remember, at Moniepoint, we are all about POWERING DREAMS. \nFrom our Refer and Earn program, you get a unique referral code/link that you can share with your customers.\nOnce your customers sign up using the link and start transacting with the Moniepoint Personal Banking app, you get\n 5 naira per every interbank transaction\n that they carry out \nfor the next 12 months\n.\nAs long as you have the Moniepoint Business Banking app, you can access your personal referral link/code in the Referral Section. \n\nCase Study: How The Moniepoint Referral Program Works\nMonica is a shop owner and she uses the Moniepoint Business Banking app for all her transactions as well as the Moniepoint POS. She has activated her unique Moniepoint Referral Code or Link in the referral section of the app, in the Profile section. Monica sends the link to all her customers when they come in the store.\nIf Monica gets 200 people to sign up and start transacting with their accounts in the first month, she is projected to earn about 25,000 Naira in the first month.\nIf Monica puts in the same effort and gets the same amount of people in the second month, she is projected to earn about 50,000 Naira. \nIf Monica continues at this rate, she will get about 1\n00,000 Naira by the fourth month\n; and the cycle continues.   \nSounds juicy? Let’s get started! \n\n\nThe above calculations have been done based on the average number of interbank transfers users carry out per month. The amount to be earned can vary depending on the number of transactions your own referees carry out and how long they stick to Moniepoint Personal App as their main banking app. \n\nGetting Started\nTo be a part of our refer to earn program, here’s what you should do: \n1: \nGet your referral link:\n To get your referral link,\n \nlog in to your dashboard. From the side menu, scroll down to the tab ‘Earn money’ and click on ‘Referrals.’ On the screen that shows up, you will be able to see your referral code and link.\n\n\n2: \nStart sharing: \nNow that you’ve gotten your referral link and code, start sharing with customers and all those around you. Also, ensure that they not only download with your link, but they make transactions using the app. \n\n\nMoniepoint’s Refer to Earn Initiative is the perfect blend of simplicity and rewards. By sharing the ease of Moniepoint with your network, you not only enhance their financial experience but also unlock exclusive rewards for yourself. \nWhat are you waiting for? \nStart sharing your referral link now to earn! 

Make Money Online - Refer and Earn  With The Moniepoint Referral Program

\n\nLeading fintech in Nigeria, Moniepoint MFB, has restated its commitment to driving financial inclusion through innovative products that address payment challenges in the country.\nThe Head of Partnerships at Moniepoint Inc., Efemena Ogie, stated this at a Fintech Forum organized by the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) in Lagos. According to Ogie, it was in line with this commitment that the company has developed innovative solutions and products in the financial services space. \nAccording to him, for example our PoS alerts for transfers is helping businesses using Moniepoint’s PoS machines to receive instant credit alerts when their customers make transfers to their accounts. He said this has also taken the customers’ burden of waiting for merchants to receive alerts before they can leave.\nExplaining the innovation, Ogie said: “We had to think outside the box to make life easy when you want to make payments. If you go to a supermarket and you forget your card and you want to make a payment, you will have to make a transfer. But at some point, you have to wait until the merchant gets an alert before you can leave. You can just get angry at that point because your account has been debited. We saw that there is a better way to do that, so what we did was that instead of waiting, when you do a transfer, the alert should just hit the PoS, and that transaction will be seen as a card transaction and the merchant is able to print your receipt right there.”\nOgie added that more innovative solutions are coming into the payment space in Nigeria, especially with the ongoing implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Payment System Vision 2025. \n“In a couple of months from now, you're going to see some massive innovation in the payment space because if you look at the CBN’s Payment System Vision 2025, in the documents, you have things like big data, artificial intelligence, contactless payments, and open banking. As we are talking, the CBN has also released the guidelines for open banking, so it's not something that will happen in 10 years but it's happening right now. The CBN has also released the circular for contactless payments. At Moniepoint, we are already working for our customers, we are already thinking outside the box to see how we can deploy services around these platforms,” Ogie said. \nIn his opening remarks at the Forum themed “Harnessing Nigeria’s Fintech Potentials: Challenges and Opportunities”, the Chairman of NITRA, Mr. Chike Onwuegbuchi noted that fintech has become the most exciting sector in the ICT industry, and in Nigeria as a whole. He added that the focus on the sector which is seen as the engine of financial dealings, economic growth, and transactional unification, was to present and aid various other sectors from the grassroots to international business/trade.\n\n\nFounded in November 2013, Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) is the umbrella body for media practitioners reporting information and communication technology in Nigeria with a view to guide, protect and monitor ICT activities and reportage in print, electronic and online media platforms and ensuring professional development of its members through capacity building initiatives. \nBemigho Awala, PR Manager for MoniePoint Inc, used the forum to share perspectives around how opportunities in Nigeria's fintech space can be robustly captured. He cited the need for increased talent development in the industry while signposting Moniepoint NITHub initiative as an exemplar. Awala also made the case for innovative systems, enhanced due diligence and innovative solutions that meet market demand as critical pillars that undergird the emergence of a fintech ecosystem that works for all stakeholders. \n"Know Your Customer” (KYC) has become a cornerstone in establishing trust, ensuring security, and complying with regulatory standards. KYC is not merely an acronym; it represents a crucial set of processes designed to verify and authenticate the identity of customers engaging in financial transactions. As a responsible and compliant organization, we will continue to explore innovative tools and methodologies while actively collaborating and co-operating with all stakeholders in the financial services value chain to reduce the menace of fraud-related transactions", Awala said.

Moniepoint MFB supports NITRA Forum, restates commitment to financial inclusion in Nigeria

\nThere is one undeniable truth, that even the most ardent of skeptics might actually hold to be true – Nigeria, as Africa's most populous nation, has the potential to become the greatest country on the continent. From its vast arable land to an enormous population which has a high propensity to be an asset if adequately managed and deployed, it’s really ours for the taking.\nThe role of financial inclusion as a catalyst for economic development, poverty reduction, and social inclusion has been widely recognized. Some industry analysts aver that if we are going to be able to deepen shared prosperity, accelerate poverty reduction and reduce inequality, then we have to roll up our sleeves and invest in critical physical, financial, digital, technological and innovation infrastructure that support the building of our most valuable asset – Nigeria’s human capital. Because at the end of the day, financial inclusion, financial literacy is about the transformative power that people have whether they live in bustling cities or remote villages. The question to be asked is how do we create a meaningful experience for all stakeholders.\nIdentified barriers that prevent meaningful outcomes include low income, low financial literacy, lack of trust in financial institutions, high cost of financial services, inadequate infrastructure, and restrictive regulations. Sadly, these challenges disproportionately affect women, rural dwellers, youth, and micro, small and medium enterprises.\n\n\nHowever, as both empirical and anecdotal evidences have shown in many emerging markets, the effective deployment of technology in leapfrogging over previously identified barriers holds the biggest attraction. It’s usually a game-changer. India and China, with similar heterogeneous societies and large populations, are fine examples to learn from. Imagine the immense satisfaction that will come from POS terminals being able to cater to the tactile or auditory needs of the physically challenged – this is inclusiveness in all its trappings. Can we use technology to deliver financial literacy modules or microsite where people can access and understand using pidgin and local languages? Can we have contactless payment solutions become the default mode of payment in a way that means that the bus conductor isn’t asking a passenger for cash, all that needs to happen will be done via a mobile phone from Damaturu in Yobe to Agenebode, Edo state. Surely, an aggressive adoption of innovative technologies will make a huge difference in our lives irrespective of gender, creed, station in life and other societal markets.\nAnother tool for unlocking prosperity will be how we leverage digital financial services (DFS), which are enabled by information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as mobile phones, internet platforms, and electronic payment systems. DFS have demonstrated that costs can be lowered while increasing the convenience, and expanding the reach of financial services to the underserved segments of the population. As we have seen with players like Moniepoint, they are fostering innovation and competition in the financial sector, creating new opportunities for value creation and economic diversification. Imagine a scenario where we can reverse engineer our financial landscape such that DFS become the dominant go-to service provider for accessing credit, savings, insurance, pensions, and other financial products and services that could improve their livelihoods and resilience.\nLastly, the role of transformational leadership at all levels of government of and the private sector should be of the highest national significance in curating a meaningful experience for all stakeholders across our financial services system. As we all know, creating a supportive regulatory and policy environment is necessary to foster financial inclusion. Clear and inclusive regulations that promote competition, innovation, consumer protection, and data privacy will be instrumental. Collaboration and partnerships among various stakeholders is closely aligned to the point. This is because even by our communal Ubuntu ethos as Africans, we recognize that no single tree can beautify a forest, it will take the coming together of many trees to provide shade and succor for many people.\nCreating a meaningful experience for all stakeholders in financial inclusion in Nigeria is not just about increasing the number of bank accounts. It's about empowering the unbanked, supporting financial institutions, and fostering a collaborative effort among government agencies and fintech companies. Only through a holistic approach that takes into account the unique challenges and aspirations of each stakeholder can Nigeria truly achieve the goal of financial inclusion, ensuring a brighter and more financially secure future for all its citizens.\nIn unlocking prosperity for all Nigerians, it is imperative to harness the power of technology and digital financial services. This would require concerted efforts from various stakeholders, including the government, regulators, financial institutions, fintech firms, civil society organizations, and consumers. By creating a conducive environment for innovation and inclusion in the digital financial space, Nigeria can realize its vision of becoming a leading African economy in the 21st century.\n\n*First published in the 2023 Q3 SANEF TALKS Quarterly Financial Inclusion Newsletter

Unlocking Prosperity: Creating Meaningful Financial Inclusion in Nigeria

\n\nWith financial services driving 27 percent of GDP growth in Nigeria's Q2 numbers, small and medium enterprises have been urged to leverage digital financial services in deepening value for improved productivity and business performance even as the nation's economy continues to confront several head winds.\nThis counsel was shared on the sidelines of the recently held Lagos International Trade Fair with the theme, Navigating Economic Challenges, Forging a Path to Prosperity, where leading digital financial services provider, Moniepoint Inc served as the official fintech partner at the 37th edition which was organized by the Lagos State Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).\n\n\nSpeaking with journalists at the 10-day event which ended on Sunday, Vice President, Sales and Partnerships, Moniepoint Inc, Ifeanyi Duru noted that the Fair’s theme was apt and relevant to all businesses operating in Nigeria at this critical juncture of the nation’s socio-economic development.  \n“This year’s fair is significant because it coincides with the LCCI’s 135th anniversary and we are proud to be associated with such an illustrious brand. We recognize the importance of fostering connections and forging paths to prosperity, especially in the face of economic challenges that confront businesses and consumers. We remain resolute and committed to powering the dreams of millions of individuals and businesses. This event aligns with our mission to drive financial inclusion and economic empowerment, and we are delighted to be contributing to its overall success," Duru said. \nHe furthermore stressed that digital financial services can have a tangible impact on financial inclusion and the economy at large. DFS enhances the financial capabilities of consumers, catering to underserved segments of the population, and leveraging high mobile phone availability in Nigeria to foster economic growth by enabling new business models. \n\nAsiwaju Dr Michael Olawale-Cole, LCCI President/Chairman of Council, who noted that this year's trade fair, which is the last he'd be conducting as chair is the largest exhibition for businesses across Africa, has held for an unbroken chain of 37 years and remained pivotal for networking businesses for wealth creation in the diverse eco-system. \n“Over the years, the trade fair has grown to be another significant milestone in the economic life of Nigeria and the broader African continent. There is need to acknowledge the challenging economic environment that Nigeria has been facing in recent times, saying that “though some are necessary, these challenges have tested our resilience and have called for innovative solutions to foster economic growth and prosperity for our nation and for our people,” he said.\n\nHe thanked Moniepoint Inc and other organizations who supported the fair for coming through for the Chambers and lauded members of the LCCI Trade Promotion Board under the Chairmanship of Engr. Leye Kupoluyi for an outstanding performance. He noted that the organizers have taken note of the feedback vis-a-vis areas that require improvement, assuring that this will reflect in the 2024 LITF edition.\nLagos State Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, who spoke virtually at the closing ceremony said that "To navigate the economic challenges and forge a path to prosperity, the Lagos State Government, particularly through the Ministry of Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment is willing and ready to interface with you all, as we push the agenda of the present administration to support businesses by fostering a conducive environment and enhancing the ease of doing business in Lagos State.”

Small and Medium Businesses can catalyse Nigeria’s growth via digital financial services

\n\nAn exceptional affirmation to Moniepoint's unparalleled contributions to Nigeria’s financial services sector came in the form of two distinguished accolades, at the prestigious 2023 Brandcom Awards. Moniepoint Inc. received critical acclaim as it earned the "Award for the Most Outstanding Fintech Company in Financial Inclusion," while Moniepoint Microfinance Bank secured the "Award for the Most Outstanding Microfinance Bank in Consumer Engagement." These accolades signpost the company's remarkable commitment to enhancing financial inclusion and delivering outstanding services to its customers.\nNow in its fifth year, the 2023 Brandcom Awards ceremony, held in a glitzy event at the Civic Centre, Lagos, brought together the crème de la crème of the marketing and communications industry. Brands, agencies, and notable players that have pushed the boundaries of creativity and innovation were recognized for their remarkable achievements with Moniepoint's double win, a firm and unvarnished testament to the brand's unwavering dedication to powering dreams for businesses and individuals while creating a society where everyone experiences financial happiness.\nAs the "Most Outstanding Fintech Company in Financial Inclusion," Moniepoint Inc. continues to lead the way in making financial services accessible to all, particularly those in underserved and remote areas of Nigeria. It operates the largest distribution network for financial services in Nigeria through its subsidiaries, and has been awarded by the CBN in 2022 as the most inclusive payment platform in the country even as over 33 million people use their cards on Moniepoint’s POS terminals monthly across every local government in Nigeria.\nMoniepoint Microfinance Bank's recognition as the "Most Outstanding Microfinance Bank in Consumer Engagement" underscores the bank's commitment to delivering exceptional services and ensuring that its customer obsessive culture remains at the core of its operations. By prioritizing consumer engagement and satisfaction, Moniepoint Microfinance Bank has been able to build trust and long-lasting relationships with customers while driving enhanced due diligence and innovative security solutions to engender compliance in the financial services value chain.\nCommenting on the awards, Didi Uwemakpan, Vice President, Brands and Communications, Moniepoint Inc., expressed her gratitude and shared her vision for the future. "We are honored to receive these awards, which provide validation for the work that we do every day in providing innovative financial services, fostering inclusion and powering the dreams of millions. This is only the beginning as we will double down on delivering exceptional value to our customers via innovative products and services, leverage technology in more exciting ways to create engaging touchpoints in ways that redefine the banking experience and generally continue making a significant impact in the global financial services landscape.”\n\n\nAccording to the convener of Brandcom Awards and publisher of Brand Communicator, Joshua Ajayi, "This recognition encompasses various aspects of consumer interaction, such as financial education, customer service, digital banking offerings, accessibility, responsiveness to customer needs, and community involvement, among others. Amongst all other nominated Fintech brands, our distinguished panel of assessors made up of experts and seasoned marketing and communications professionals came to the conclusion that Moniepoint stood head above shoulders among others in this category to emerge winner, considering that it has played a pivotal role in advancing financial inclusion by providing innovation and accessible financial solutions to underserved or unbanked individuals and communities in Nigeria. This award reflects Moniepoint’s commitment to addressing the financial needs of marginalized populations, reducing financial inequalities, and fostering economic empowerment. It has been our culture to celebrate and showcase excellence at our awards night each year based on our mantra of Prestige, Integrity, and Credibility".\nMoniepoint MFB, recently received the prestigious Rising Star Family Business Award Pwc/Businessday 2023 Family Business Summit while Moniepoint Inc was listed for the second year running amongst the 100 most promising private fintech companies by CB Insights and the reputable Financial Times named it Africa’s second fastest-growing company.

Moniepoint scoops outstanding MFB and Fintech awards at 2023 Brandcom Awards

\nNigeria’s financial system has come under renewed scrutiny against the backdrop of the increase in the value of electronic payment transactions in Q1 2023 and the challenges posed by bad faith actors who exploit gaps in the payment systems even as Nigerian financial institutions have reported ₦159 billion ($201.5 million) lost to fraud since 2020. There is a need for all players in the financial services sector to come together in tackling these challenges.\nGroup CEO, Moniepoint Inc., Tosin Eniolorunda during a courtesy visit to the Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe in Lagos. Onyeali-Ikpe, who welcomed the Moniepoint boss, used the opportunity to reaffirm her bank's appreciation for the patience and understanding demonstrated during its banking channel integration optimization which resulted in service disruptions and the inability of Moniepoint customers to receive financial inflow.\nIt will be recalled that Fidelity Bank had recently announced to its customers and the general public, the resumption of interbank transfers to all licensed financial institutions in the country. This was following speculative reports from various media publications that the bank had imposed transaction restrictions on some neo banks operating in the country.  \nDuring conversations around the growth of the digital payments segment and contributions of the financial services to Nigeria’s socio-economic development, Eniolorunda used the occasion to stress the point that Moniepoint as a responsible and compliant organization takes customer KYC very seriously. “KYC is not merely an acronym but indeed a cornerstone in establishing trust, ensuring security, and complying with regulatory standards. All accounts created on our platform have BVN verification and in addition to this we perform a liveliness check at the point of onboarding. This is a comparison of the account holder’s life picture and the BVN image as a way to reduce impersonation,” Eniolorunda maintained.\nHe continued, “we have zero tolerance for fraud and typically go all out to ensure that we track fraudsters and fraudulent transactions on our platforms. We have deployed and utilize robust fraud detection systems and technologies that can analyze patterns, identify anomalies, and detect suspicious activities in the system. As such we are better empowered to identify potential fraud incidents and trigger alerts for further investigations and remedial actions.”\n\n\nAs partners in deepening the CBN’s mandate of ensuring provision of adequate and convenient financial services to consumers and guaranteeing their protection as well as the various undercurrents in the financial services industry, Moniepoint and Fidelity agreed to work closely together to develop a tightly knit mechanism to stem the menace of fraudulent transactions and collaboratively push through in addressing payment challenges in the country.

Fighting fraud related issues in the financial ecosystem requires collaboration – Moniepoint CEO

Same Joe, minor –... If you’re from Nigeria and you don’t know the rest of that sentence, you probably have been living off the grid, up in the mountains. But for the initiated, this line from Moniepoint’s recent ads has become a piece of pop culture.\n\nLike everything else we put out at Moniepoint, there’s careful attention to every detail, every step of the way, to ensure we’re doing the best work. Here’s what that looks like for the Moniepoint Nigeria marketing team.\nPOV: your fintech product is kinda like sachet water.\nEvery society, like Nigeria, is filled with many products and services. Some, more esoteric than others. But most are so ingrained into everyday lives that they are not really viewed as products anymore.\nThink about things like sachet water, with millions of sachets sold daily. Or food items. “Groceries”, like Garri and sugar, are a staple in every home. There’s also everyday entertainment, like the hundreds of movies churned out by the Nollywood industry yearly.\nThese products and services are a part of the community, solving vital problems. And marketing them factors that in. There are no complicated campaigns, just the basics.\nTechnology solutions are often not thought of in the same light. Necessary as they might be, there’s a tendency to treat marketing them with the same level of complexity as the product itself has. A lot of jargon, really fancy videos, and little that makes an everyday user care.\nThe journey to determining a unique brand path for Moniepoint began with Didi, our VP, Comms, in 2021. She laid the foundation for the product and creative teams - led by Chinedu and Yemi, respectively - to land the brand promise that eventually metamorphosed into what has now become Moniepoint's brand ethos.\n\nWe were the solution people could use if they wanted to buy sachet water, garri, sugar, or even their movies. Every time they stepped out, they would encounter our products in one way or another. If we were that ingrained into their everyday lives, we had to use everyday language.\nIt wasn’t about us, but about them. Whatever fancy work had gone into creating our product didn’t really matter to them. They just needed to know how we solved their problems, and that’s what we focused on. \n\nMoniepoint’s fundamental truth.\nWhen I got on a call with Yemi, our creative director, to ask about how exactly we defined this “everyday language”, I expected to be breathed upon with some pixie dust that would open my eyes to some magical, alternate universe. And if you’re searching for that too, I apologise.\nWhat I got instead, was a redirection to some of the basics, that you might vaguely remember from that one marketing video you watched years ago - People, Product, Promotion & Price. This is not a refresher on the 4 P’s of marketing. What it is, however, is a first hard look at the science behind what you could interpret as our “creative”.\nThe focus was people. At Moniepoint, when we looked at our products, we considered what aspects this product fit into the lifestyle of these people. What problem was it solving? What purpose did it have in their lives? How did it impact them?\nAnswering these questions defined how we spoke to them, and ensured that we were communicating in a language that they could understand.\nIn order to do this, we needed to focus on insight so fundamental, that it was impossible to deny. As long as we could land on that human truth, then anything that we said, or derived from that truth would work. The whole point of selling is to sell so convincingly that there is no point arguing. We wanted people to align with a message because our message aligned with them.\nFor Moniepoint, our fundamental truth is reliability.\nAd-ing this all together\n\nAs Chinedu, Moniepoint Nigeria’s Director of Marketing, set out with his team to create its ads, this fundamental truth led the charge. It was so deeply set that it had many facets to it.\nFor one, we wanted to be identified as reliable. We were creating a service/experience that people could always rely on. Whenever they needed to collect payments for their business, they could come to us and receive reliable service.\nWe also wanted this reliability to extend to these businesses. Our offering, like a business account, helped them achieve this. This reliability also extended to how we communicated with them - in a manner that showed that we understood them, and were always there for them.\nIn summary, Moniepoint was that brand that people could depend on, no matter their scale - whether they were a large business spanning across the country, or just a mom-and-pop shop down the street. We needed to help them see this. Irrespective of where they were, or their cultural background, they had to know they could rely on us.\nSo, we had 3 objectives;\nThe first was to take our reliability and extend it to relatability. Such that if people were able to relate to us, they were able to trust us enough that they could rely on us.\nThe second was also aligning the product and the brand itself. So that whenever people saw our products, they could say,  “Oh yeah, that’s Moniepoint. I know them. They always speak to me, and I understand what they do. Also, their products are very seamless and easy to use”.\nOf course, we wanted things that could give us the best value for money. We wanted to strike that balance between creating a really good-looking ad, and creating content that people would enjoy. That way, it was memorable because they were genuinely entertained.\nSame Joe, Minor Differences.\n\nMemorable as this ad was, it was a regular day in the office for the team. Their own peculiar brand of regular, anyway. The ad, part of our “Get a bank account in your business name” series,  started with some research on Chinedu’s end.\nWhy should people open a bank account? Why should it be in their business name? What are the major issues? Why should they care about these issues? The answers he got tied into our truth of reliability.\nIn a society as entrepreneurial as ours, finding businesses via social media is very common. However, closing the sale is often difficult for these businesses when they present a personal account at the point of payment. Not necessarily because they want to, but because of how complicated the process of getting a bank account traditionally tends to be. This was where we could come in. With our business banking solution, we could help these businesses become more reliable.\nWith this problem defined, the creative team crafted stories around this. Yemi describes this as the “idea space”. This meant looking for the common denominator between the identified problem, and our unique selling proposition. With this defined, in his words, “that actually is 50% of the work done”.\nAlongside Yemi, Funmi, our copywriter, explored the story. She first considered the lead actor who would be starring in the ad and what scenario would look most natural to him. Then, tied this into the relatability of romantic relationships. They explored the trappings and heartbreak associated with catfishing, and connected that to our messaging for the businesses.\nWith this perspective, what seemed just like a fun skit, becomes the consequence of a series of well-thought-out ideas.\nBringing the idea to life\nWith the general idea of the story,  the next step was to convert that story into a script. Funmi recalls this process as being collaborative, with everyone on the team contributing their perspectives to create a holistic story.\nSomewhere along this path, “same Joe, minor differences” was birthed as a joke, which immediately rang out to them as something that fit the story they were trying to tell.\nThe phrase carried the weight of what was intended. Joe might not have intended to be unreliable, but he ultimately seemed so. Every detail he presented to his date differed from who he was in person. And this perfectly embodied the feeling customers could get when a business looked really promising, but ended up providing a personal account at the point of payment.\nIt was technically the “same business”, but there were now “minor differences” between their idea of the business and what they now saw. Minor differences that could jeopardise a sale.\nEvery script the team wrote, including this one, was assessed with a framework. This internal framework ensured that what they had wasn’t just a fancy ad, but that it truly spoke to our audience, and could achieve the goal for which it was intended.\nWith the story set and the script in place, the next bit was to translate the script into the ad we now have. The team searched for a production house that had the better strength in telling Nigerian stories and could authentically represent the narrative we were going for.\nWith a production team selected, they fine-tuned the production plan and analysed treatments. At these pre-production meetings, the team searched for a location that would best interpret the story and what kind of actors would be the best fit. Everything from the setting, to the costumes and scenery was defined in order to tell a cohesive story, that our audience in Nigeria could feel connected to.\nProduction, Post-production\n\nOn shoot day, everything comes alive. The team is on the ground to ensure that everything goes smoothly. Yemi, Funmi, and the rest of the creative team ensure that the creative direction is being followed. Obinna, Moniepoint’s Director of Content, is present to guide with his production knowledge. And Chinedu ensures that the brand elements are in place, and we’re communicating exactly what we intend to.\nTogether, they see it through to post-production, working and reviewing different cuts till a final one that perfectly tells the intended story.\nAfter the ads are shot, they still have to go through  ARCON - Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, ensuring that what we’re communicating complies with regulatory guidelines and advertising laws. This leads to getting a deployment certificate, after which the ads are ready to go live.\n\nGoing live\n\nWith all the work that had gone into the ads, the team expected the reaction to be generally positive. They had done their homework and, with the insights they got, put together a quality ad. Still, the reactions took them by surprise.\nPeople tend not to like ads. For example, if you’re not subscribed to YouTube Premium, then you know those 5 unskippable seconds can feel like a year.\nBut this resonated with our audience.\nEven though the team had put in the work to create quality ads, it was still validating to see how much it was taken up. In drips and trickles, phrases from the ad were used, even in unrelated conversations.\nThe people we wanted to speak to heard every word loud and clear, and it stuck with them.

Making the dream: how Moniepoint "markets" to the mass market.

\nSpecial Adviser to the President on Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole has revealed that there are approximately 23.8 million family businesses, responsible for millions of jobs, dispersed throughout the country and collectively they contribute around $200 billion annually into the nation’s economy. \nShe made this revelation at the 2023 Family Business Summit, a collaborative event organized by Businessday, My Family My Business, and PwC Nigeria. Oduwole noted that the figures reflect the glaring significance and the impact that family businesses have on Nigeria’s economy and the need for us all to ensure the sustainability of our multigenerational businesses. She furthermore stated the government's resolve using the instrumentality of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council to make Nigeria a progressively easier place for businesses to be established and to grow, with a focus on the micro, small and medium enterprises sector.\n“We must ensure the sustainability of these multi-generational enterprises collectively. With this sustainability, we aspire for more Nikes and BMWs to emerge from our shores, scaling across Africa and on a global stage. That is the vision and a collective effort we must all pursue”, Oduwole said while speaking to the event’s theme, Built to Last: Building A Multigenerational Business in the Age of Volatility.\nLeading technology-driven business bank in Nigeria, Moniepoint MFB, was honored with the prestigious Rising Star Family Business Award in recognition of the giant strides made by the firm over the years and their contribution to the Nigerian economy as part of activities at the Family Business Summit.  \nReceiving the award at the Summit, General Counsel at Moniepoint MFB, Okechukwu Eke emphasized the huge significance of ensuring that family businesses thrive while stating Moniepoint MFB’s renewed commitment to driving long-term success and the survival of these economic enablers via innovative solutions.\n“Moniepoint MFB remains committed to its strong ethos of powering the dreams of family businesses even as it continues on its journey of innovating to create more opportunities, financial happiness and deepening financial inclusion. We are delighted to be recognized for our positive contributions to the economy and we look forward to partnering with all stakeholders especially government at all levels to bring renewed hope to all Nigerians,” said Eke. \nOther stakeholders at the event include keynote speaker Martin Roll, a global family business and family office expert, Sam Abu, country senior partner at PwC Nigeria, Oyeyemi Oke, managing director 1st Fiduciary Limited, Toyin Sanni, CEO of Emerging Africa, Cosmas Maduka Junior (Coscharis Group), Ope Agbato, Executive Director, Technical and Animal Husbandry Operations, Animal Care, and Oludayo Obasanjo, Executive Director of marketing and development at Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited.\n

Moniepoint MFB receives Rising Star Family Business Award even as Family Businesses contribute $200bn to Nigeria’s economy yearly

\n\nMoniepoint Microfinance Bank conducts its business in strict compliance and observance of extant laws and regulatory circulars issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria on matters relating to the principles and procedures of Know Your Customer” (KYC).\nFor us, “Know Your Customer” (KYC) has become a cornerstone in establishing trust, ensuring security, and complying with regulatory standards. KYC is not merely an acronym; it represents a crucial set of processes designed to verify and authenticate the identity of customers engaging in financial transactions. \nThe primary objective of KYC is to prevent financial institutions from being unwittingly involved in illicit activities such as money laundering, terrorist financing, and fraud. By thoroughly understanding who our customers are, Moniepoint MFB can mitigate risks, safeguard our reputation, and maintain the integrity of our financial system.\nFor our business and personal banking operations, we are guided by CBN’s regulation on account opening and have maintained robust internal mechanisms to bolster our customer identification procedures. In accordance with every other regulatory protocol, we conduct BVN verification on all account openings with enhanced due diligence.\nFurthermore, to demonstrate the primacy we place on KYC, we have developed an online course that we take our stakeholders through to help deepen their understanding and drive strict compliance. \nAs a responsible and compliant organisation, we will continue to explore innovative tools and methodologies while actively collaborating and co-operating with all stakeholders in the financial services value chain to reduce the menace of fraud-related transactions.

Moniepoint MFB restates commitment to KYC principles and procedures

\n\nMembers of the public are urged to disregard false, malicious and misleading publications on social media that Moniepoint MFB has relocated to the UK. This is a fully Nigerian business, domiciled in Nigeria and committed to ensuring financial happiness for all our stakeholders. \n
\nMoniepoint MFB is a fully licensed Microfinance Bank by the CBN and it is a subsidiary of “Moniepoint Inc”. Moniepoint Inc. is a US-registered, global, all-in-one digital financial services provider with operations in Nigeria, Kenya, and an ongoing expansion into other emerging markets and offices in the US, and UK. \n
\nMoniepoint MFB is based in Nigeria and has its headquarters in Oyo state. Moniepoint MFB is led by Mr Babatunde Olofin, who's the \nManaging Director\n. Moniepoint remains in Nigeria alongside its leaders who are working assiduously towards powering the dreams of millions of Nigeria that trust our fast and reliable services.\n
\nMoniepoint MFB currently serves over 1.8 million businesses, enabling them to carry out financial transactions that power their dreams. \n

MONIEPOINT MICROFINANCE BANK REMAINS IN NIGERIA

If you are an individual looking to open a bank account, you might often be presented with a different range of options that promises to fulfill your financial need.\nOne of the options you might have come across is \npersonal banking\n.\nBut what exactly does personal banking mean and how does it work?\nWhat is Personal Banking?\nPersonal banking or consumer banking  is a type of banking service designed for individual customers catering to the financial needs and requirements of everyday people.\nWhether you’re a student who wants financial independence or a worker who wants to manage their monthly expenses, personal banking is designed for you.\nPersonal banking services include a range of services targeted at individuals such as savings accounts, card payment services, bill payment services such as utility bills and other financial services to help you achieve a specific financial goal.\n\nAdvantages of Personal Banking\n1: Easy Everyday Banking:\nPersonal banking offers a range of everyday financial services that make managing money easy. This includes services like savings accounts, debit cards, online banking, and mobile banking apps. \n2: Financial Planning and Advice:\nMany personal banking services extend beyond basic transactions to include financial planning and advice. Banks often provide tools and resources to help individuals plan for their financial future, including budgeting assistance, retirement planning, and investment guidance such as Moniepoint Blog.\n3: Access to Loans:\nPersonal banking allows individuals to access loan products, such as personal loans.. Whether it’s buying a home, financing education, or handling unexpected expenses, these credit facilities provide flexibility and liquidity. \n3: Security and Protection:\nPersonal banking institutions prioritize the security of their clients’ funds. This includes measures such as fraud protection, secure online banking features, and insurance on certain accounts. For example, deposits in savings accounts in Nigeria are insured by NDIC providing an additional layer of protection. \n\nHow Does Personal Banking Work?\nTo understand how personal banking works, let’s delve into the key components and processes that underpin this financial system:\n1. Account Setup:\nThe first step in personal banking is to open up a bank account. Individuals can open savings accounts, which serve as the foundation for managing their funds. These accounts allow for deposits, withdrawals, and electronic transfers, facilitating daily financial transactions.\n2. Deposits and Withdrawals:\nPersonal banking is all about providing easy access to your money. Clients can deposit their earnings, such as paychecks or other income sources, into their accounts. These funds are then readily available for withdrawal through various means, including ATM withdrawals, check-writing, or electronic transfers.\n3. Access to Digital Tools:\nMany personal banking institutions offer digital tools and platforms, such as online banking and mobile apps. These tools enable clients to monitor their account balances, review transaction history, pay bills, transfer money, and even set up automatic payments, making financial management efficient and convenient.\n4. Security and Protection:\nPersonal banking institutions prioritize the security of clients’ financial assets. They employ encryption and security protocols to safeguard sensitive information and may offer insurance on deposits to protect against unforeseen events.\n\nIs A Personal Bank Account Right For You?\nWhether a personal bank account is right for you depends on your individual financial needs and preferences.\nIf you seek a simple and accessible way to manage day-to-day transactions, \npay bills\n, and save money, a \npersonal bank account \nis an excellent fit.

What is Personal Banking and How Does Personal Banking Work?

Do you want to download the Moniepoint App and looking for a step by step guide? \nThen this guide is for you.\nIn this article, we will guide you through the process of downloading, installing and getting started with your account.\nWhat is the Moniepoint Personal App?\nThe Moniepoint Personal App is a consumer banking app that enables users to get a personal account and conduct numerous financial operations through their mobile devices, including getting a personal account, sending money, paying bills, and buying airtime and much more.\nA seamless and simple user experience is offered by the app thanks to cutting-edge technology.\nIt provides a quick, safe, and practical solution for you to handle your money without having to go to a physical bank. You get a quick and easy way to handle all of your financial operations.\nWhy You Should Choose the Moniepoint App Now\nThe app allows you to easily manage your account settings, view your transaction history, and check your account balance.\nThe Moniepoint app offers a wide range of features, which includes:\nGreater Reliability\n: The Moniepoint app is always reliable. With the app, you can send and receive monney instantly. \nEasy to use\n: Utilizing your mobile device, Moniepoint makes it simple to send and receive money. It provides a simple and practical method of sending money to close friends, family members, or coworkers\nVersatile\n: You can pay various bills with Moniepoint, including those for power, cable TV, airtime top-ups, and other services. By doing this, you can save the trouble of visiting numerous offices or retailers to make these payments\nWide Coverage\n: With a large agent network spread throughout Nigeria, Moniepoint makes it simple to withdraw money from your mobile wallet at any agent location. \nExcellent Financial Services\n: Moniepoint provides additional financial services like savings accounts, money transfers and bill payments.\nIf you need banking on point, then getting a Moniepoint Personal App is the next best choice.\nHow to Download and Install the Moniepoint App\nDownloading the Moniepoint Personal Banking App is a simple and easy process.

To download and install the app on both Android and iOS devices, simply follow the step-by-step instructions below.\nFor iOS Users:\n\n\n\n\nFollow this \nlink to access the App\n on your on your iOS device\nTap the “Get” button to start the installation process\nEnter your Apple ID and password to confirm the installation if prompted\nTap the “Open” button to launch the app once the installation is complete.\nFor Android Users:\n\n\n\n\nVisiting the \nGoogle Play Store\n on your Android device\nTap the “Install” button to start the installation process\nTap the “Open” button to launch the app once the installation is complete.\nSolution to Common Challenges While Downloading the Moniepoint App\nThe process of downloading and installing this app should be quick and simple. \nStill, if you run into any problems, they are probably related to the usual problems that arise when installing any software from the app stores.\nYou can try the following:\nCheck to see if your device is using a reliable internet connection\nClear the Google Play Store or Apple App Store’s cache and data\nRestart your device, then attempt the installation procedure once more\nIf you get an error message during the installation process, take note of it and search for a solution online.\nNeed more support, \nMoniepoint has 24/7 support\n to help you through any challenges you might have. \nHow To Login into the Moniepoint App After Downloading and Installing\nThe procedure is the same whether you want to log into the app on an iOS or Android device. To effortlessly log in to the app, simply follow the steps below.\nOpen the Moniepoint App on your Android or iOS device\nEnter your username in the username field\nEnter your password in the password field\nClick on the “Login” button to access your Moniepoint account\nNote: If you have forgotten your password, you can click on the “Forgot Password” link to reset your password.\nHere is a full guide to installing and setting up your Moniepoint Personal App.\nTips For Using the Moniepoint App\nTo protect your app account, you should always use a strong password\nBefore confirming the transaction, always carefully review the details\nDon’t give anyone else your login information.\nTo guarantee optimum performance and security, make sure your device and the App are updated to the most recent version\nContact Moniepoint customer care right away if you notice any fraudulent activity on your account.\nConclusion\nIt’s simple and convenient to manage your funds with the Moniepoint App. You can do several transactions via the app, including \nmoney transfers\n, \nbill payments, and airtime purchases.\n\nDo you need a reliable bank? \nDownload the Moniepoint App now!\n

Moniepoint App: A Complete Guide To The Moniepoint Personal Banking App

Housemates in the just concluded eighth season of Big Brother Naija reality TV show, tagged as the All-Stars edition have expressed gratitude to Africa's leading digital financial services provider, Moniepoint Inc., over its lead sponsorship and the curation of exciting touchpoints to engage and experience the brand during the show.

\n\nAt a meet and greet session for the All-Stars which held in Lagos, they stated their admiration for Moniepoint’s fast, easy, and reliable services that they had experienced on the personal and business banking platforms since leaving the show, adding that this was a true reflection of consistency and a brand that works to ensure that everything is on point.

\nReceiving the BBN All Stars contingent at its office, Tobi Amira, Senior Vice President, Business Loans and Salary Advance, took the housemates on a brief session about Moniepoint.\n
“We are a digital financial services provider for businesses and most recently individuals. We have built a very reliable system and provide our services at very affordable rates leveraging technology to ensure that we can continue to push the government's financial inclusion agenda. As one of Africa’s largest fintechs, we saw mutual synergies which spurred us to sponsor this season of Big Brother Nigeria which is without doubt, one of the biggest reality and entertainment intellectual property in Africa. We are excited at what the future holds as we double down on powering dreams for businesses and individuals.”

\n\nThe All Stars Housemates who made the trip include: Gen Z baddie and winner of the All Stars show, Ilebaye Odiniya, Pere Egbi, Adekunle Olopade, Cynthia "Cee-C" Nwadiora, Ikechukwu "Cross" Okonkwo, Chukwuemeka "Frodd" Okoye, Season Six winner Hazel "Whitemoney" Oyeze, Seyi Awolowo, Doyinsola David, Ike Onyema, Somadina Anyama and Prince Nelson

\nGroup Chief Executive Officer, Moniepoint Inc. Tosin Eniolorunda, who briefly joined the event virtually, noted that the Housemates were all worthy ambassadors and should be proud of their time on the show.
“Well done to BBN All Stars for all the excitement and entertainment they gave to Nigerians and Africans over the course of 90 days. Thank you for doing the work that you do and we are happy that you enjoyed every encounter with the Moniepoint brand throughout your stay on the show. BBN has helped to birth the dreams of a lot of young Nigerians over the past 8 seasons, Moniepoint is doing the same across the financial services landscape. We are passionate about including many people in the financial net – empowering them to live better lives and we hope that you'll partner with us to do fantastic work in this regard.”
\nThe BBN All Stars edition brought back fan favourites from the last six seasons which saw Ilebaye win the coveted N120 million prize money with 30.08 percent of the votes cast, over Mercy Eke with 23.48 percent and Cee-C with 23.41 percent. According to Multichoice, the All-Stars edition recorded 1.53 billion votes cast throughout the season which is the largest ever in the show's history.\n\n\n
During a diary session styled side event hosted by Director, Content Marketing, Moniepoint, Obinna Okerekeocha, the housemates revealed some interesting facts about their time on the show. Here are a few excerpts:\n
\nIlebaye\n
I had so much fun during the Moniepoint Thursday games. Even though I would have loved any of the contestants to win, if I had to make a pick, I'd choose Doyin if I didn't win.  Life as a winner and celebrity coming out of the house hasn’t been easy being the youngest multimillionaire. It's been stressful on social media and everywhere especially the media rounds. But it’s been all love and light from my fans. I haven't seen hate. If you drag me, my fans will drag you back. I am trying to get adjusted to this new me and I am working on creating a better version of myself.\n
\nPrince Nelson\n
One part of me that many people didn't get to see on the screen is that fact that I am a nerd. I studied Pure Physics in school and when I am not doing entertainment, you'd find me digging into Science, Astronomy and Astrology as I'd always wanted to be an astronaut while growing up. So, in my spare time, I am studying the stars, ancient African religions and history.\n
\nCee-C\n
When I heard that I had been selected for this edition, I had mixed feelings. Obviously, I was worried and scared.  Because it’s one thing to go and be yourself and the misunderstanding that could arise but then I was excited because it was going to afford me the opportunity to meet new people which is something that I love to do.\n
\nFrodd\n
Being an All-Stars season, having to see a lot of people whom I call my friends outside the house coming into the game was kind of a motivation for me. Besides the fact that we were all close, I saw them play the game with a bit of maturity, I saw us all go out trying to be calm even if the chaos tried to overtake us but I had a very great feeling coming back to the House.\n
Ike\n
My favourite housemate, first it's got to be Cee-C. How can I forget her. But I also liked the action that Pere was giving me.
⁠\n
Doyin\n
My mom has been the most influential person in my life. She's imparted everything that I am today. I am quite a quality person and it takes someone who's got quality to raise someone like me and that's my mom for you.  
⁠\n
Adekunle\n
My favourite TV series is Game of Thrones. If you have seen it, then you'd understand my choice. My character of choice in the series is Tyrion Lannister and that's because he's the most intelligent person in the GoTverse. There are parallels that can be drawn, Tyrion survived to the very end as one character people didn’t think will make it through, I have been on BBNaija twice and on both counts I made it till the very end.

\nThe Housemates also used the engagement session to express their willingness to partner with Moniepoint to power more dreams across the nation. Adding that they’d be looking forward to more innovative and value-added services from the organization.

BBN All Stars Housemates laud Moniepoint, as they reveal interesting facts about their time on the show

\nFor the second year in a row, Africa's leading digital financial services provider, \nMoniepoint Inc\n, has announced its listing in the sixth annual \nCB Insights’ Fintech 100\n ranking (previously the \nFintech 250\n), showcasing the 100 most promising private fintech companies of 2023. CB Insights is regarded by top industry analysts as the most trusted source for technology market insights. The \nFintech 100\n includes a mix of companies at different stages of maturity, product development, and funding. The cohort has raised nearly $22B in equity funding across 381 deals since 2019.\nUtilizing the CB Insights platform which fuses machine learning, algorithms, data and visualizations, the research team selected these \nFintech 100\n winners from a pool of more than 19,000 private companies, including applicants and nominees. These companies were chosen based on factors, including equity funding, investor profiles, business relationships, R&D activity, news sentiment analysis, competitive landscape, and proprietary Mosaic scores, as well as criteria such as tech novelty and market potential. \n“We are honored to be recognized by CB Insights as one of the top 100 fintech companies of 2023. This listing validates our unwavering commitment towards powering dreams and driving financial happiness for everyone. It is also a strong reflection on our momentum in terms of growth, innovation and making a real difference in the marketplace,” said Tosin Eniolorunda, Group CEO of Moniepoint Inc.\nHe continues, “our team has worked tirelessly to deliver innovative solutions that empower individuals and businesses across Africa with accessible, efficient, and secure digital financial services. This recognition is testament to our efforts in enhancing financial inclusion and transforming the lives of millions across the continent.”\nIt will be recalled that Moniepoint Inc which has been named as Africa’s second fastest-growing company by the reputable Financial Times servicing over 1.7 million businesses, and helping them process over $100 billion in 2022.\nRepresenting 24 different countries across the globe, this year’s \nFintech 100\n is shaping the future of real-time payments, spend management automation, embedded finance, and more,” said Chris Bendtsen, Lead Fintech Analyst, CB Insights. “Together, they are not only increasing the pace of innovation, but launching new products and features to revolutionize the industry as a whole. I cannot wait to see what this cohort accomplishes next.” 

Moniepoint makes the CB Insights’ Fintech 100 List 

As an individual, managing your finances is critical to your success. When it comes to achieving your personal financial goal, one of the most important steps you can take is to open a savings account.\nThis type of bank account offers several benefits that can help you achieve your financial goals and improve your financial position. \nIf you are seeking to grow your money, we will explore the benefits of an online savings account, and why it is a smart choice for individuals.\n5 Benefits of an Online Savings Account\n1: No need to visit bank branches:\n While traditional banks require you to visit bank branches, an online savings account does not require you to do the same. You can practically conduct all your banking transactions online, anywhere, anytime.\n2: Easy access to your money:\n Online savings accounts offer the convenience of round-the-clock access. You can check your account balance, initiate transfers, and manage your savings at any time, day or night. This accessibility is especially valuable for individuals with busy schedules or those who prefer to handle their finances outside of traditional banking hours.\n3: Fast account opening: \nOpening an online savings account is often a swift and straightforward process. Unlike traditional banks that require in-person visits, lengthy paperwork, and waiting periods, online banks prioritize efficiency. You can open an account in less than 5 mins.\n4: No minimum requirements:\n Many online savings accounts have low or no minimum deposit requirements, making it accessible to a wide range of savers, including those who are just starting to save.\n6: Easy Transfers:\n You can easily transfer funds to and from your online savings account, often linking it to your existing checking account for seamless transfers.\n5: NDIC Insurance Protection:\nOnline savings accounts, like traditional savings accounts, are \nNDIC insured\n. This means that in the unlikely event of a bank failure, your savings are protected, and you won’t lose your money. NDIC insurance provides peace of mind and ensures the safety of your deposits, making online savings accounts a secure option for storing your money.\n\nHow to Open An Online Savings Account With Moniepoint\nStep 1\n: Visit the Playstore or App Store to download the Moniepoint app and get started.\n\n\n\nStep 2\n: Sign up\n\n\n\nStep 3\n: Verify your details\n\n\nStep 4\n: Enjoy seamless banking\nRead this article for a more detailed step by step guide to learn more about the Moniepoint Personal Banking. \n\nConclusion:\nIn a world where financial flexibility, transparency, and growth potential are paramount, the online savings account emerges as the clear and intelligent choice.\nIt’s time to take control of your savings and start building a brighter financial future today. Open your online savings account with Moniepoint, and watch your money work for you.

Why An Online Savings Account Is A Smart Choice For Your Financial Goal

\nCustomer Service Week has been about celebrating the people behind the scenes, who resolve issues and ensure a remarkable experience for customers worldwide. But celebrating them is kind of hard if you don’t exactly understand what it entails, wouldn’t you agree?\nFor a better picture, I asked 7 customer service team members about their experience at Moniepoint. Beyond how truly tasking it can be dealing with tons of people (we know how people are), I learnt that there’s a deep satisfaction and sense of fulfilment that comes from being able to solve problems every day. But that’s just the tip. Learn more from their responses;\nWhat are the expectations vs reality working in customer success?\nBisola \n- I expected that working in customer success would be about building strong relationships and achieving high customer satisfaction.\nThe reality is that, while building relationships and customer satisfaction are important, challenges include handling difficult situations and managing customer expectations. It requires a balance of empathy, problem-solving, and effective communication skills.

\nKingsley \n- I expected the job to be exceptionally challenging, emotionally taxing, and demanding. I also feared that the work hours in customer service might lack flexibility, potentially disrupting my regular schedule.\nIn reality, assisting customers in resolving their issues has been a source of deep personal satisfaction for me. I find it incredibly rewarding and fulfilling to be able to make a difference in their lives and provide solutions to their problems.\nI also greatly appreciate the commitment my company demonstrates towards employee development. They consistently provide thorough and comprehensive training programs and a wealth of valuable resources, all of which have enhanced my skills and knowledge within my role. I'm fortunate to work alongside a team of managers and colleagues who are both knowledgeable, incredibly supportive and cooperative.\n
\nVictor \n- I expected to be able to provide exceptional customer service, resolve issues efficiently, and build strong customer relationships. However, the reality is that customer support can be demanding and requires a high level of patience and problem-solving skills. \nIn this role, you may encounter difficult customers, complex technical issues, tight deadlines and daily goals you have to meet. It is crucial and important to remain calm and professional, even in challenging situations. \nAdditionally, customer support professionals often have to juggle multiple tasks simultaneously, such as responding to emails, WhatsApp chats and managing live chats. Prioritisation and time management skills are essential to address all customer inquiries promptly and effectively. While this differs from the expectation, I actually find contributing to their overall satisfaction of customers quite fulfilling.\n
\nJane \n- I expected that I’d resolve customer issues quickly, and keep interactions brief. \nThe reality is that customers sometimes do not know how to communicate their challenges, and to resolve whatever challenge, you have to understand it first. So, each customer comes with its own reality.\n
\nAnjolaoluwa - \nEveryone thinks our job is easy; just open a chat and respond, how can that be hard? But in reality, it goes way beyond that.\nYou basically have to put yourself in the customer's shoes, empathise with the customer, manage their anger, escalate their issues, follow up with the escalation and in a case where resolution is taking time, you have to call the customer and feel the anger firsthand.\nWhat is the easiest thing you’ve had to do?\nBisola\n - Troubleshooting and resolving customer complaints at the first point of contact. To provide helpful and friendly assistance to customers.\n
\nVictor \n - The easiest thing I have had to do as a customer support officer is to provide customers with basic information about Moniepoint’s products and services. This task is straightforward and requires minimal effort on my part. It involves listening to the customer's query, understanding their needs, and providing accurate information that satisfies their query.\nWhile this may seem like a small task, it is crucial to building a good relationship with the customer and promoting our company's brand. As a professional, I strive to handle all customer requests with the utmost care and attention, regardless of their complexity.\n
\nJoy - \nI would say attending to customer’s complaints and inquiries. Over the past few years of working in the customer success department, it has become a norm for me to interact with customers and help answer their inquiries while resolving their issues/complaints. This comes to me naturally, because it’s what I do for a living daily.\nAny tough experience you’ve had?\nVictor - \nThe toughest was when a customer was extremely irate and frustrated due to a technical issue we had with the app that we could not resolve immediately. Despite my attempts to empathise with the customer and offer alternative solutions, the customer remained hostile and demanded an immediate resolution. It was difficult to handle as I had to maintain my composure and professionalism while dealing with the customer's anger.\nI had to remind myself that the customer's frustration was not directed towards me personally, but rather towards the situation. Eventually, after several attempts and escalation to the team in charge, we resolved the issue, and the customer's frustration subsided. This experience taught me the importance of active listening, empathy, and maintaining a calm demeanour even in the face of difficult situations.\n
\nAnjolaoluwa \n- During the cash scarcity period, we had to deal with a surge in complaints as our customer base grew rapidly, but we pulled through.\nWhat’s the best part about your team?\n\nBisola -\n Collaboration. We work hand in hand amongst ourselves to ensure timely responses to Business owners. Another interesting thing is the excellent problem-solving abilities we all possess. We consistently go over and beyond to find creative solutions to customer issues.\n
\nJoy - \nMy team comprises the most wonderful people this world can offer. They are very approachable and always willing to lend a helping hand whenever you need help. It is surprising how I have yet to meet everyone on my team, but we all interact like we have known each other for ages. This makes the whole working experience easy for me.\n
\nAnjolaoluwa - \nWhen everyone is stressed or tense about work, we send funny emojis and stickers on the group chat, which really reduces the pressure.\n
\nWhat’s a challenge you’ve had to solve?\nKingsley \n- A business owner sent in a Social Media complaint that he could not access his personal account and transfer his funds to his business account. I could tell he was very frustrated as he had already tried to resolve the issue himself without success.\nI apologised for the experience and escalated the issue to second-level support for resolution, as I could not provide a first-time resolution. I followed up with my Team Lead to fast-track the process, as the resolution took a long time. \nI ensured that I provided the business owner with regular feedback via calls and messages until the issue was finally resolved, and he was very appreciative and happy. I learnt that patience and empathy are key when dealing with customers.\n
\nJoy - \nThere was this time I came across a very difficult merchant on one of our work platforms, he had lots of transaction issues and was really irate. It felt like every effort to calm him down was futile. I took it upon myself to escalate and followed up with the escalation to ensure it was resolved within the shortest possible time, as I promised the merchant. The excitement in his messages after the resolution gave me so much joy.\n
\nPrecious - \nA customer initiated a transaction that got rejected due to an underpayment. She was advised to provide a valid account so we could process a refund, which she did. The refund was processed, and she complained of not being credited. I provided her with refund details, including the refund session ID, which she took to the bank, and the bank confirmed that they had a downtime when the refund was processed, hence the reason she was not credited. She informed me that she had gotten her refund and was happy. I was glad to be of assistance.\n
\nWhat is your least favourite thing about your job?\nKingsley - \nHandling challenging customers, specifically engaging with individuals who display rudeness, anger, or unreasonable behaviour, can prove emotionally draining and create significant stress.\n
\nVictor \n- Personally, my least favourite thing about the job is dealing with angry or upset customers. It can be difficult to remain calm and professional in these situations, but it is essential to do so to resolve the issue and maintain the customer's satisfaction. Additionally, sometimes there are technical issues or system errors that can be frustrating, especially when it takes too long for the team in charge to resolve. However, these challenges are all part of the job, and it is important to approach them with a positive attitude.\n
\nJoy - \nIt will be the downtimes we face sometimes. It can be a bit draining during those periods, but the good thing is that it always gets resolved on time.\n
\n\nWhen you’re not working, what works for you?\nBisola -\n When I'm not working as a customer success, I enjoy taking time for self-care, connecting with friends and family, and pursuing hobbies that bring me joy and relaxation. It's important to find a healthy work-life balance to recharge and be at my best to provide excellent customer support.\n
\nKingsley \n- I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I also spend my time designing websites and applications as a form of upskilling in UI/UX. I find it important to have a good work-life balance, and I am sure to make time for the things I enjoy outside of work.\n
\nJane - \nWhen I’m not working, reading books(all kinds) and sleeping works for me.\n
\nPrecious \n - Spending time with my family, watching movies and cooking. \n


Behind the Tickets: A Chat with Moniepoint’s Customer Success Team

A Warm Call On A Rainy Day\nIt was a rainy Wednesday, and I got ready for standup as usual, but little did I know that this standup was coming with very different news.  I was 2 minutes into the call before I took in what had just been said - I was going on a work to Kenya. Kenya?! I took a glass of water and replayed the call in my head. With the company working on expanding to Kenya, Our team had been selected to travel to Kenya, spend months there, studying the market and their needs and working to integrate our solutions into their system before we officially launched. I had barely spent 6 months, and it was still a few weeks to the end of my internship, so you can imagine how surreal it felt. Here’s how I got here.\n\n\nHow I joined Moniepoint\nThe story of how I started my internship as a product manager is funny because I wasn’t always a ‘techie’, and I had an actual dream. Yes, a dream, but it is a story for an article. I first started out in marketing, and I think I owe you a story. \nI studied Public Administration and hoped my placement would align with that. I put out the word to family and friends. Then, a family friend who sold computer software and hardware offered me a Customer Support role. I gladly accepted it, as I just needed to work somewhere. One day, the business owner approached me and said, ‘Why don't you create a social media page for us?’ So I created it, created a Google My Business page, and started getting higher traffic to our store, that’s when it first occurred to me that I could go into marketing through social media as far back as 2013.\n\n\nwhen I graduated Uni\n
\nSo, I continued in that field, and I went on to work for a fashion brand. From there, I worked at the London Fashion Festival as the Public Relations Manager. I did a couple of other jobs and started considering going into other areas of marketing. But the last place I worked before Moniepoint was Code 4TEEN - a platform for kids to learn to code from as early as primary three.\nAt Code 4TEEN, I wore multiple hats. I started as a Learner Success and Relations Manager. I was asked to lead the Product Success team a few months in, and as I took on the role, I noticed that it was similar to product management. I was learning about product management on the job, and it dawned on me that I loved this job more than marketing. I got so addicted to learning that I started consuming almost everything I had access to. Then, I enrolled at Product Dive to learn Product Management; Gamechanger! \nAfter my training, I knew it was time to do more. I needed to work in a company with clear goals, focus and distinction of roles. So, I started researching, applying, getting rejection letters, etc. When I saw the opening for Moniepoint, I was excited. Although my friends and family didn’t understand why I wanted to move from a lead position to an internship role, I had read so many things about Moniepoint on GlassDoor and Twitter that I knew it was worth the shot. \nMaking the dream, before Kenya\nMy first challenge as a newbie was understanding the terms being used. I wasn’t familiar with most of them, but luckily, I asked questions. I’d ask for the full meaning of abbreviations, the meaning of some words, the terms, software, the working method, and everything we used here. Although I came in as an intern, I wasn’t ready to just sit when I could be learning and growing. I started applying myself to tasks and asking to take on as many possible tasks.\nAt some point, when I felt like I was asking too many questions, I’d jot my questions and take them to my line manager. My mom used to say, ‘Someone who asks questions never misses her way’. It sounds basic, but that has kept me this long at Moniepoint - I ask questions. I am one person who would never feel embarrassed to ask the ‘stupid’ question that most of the team wanted to ask. \nI casually remember a conversation with the CEO, when I was a few months in and chuckle. It was the cash crunch period, and I had great ideas on what we could do to penetrate more petty businesses and help traders without BVN receive cashless payments.  So I wrote a proposal, with reasons to buttress my point and marketing ideas. For a minute, I paused before sending it because it’s a general group chat for everyone in Moniepoint. But I eventually did, and Tosin was the one who responded. It was such an insightful conversation. I learnt more about banking policies, and I am still very glad I asked that question.\nBy the second month, I had learnt a lot and was put on a task - LRMS (Loans Recovery Management System). I absolutely enjoyed my time working on LRMS. LRMS covers the entire flow of the repayment process; It is used from when an incident is logged to when it closes. I would document every time we added new features to the product and brief the Recovery Officers on the feature and how to use it.\nI also had to receive feedback from them on how the product was helping them handle the Business Owners (BO) who needed or had taken loans. My favourite task on this was the documentation part. If we added a new feature or made a new update, it was my role to document. I just loved doing it. I was also in charge of ensuring the ROs were aligned with the updates, so I’d create FAQs each time a feature was to be uploaded. I also did surveys bi-monthly to get feedback on their experience with the platform/ new features and ask for their suggestion on the new functions they’d like to see. \nI consider this my first love at Moniepoint, even though I love what we’re doing in Kenya.\n\nwith a colleague, at Moniepoint\n
\nGone East, wouldn’t be back for a few months. \nIt was a few weeks to the end of my internship when I followed the team to Kenya, and that’s crazy because I hadn’t been confirmed - I was still an intern. And here are some of the reasons I think contributed to being on the team that went to Kenya.\nFirstly, anyone who has worked with me can attest that I always get the job done. I, too like work, lol. There’s hardly a task I’m given that I won't go to the ends of the world to find the answer or how to handle it. I start by googling it to confirm how it has been handled in the past. Then, I get on calls with everyone I know who can explain more to me. As long as the job is put on my table, trust me to get it done.\n Sometimes, this means trying new things entirely, like working on the QA team, so that we can work faster and more efficiently. \nSecondly, I learned that my life depended on it (well, technically). I am a Technical Product Manager, and if we cannot understand the terms or process of work from design to engineering, I’m bound to manage a shabby project. So, I keep learning. I am on YouTube almost every time, and it has helped me a lot. I consider myself a ‘do all it takes to get the job’ kind of person. \nThirdly, I give and receive feedback. I think you can never really grow or do better if others aren’t giving you feedback. For me, it’s a vital aspect of communication and teamwork. Sometimes, a colleague sees something you don’t. Or their experience with a method makes them know it won’t work. I am usually very interested in asking for feedback. Because at the end of the day, we want to finish the job on time and well. Referencing the conversation with Tosin, before then, I was sure we were not taking opportunities and could create accounts without BVN. But when Tosin explained the policies, they made more sense to me. Now, I factor in that conversation when thinking up innovative ideas. \nYou’re probably wondering why I think these were part of why I was chosen to join the team in Kenya. I picked these off feedback from my line manager during my confirmation appraisal. And it’s not like I didn’t know some of these about myself, it just felt really good to hear someone else say it, especially your line manager. \n\nMe, in Kenya\n
\nIt’s an exciting career phase, and I can’t wait to see what comes next. There’s so much more to learn and explore, and I’m excited to see how our work will impact millions of Kenyans' lives.\n

Taking Flight: From Internship to Kenya

Change Data Capture (CDC) is a technique that is used to track and capture changes made in a data source, typically a database, and utilize those changes in various downstream systems or processes. With CDC you’re capturing inserts, updates, and deletes – the classic CRUD operations – and using this information to perform certain tasks, which could be as simple as updating another database or as complex as triggering entire workflows in an event-driven architecture.\nThe concept of CDC isn't particularly new. It has been around since the dawn of databases. In the early days, it was mainly used in data warehousing environments. The goal was to transfer only the changed data instead of reloading the entire dataset from operational databases to data warehouses. \nFast forward to today, in our modern world of real-time analytics, microservices, and distributed systems, the concept of CDC has increased in popularity.\nNow, one might ask, "Why should we care about CDC? What makes it so important?" To answer that, let's imagine this: You're running a global e-commerce platform. A customer just placed an order. Now you need to update the inventory, trigger a payment process, inform a logistics partner, and maybe even update recommendation engines for other users – all in real-time. How do you do this efficiently without impacting the performance of your transactional systems? CDC can help.\nAt the heart of most software systems is users manipulating your application state by invoking actions. Some actions are read-only, while some actions involve write operations that result in changes in the application state. These changes could be in the form of a database insert, update or delete.\nMore often than not, if you're running a distributed systems architecture, you might want to propagate these changes from one part of the system to another. CDC has this concept of source and target. The source, where the change events originate, is typically a transactional database. The target is where we want these change events to be mirrored or used – could be a data warehouse, another database, or any system that's hungry for this fresh data.\n\nForms of Change Data Capture\nSo how do we capture these changes? There are three primary techniques:\nTimestamp-based\n: This is a pull-based approach where systems query the source based on the last updated timestamp. Source items with the last updated timestamp above the threshold can be read for change updates.\nTrigger-based\n: This is a push-based approach that can rely on using database events and triggers to propagate change events from a data source.\nLog-based\n: This is a pull-based approach that involves tailing the changelog file for a data source and looking for specific entries in the logs. The log entries are propagated to downstream systems in real-time.\n\nTimestamp-based CDC relies on querying the source at intervals with a timestamp threshold. Changes after the timestamp are loaded into the target. 
\nThis approach is my least favorite because the target becomes a burden on the source. Imagine the source is receiving heavy traffic. If the target starts querying the source at intervals, that could add load to the source system. \n\n\nTrigger-based CDC relies on triggers at the source db to push changes to the target. I prefer this to the timestamp-based approach. However, since each change update at the source will require a trigger to be invoked, triggers can add some overhead at the db level. The trigger is a piece of code that could quickly add up in times of high traffic. \n\n
The log-based approach happens to be my favorite of all 3 because it’s the least intrusive. The source database logs changes in the transaction log. Changes are read by a connector and logged to a target. Databases today already have the idea of transaction logging. So adding a connector to the transaction logs is not going to impact the source system in any way. \nReal-Life Applications of CDC\nReal-Time Analytics\nData Replication\nAudit Trails\nEvent-Driven Architecture
\nLet's look at some real-life examples or applications of CDC.\nWe have \nReal-Time Analytics\n. Say you're running an e-commerce business, and you want to provide personalized recommendations to your customers based on their browsing and purchasing history. In such a scenario, you can't wait for end-of-day batch processing to update your recommendation engine. You're dealing with real-time data needs. Here's where CDC can come into play. With CDC, changes to user data can be captured and sent to the recommendation engine in real-time, providing up-to-date personalized experiences to your users.\nAnother example use case of CDC is \nData Replication\n. In a distributed systems setup, It's not uncommon to have the same data stored in different places for various purposes. CDC allows you to capture changes from a source database and apply them to a target database, keeping your data fresh and consistent across systems.
\nOur third application of CDC is \nAudit Trails\n. In many industries, knowing who changed what and when is not just good practice; it's sometimes a legal requirement. I work in financial technology, and many times, we want to know who made certain changes in the system. CDC can capture changes along with the metadata like when the change was made and by whom, allowing you to keep a complete audit trail.
\nFinally, CDC can be applied to \nEvent-Driven Architectures\n. This is where CDC truly shines! In an event-driven system, actions or 'events' in one part of the system trigger actions in another part of the system. CDC can capture data changes as events, triggering downstream processes like workflows or notifications. \n


\nDeep dive into a log-based CDC tool (Debezium)\nMuch of my experience with Change Data Capture has been with the popular tool called Debezium. From the official website, Debezium is described as an open-source distributed platform for change data capture. When pointed at your data source, it can help you respond to inserts, updates and deletes in a fast and durable manner. Let’s look a bit closer at how Debezium works: \n\n\nBy pointing Debezium at your data source, it is able to stream change updates (inserts, updates, and deletes) into a messaging queue like Kafka. Thus facilitating real-time data pipelines and streaming applications. Consumers can then plug into Kafka and utilize the streamed updates however they please. \nAside from streaming change updates, Debezium also accounts for schema evolution. The database schema changes are also included in the updates to Kafka, allowing downstream clients to keep track of the shape of the data as they process it. \nAfter Debezium streams data source changes to Kafka, different kinds of services can connect to Kafka and process the change updates. In the diagram above, we have a data source, cache, search-indexer, and data lake all connected to kafka to process the streamed change updates from debezium. \nSetup\nTo run a basic setup for debezium with MySQL, one can follow the official documentation here: \n\nhttps://debezium.io/documentation/reference/2.3/tutorial.html\n\nThe documentation shows how you can plug a connector to a MySQL instance and start reading change events from the MySQL database. Instructions are straightforward and easy to follow. One should be able to complete the setup and testing in under an hour or two. \nCDC connector lib\nOver the past few months, I built a library that allows one to easily set up connectors to a data source and read change events. The library allows for two primary CDC use cases: \nChange Replication\n and \nChange Processing\n. Here’s the source code for the library: \n\nhttps://github.com/durutheguru/cdc-connector-lib\n\nFor the rest of this write-up, I’ll work with the library to demonstrate some things that can be accomplished with Change Data Capture. \nLet’s run a setup on our local env to have a fair picture of how this works and how we can utilize it. We’ll make use of the docker-compose file in the project resources folder: \n```yml

version: '3.1'


services:


  zookeeper:
    image: wurstmeister/zookeeper
    ports:
      - "2181:2181"
    networks:
      - docker-net


  kafka:
    image: wurstmeister/kafka:latest
    depends_on:
      - zookeeper
    ports:
      - "9092:9092"
      - "9093:9093"
    environment:
      KAFKA_ADVERTISED_HOST_NAME: kafka
      KAFKA_LISTENER_SECURITY_PROTOCOL_MAP: PLAINTEXT:PLAINTEXT,PLAINTEXT_HOST:PLAINTEXT
      KAFKA_LISTENERS: PLAINTEXT://:9092,PLAINTEXT_HOST://:9093
      KAFKA_ADVERTISED_LISTENERS: PLAINTEXT://kafka:9092,PLAINTEXT_HOST://localhost:9093
      KAFKA_ZOOKEEPER_CONNECT: zookeeper:2181
    networks:
      - docker-net


  akhq:
    image: tchiotludo/akhq
    environment:
      AKHQ_CONFIGURATION: |
        akhq:
          connections:
            docker-kafka-server:
              properties:
                bootstrap.servers: "kafka:9092"
              connect:
                - name: "connect"
                  url: "http://connect:8083"
    ports:
      - "8181:8080"
    networks:
      - docker-net


  mysqldb:
    image: mysql:8.0
    restart: always
    healthcheck:
      test: "mysql $$MYSQL_DATABASE -uroot -p$$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD -e 'SELECT 1;'"
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 300s
      retries: 20
    environment:
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=employee
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=1234567890
    ports:
      - "33080:3306"
    volumes:
      - db:/var/lib/mysql
    networks:
      - docker-net


  postgres:
    image: postgres:latest
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password
      - POSTGRES_USER=postgres
      - POSTGRES_DB=employee_database_sink
    networks:
      - docker-net


  connect:
    image: quay.io/debezium/connect:2.2
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      - kafka
    ports:
      - "8083:8083"
      - "5005:5005"
    links:
      - kafka
      - mysqldb
    environment:
      - BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS=kafka:9092
      - GROUP_ID=1
      - CONFIG_STORAGE_TOPIC=connect_configs
      - OFFSET_STORAGE_TOPIC=connect_offsets
      - STATUS_STORAGE_TOPIC=source_connect_statuses
    networks:
      - docker-net


volumes:
  db:


networks:
  docker-net:



```\nThe file consists of the following services: 
\nZookeeper\n: For distributed consensus, orchestration, and cluster management of our Kafka broker(s). \nKafka\n: Our messaging queue, where change updates will be streamed. \nAKHQ\n: A viewer for our Kafka instance. Akhq allows us to view topics, connectors, and messages in Kafka\nMysql\n: The database from where we intend to stream our change updates. Debezium will connect to this MySQL instance and stream change updates to Kafka. \nPostgres\n: The destination database for our replication events. Data that is read from MySQL will be replicated to Postgres in our setup. \nDebezium\n: The debezium connector will do the heavy lifting of connecting to the Mysql log and updating kafka based on changes in MySQL db. \nLook for DatabaseSyncTest in the package com.julianduru.cdc.examples. Because we want to look at the changes happening in our CDC pipeline, we will enable inspection on the test. Modify the environment variables on the test configuration and set INSPECTION_ENABLED=true. \nNext, inspect the application.yml file in the test resources folder. The part showing the configuration we’re primarily interested in: 
\n```yml
code.config.connector:
  url: http://localhost:8083
  source-connectors:
    - name: cdc_connector
      connectorType: MYSQL_SOURCE
      databaseHost: mysqldb
      databasePort: 3306
      databaseUsername: root
      databasePassword: 1234567890
      databaseIncludeList:
        - employee
      tableIncludeList:
        - employee.user
      kafkaBootstrapServers:
        - kafka:9092
  sink-connectors:
    - name: sink_connector
      connectorType: JDBC_SINK
      topics: cdc_connector.employee.user
      url: "jdbc:postgresql://postgres:5432/employee_database_sink"
      username: postgres
      password: password

```\nThe configuration above has source and sink connectors. The source connector points to MySQL DB, and the sink connector points to the Postgres DB. \nWhen the test is run, it will hang because inspection has been enabled. This will allow us to look at our Kafka cluster and slowly inspect what is going on when we CDC. \nIn the test resources, you’ll notice the schema.sql and data.sql files which provide some data to be loaded into our MySQL instance. \n```sql:schema.sql
USE `employee`;

CREATE TABLE user (
	id BIGINT PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
    name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
    address VARCHAR(100),
    gender ENUM('M', 'F')
);
```\n```sql:data.sql

USE `employee`;

INSERT INTO `user`(`name`, address, gender) VALUES('Julian Duru', '7th House, Main Street',  'M');

```\nConnect to the database instances using a client like DBeaver. MySQL should be available on \nlocalhost:33080\n. Postgres should be available on \nlocalhost:5432\n. Exploring the user table in the employee database in MySQL, you should have a single entry in the table. The same entry should exist in the Postgres table called cdc_connector_employee_user.\nChanges made to the MySQL table are replicated on the Postgres table instantly. Let’s take a closer look at the magic going on here. For that, we’ll look at AKHQ. \nAKHQ serves as a viewer into our Kafka cluster; allowing us to inspect topics and messages. If you inspect the source connector configuration in application.yml, for each source table, the connector lib will create a topic with the format: {{connector_name}}.{{database_name}}.{{table_name}}. Hence, we should have a topic called \ncdc_connector.employee.user\n. Inspecting the topic, you should see all the messages containing change logs on the MySQL database table called user.\nThe messages contain a schema part and a payload part. The schema contains the data about the payload that will assist in replication to the sink. The payload contains the data of the change that happened in the table. The payload consists of the following parts: \nbefore\n: What the data looked like before the change happened. In the case of a create event, \nbefore\n will have a null value. \nafter\n: What the data looked like after the change happened. In the case of a delete event, the \nafter\n will have a null value. \nsource\n: The source of the change update. This typically includes the database name, table name, binlog offset, and other relevant information.\nop\n: The operation that was carried out. Will usually contain a single character. ‘c’ for create, ‘d’ for delete, ‘u’ for update, ‘r’ for read. \ntimestamp\n: The timestamp when the change happened. This value will be in milliseconds. \nAs you make changes to the MySQL database, the changes will be written to the Kafka topic: \ncdc_connector.employee.user. \nFrom there, the changes are replicated in the Postgres sink. \nSo far, we have covered change replication with the cdc-connector-lib; now let’s look at change processing. \nFor that, we can look at 2 classes: CreateUserChangeProcessor, and UpdateUserChangeProcessor. Both in package com.julianduru.cdc.changeconsumer. The CreateUserChangeProcessor has the following structure: 
\n```java
@Slf4j
@RequiredArgsConstructor
@ChangeConsumer(sourceId = "employee.user", changeType = ChangeType.CREATE)
public class CreateUserChangeProcessor {


    private final DataCaptureMap dataCaptureMap;


    public OperationStatus process(String reference, Payload payload) {
        log.info("Payload: {}", JSONUtil.asJsonString(payload, ""));
        dataCaptureMap.put(reference, payload);
        return OperationStatus.success();
    }


}
```\nIf you notice the @ChangeConsumer annotation, you’ll see that the processor is meant to handle change updates when a user is CREATED on the employee db. Hence, when a new user is CREATED, the processor’s process method will be invoked with the Payload. The reference will usually be a hash of the Payload. \nThe processor is now free to process the change update however they wish and then return an OperationStatus at the end. If the processor returns a final state, then it won’t be called again. However, if the processor returns a non-final state, it will be invoked until it returns a final state.\nThe payload object mirrors the payload we see in our Kafka topics, hence our payload will have before, after, source, op and timestamp sections. \n\nWhat about the Update Processor?\n```java
@Slf4j
@RequiredArgsConstructor
@ChangeConsumer(sourceId = "employee.user", changeType = ChangeType.UPDATE)
public class UpdateUserChangeProcessor {

    private final AtomicInteger failureCount = new AtomicInteger(0);


    private final DataCaptureMap dataCaptureMap;


    public OperationStatus process(String reference, Payload payload) {
        log.info("Payload: {}", JSONUtil.asJsonString(payload, ""));

        if (failureCount.getAndIncrement() < 3) {
            return OperationStatus.failure();
        }
        else {
            dataCaptureMap.put(reference, payload);
            failureCount.set(0);
            return OperationStatus.success();
        }
    }


}
```
\nThe Update Processor is invoked when a user entry in the employee database is updated. The difference in the payload now is both before and after sections contain objects that include the state of the row entry before and after the change was made. \nLooking at the logic of the update processor, it returns a failure 3 times before returning a success. Hence if you make a change to an existing row entry in the MySQL database, the update processor will be invoked 3 times before it clears processing. \nWhen not to use CDC\nCDC is a delightful technique to use when attempting to capture change events at a source and utilize those events in downstream systems. However, there are some instances when it’s not appropriate to use CDC:\nIf tracking every data change is overkill. Sometimes you don’t need the overhead of tracking each change to your data. There are other simpler techniques that would suffice. \nLimited Budget: be mindful of the Kafka bill. Each database change results in a write to Kafka; if you’re using a cloud-managed Kafka instance, your Kafka bill can blow up very quickly. So be mindful. \nRisk of exposing sensitive information: In some cases, you don’t want to expose sensitive information from your database to other clients. You want to keep data changes isolated within your respective sub-domains. \nWorkload is more Read-Heavy than Write-Heavy: If your application does a lot more reading than writing, it might not be appropriate to use change data capture. \nIn Conclusion,\nWe have gained a gentle introduction to Change Data Capture as a concept. Even looked at how we can do a setup using Debezium. I also introduced a library I built which includes an engine for integrating debezium connectors with different data sources. We also looked at how this library can be applied to Change replication and Change processing. Finally, we looked at when it’s not appropriate to use Change Data Capture. 
\nAll in all, CDC is a wonderful technique that can solve technical challenges when used appropriately. We should apply this technique with the drawbacks in mind, knowing that architecture is about choosing the best solution among competing alternatives, and each solution has its pros and cons. 

Applying Change Data Capture at Scale 

Our goal at Moniepoint is to power the dreams of businesses. But anyone with dreams can tell you that the best ones are often much larger than your current capacity. It’s no fun to imagine things you already have - we all want bigger. This is how credit ever became a thing.\nWith loans, businesses can extend their runway beyond their current financial capacity. They can restock more goods to meet increased customer demands, open new locations, and expand their businesses. A whole new world of possibilities is open to them.\nBut even though we understand all its advantages, providing businesses with loans isn’t as easy as just giving out the money. \nThe data problem\nWith all the advantages and potential economic growth possible with loans, giving out loans isn’t exactly the simplest of processes. And the major reason for this? Data.\nAs banking in Nigeria grew and evolved, much of it was focused on providing direct services to people. Enabling them to make deposits, and move their money seamlessly was the focus, leading to great innovation and collaboration like we see with NIBSS.\nSadly, the credit side of things hasn’t seen this same level of attention or evolution. Even with a central credit bureau, quality data data on credit history and lending behaviours are either absent or hard to get a hold of.\nThis makes it difficult to see what previous credit behaviours and history are like for businesses, and make decisions. As a result, giving loans to anyone, especially SMEs, requires a lot of caution.\nWhat are we doing about this?\nAt Moniepoint, these small and medium-sized businesses, are exactly the kind we’re looking for. They play a crucial role in not just supporting the economy, but also impacting everyday lives. They’re the stores you might typically run to when catching breakfast on your way to work, when shopping for groceries and other items later in the day, and so on.\nTo power these businesses, we started by providing a way for them to get the same services their more formal counterparts had enjoyed for a while. This is why Moniepoint’s core offering is banking solutions. We also provide them with POS terminals to process payments smoothly.\nBut that’s just the first step.\nBanking them in this manner causes them to become recognisable financial entities. They have a sales history, business insights and a pretty clear growth trajectory. This moves them from being risky, inaccessible businesses, to tangible entities with a lot of data to boot. And that’s where the fun starts.\nCredit where credit is due - Overdrafts\nBefore transitioning to serving businesses, our first credit product was designed to cater to cash-in cash-out merchants, or agents, as they’re often called. This product was called Overdrafts. Serving as a first step in extending banking services to where they were typically unavailable, these agents handled deposits and withdrawals for those around them.\nThis meant they needed to have physical cash and money in their digital wallets. But sometimes, at the end of the day, they might’ve had more deposits than withdrawals. Ergo, more money at hand than in their wallets.\nIn places where banks were already unavailable, finding a way to deposit cash wasn’t exactly an option. To remain in business and process more transactions, they needed to be able to borrow money, to increase the amount they had in their wallets and process more transactions. This need was what birthed the Overdrafts product.\nWith this function in mind, it was designed to be a 24-hour loan. They could take it out and return it in the next 24 hours. And the loans weren’t very large, because their needs weren't, either.\nWith our focus on financial inclusion, cash in cash out merchants had a need where they would run out of money in their accounts, or in their wallets. And then they essentially now looked to us for additional float so that they didn't have to pause their business or go to the bank to deposit cash. The overdraft product solved this.\nWe disbursed over $1.4 billion with this product, with a default rate of less than 1%. This further underscored how impactful an effective loan product could be, and set the stage for evolving it.\nWorking capital loans\nBy 2022, we realised we could more directly serve the businesses these agents served as middlemen for. So, we pivoted to providing banking services to businesses. You can check out the process \nhere\n. \nWith this change, our previous loan product wasn’t exactly a fit anymore. It had been built specifically for cash merchants, but now we needed one serve any kind of business.\nMuch of the ideation happened at our Lagos office, over the course of a week. Tosin, Chidum and I, with a couple of others, sat through the entire process, deciding what we needed.\nWe had low-fidelity prototypes of what the whole thing would look like. And then, took that, fleshed it out into the detailed requirements, broke the work down into various teams and started building different product components.\nThe product we built went live in May 2023, providing a way to cater to any business that needed loans.\n\n\n\n\nMore than the money…\nSupporting a business with loans isn't just about giving them any money they ask for. As great as that sounds, it often leads to more problems than it solves.\nIf you give a business just any amount, they might get over-leveraged, which means they get more money than they can manage or pay back effectively. This, in turn, often leads to the business becoming a defaulter, and it damages their credit profile. So, no more loans for them.\nDoesn’t sound so great, does it?\nThis is why getting insights into these businesses is an important precondition for giving them loans. With the right insights, we can estimate whether a business is ready for a loan, and just how much would make sense for the scale of their business.\nPutting data in context - Pre-qualification.\nTo give a business access to loans, we first sort through the data we have on them to make sense of their business. We call this the pre-qualification process, which helps us determine whether a business is qualified for a loan.\nThe objective? To identify a business’s real transactions, and separate them from one-off or personal transactions that don’t relate to business activities. This helps us understand the business's health and how well it’s growing.\nWe have many internal rules for filtering through transactions, many developed over months, but here’s a quick example of how it works.\nImagine a petrol station gets a N5 million credit on its account, tagged as a sale transaction. It’s very unlikely that anybody buys petrol worth 5 million naira, and even if they did, we know it's an outlier. With that context, our system will exclude it from the analysis of that business’s insights and focus on the more regular transactions it gets.\nOr, say, a supermarket gets a N10,000 transaction from the same person every 30 minutes or hour of the business day. The odds of the same person visiting the business so regularly, and performing the exact transaction are extremely low to impossible. This is also going to be flagged, and excluded.\nThis and many other checks help us precisely determine what credit limit a business can support at its current stage. \nUp close and personal - KYC & Eligibility.\nThe next stage of the process involves verifying the business’s  KYC details, after which they can check their eligibility. We confirm that the details they’ve provided are accurate and that they’re eligible to get a loan.\nWe do this by analysing data available from credit bureaus in tandem with what we have from their transaction history. With this,  we’re able to determine the business’s credit profile.\nIf they’re eligible based on this process, they can then let us know how much they want, and we will give them an offer. The offer contains all the details - How much their interest rates are, the tenure of the loan, and everything else. They can then accept the offer, and the loan goes through approval.\nGetting the show on the road - Field verification.\nIn our approval process, we leverage a human-automation hybrid to give customers the best experience possible as well as ensure we can gather the data critical to making our credit decision. We developed tools that leverage geotagging, facial recognition etc., to digitise the process and ensure it is as seamless as possible. \nOnce the loan goes through the various stages of approval, the customer can access the approved credit limit and repayments are made from the customer’s account at the agreed intervals.\nOur loan product today\nLooking at how much the financial ecosystem has changed in the last few years, we realise that products like this are an important stepping stone to the next level. Many businesses that previously operated entirely in the informal market, offline and disconnected from the ecosystem, now have access to terminals and other means to accept payments digitally.\nWith this, these businesses can step into the light, and be seen. There’s insight into how much they process, where they are, and how they’ve grown over time. All of this makes it possible for us to find more ways to support them, as we now do with loans.\nSo far, we’ve disbursed over $20 million in loans, to businesses of all sizes. Each of them can explore new options for growth, all stemming from that first step we took to bank these risky businesses. They can grow beyond their current capacity, and we’re making that happen through working capital loans.\nIf you’d like to be part of a team helping businesses in emerging markets grow, visit our \ncareers page.\n

Making the dream; powering businesses through working capital loans

In line with the resolve of the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy to build a robust framework for the training of one million technical talents over the next three years and the Presidency's goal of creating two million digital jobs. \nNithub University of Lagos \nin partnership with \nMoniepoint Inc\n, Africa's leading digital financial services provider, has announced the graduation of the pioneer cohort from its HatchDev programme.  This nine-month specialized training, generously sponsored by Moniepoint, is designed to produce hundreds of market-ready software engineers every year.\n\n
In Nigeria, where the digital economy is rapidly expanding, there is a pressing need for skilled tech talent. According to estimates, \nthere are only around 115,000 developers in Nigeria\n, highlighting a significant talent shortage that hampers the growth of the tech sector. Recognizing this challenge, Moniepoint in partnership with Nithub is taking proactive steps to bridge the gap and empower the youth with valuable skills for a brighter future.\nThe highly competitive programme with a strict recruitment policy, which began in October 2022, aspires to yearly shape 300 junior software engineers, 100 intelligent systems developers, and 100 IoT/embedded systems engineers. These professionals, upon completion of the course, will be readily absorbed into a market eager for their expertise. The programme's structure is such that it starts with nine months of classroom-based training, culminating in a three-month industry-specific internship.\n\n
\nNItHub envisions a transformative approach to the use and creation of digital technology in Nigeria. This vision encompasses upskilling, startup incubation, product development, all aimed at setting new benchmarks for digital proficiency and innovation in Nigeria. Also,  \nMoniepoint\n, with its extensive reach and influence, plays a pivotal role in this digital revolution and financial inclusion. Currently, 1.6 million businesses across Nigeria rely on Moniepoint's suite of payment, credit, and business management tools to achieve socioeconomic growth and stability. The platform facilitates an average monthly transaction value of $12 billion, demonstrating its profound impact on businesses and the economy at large.
\n\nSpeaking on the success of the initiative, Chukwudum Ekwueme, VP Engineering, Moniepoint, expressed their enthusiasm, saying, "Nigeria is a booming economy and with the innovative contributions of tech businesses, like Moniepoint, that are solving some of society’s critical issues, it is very gratifying to be a significant part of those giving local talent the training and tools they need to compete on a global stage. Also, this initiative aligns perfectly with our vision of empowering the next generation of tech leaders. We believe that by investing in talent development, we can accelerate Nigeria's growth in the digital economy and contribute to the overall prosperity of our great nation."\nAfrica's Internet economy is revolutionizing development on the continent by creating job opportunities, stimulating economic growth, and offering innovative solutions to complex challenges, including access to healthcare, education, and finance. This transformation is driven by factors such as increased access to high-quality Internet connectivity, a burgeoning urban population, a growing pool of tech talent, and a vibrant startup ecosystem.\n\n\nDr. Victor Odumuyiwa, NitHub Director and HatchDev project lead, said: “Nigeria is at a critical inflection point at the moment as we continue to grow and develop our economy. As a new wave of technology companies emerge, and with increased digitalisation in every aspect of life, it’s vital that we have the local talent available here to ensure homegrown businesses can reach their full potential. That’s why courses like HatchDev are so valuable - we’re training Nigeria’s top future talent. We’re delighted to be working with Moniepoint to help bring this vision to life.`\nSome industry analysts have averred that the initiative between Moniepoint and NitHub, University of Lagos, is poised to be a game-changer in the tech industry. By equipping young Nigerians with cutting-edge skills through the HatchDev programme, they are opening doors to limitless possibilities and helping Nigeria tap into its full potential in the digital era.\n

Tech Talent Development gets a big boost as Moniepoint and Nithub UNILAG team up

A savings account serves as a secure repository for your hard-earned money, allowing you to earn interest on your deposits while maintaining easy access to funds.\nWhether you’re just starting on your financial journey, planning for a big purchase, or building an emergency fund, opening a savings account is a fundamental step towards achieving your financial goal.
\nIn this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of opening a savings account. Not only that, we will also discuss the benefit of a savings account and how to select the right type of savings account that aligns with your needs.\nWhat Is a Savings Account?\nA savings account is a foundational financial tool offered by banks and financial institutions that enables individuals to securely store their money while earning a modest interest on their deposits.\n\nHow to Open A Moniepoint Savings Account\nWith Moniepoint, you can open a \npersonal bank account\n in minutes on your phone while binge-watching your favourite show.\nStep 1\n: Visit Play Store or App Store. Click install.\n\n\n\nStep 2\n: Open the app and click on sign up\n\n\nStep 3\n: Input your email address and phone number, click next.\n\n\nStep 4\n: Verify your phone number. By inputting the OTP sent to your phone.\n\n\nStep 5\n: Your account is now set up. Now, it’s time to set up your profile. Login to continue.\n\n\nStep 6\n:Register your device to continue.\n\n\nStep 7:\n Enter the OTP sent to your phone to verify your device. Click Next to continue.\n\n\nA device registration successful message will appear. Next is to set up your transaction pin. Click continue.\nStep 8\n: Set up your transaction PIN and click Create Pin.\n\n\nStep 9\n: Voila! You have created a profile. \nStep 10\n: To secure your login, simply enable biometrics by clicking the “Enable Button”.\n\n\nStep 11\n: Select your biometric option.\nStep 12\n: Carry out the face verification process. Click “Proceed”.\n\n\nStep 13\n: This will take you to your dashboard where you can update your contact information.  Click edit to update your contact information.\n\n\nStep 14\n: Verify that all information provided is accurate under the attestation section and click continue.\n\n\nStep 15:\n Click Proceed\nCongratulations, you have successfully opened a Moniepoint Personal Account.\n\nHow to Choose A \nSavings Account: What to Consider\nWhile opening a savings account might seem like a straightforward task, there are several important factors to consider before you make your decision.\nDifferent financial institutions offer a variety of savings account options, each with its own features, benefits, and potential drawbacks.\nTo ensure that the savings account you choose aligns with your financial goals and preferences, here are some key considerations to keep in mind:\n1. Fees and Charges:\nBefore opening a savings account, inquire about any fees or charges associated with the account. Common fees could include monthly maintenance fees, ATM withdrawal fees, overdraft fees, and fees for falling below a certain minimum balance.\n2. Minimum Balance Requirements:\nMany savings accounts have minimum balance requirements that you must maintain to avoid fees or qualify for certain benefits. Consider your typical account balance and choose an account with a minimum balance requirement that you’re comfortable with. Keep in mind that some accounts might offer better interest rates or additional perks for higher minimum balances.\n3. Accessibility:\nEvaluate how accessible your funds will be in the account. Look for features such as online banking, mobile apps, and functionality across ATMs and POS systems. If you need to regularly access your savings, ensure that the account provides convenient options for withdrawals and transfers.\n4. Account Restrictions:\nSome savings accounts come with restrictions on the number of withdrawals or transfers you can make within a given period. These restrictions are often in place to maintain the account’s status as a savings vehicle rather than a transactional account. If you anticipate needing frequent access to your funds, consider an account with more lenient withdrawal limits.\n5. Customer Service and Reputation:\nConsider the reputation and customer service of the bank or financial institution you’re considering. Look for reviews and ratings to gauge the quality of their service and their commitment to customer satisfaction. A reliable and responsive customer service team can be invaluable if you encounter any issues or have questions about your account.\n\nCan I Open A Savings Account Online\n?\nOpening a savings account online has become a popular and accessible option, allowing you to initiate and complete the account setup process without setting foot in a physical bank branch. \nThose who are more comfortable doing their banking in person might be better off with a bank that offers branches.\n\n5 \nReasons to Open A Savings Account\nStill not decided if you need a savings account? Opening a savings account can be a strategic step towards securing your financial futures.\nHere are several compelling reasons why you should consider opening a savings account:\n1: ATM Card:\nOne of the main reasons for opening a savings account is an \nATM card\n that you can use as a preferred means of payment and getting card rather than relying on cash transfer or carrying bulk cash around which is risky. With your debit card, you can easily make payments for your regular services such as Netflix and do a whole lot more. \n2: Building an Emergency Fund:\nLife is unpredictable, and unexpected expenses can arise at any moment. A savings account provides a dedicated space to build an emergency fund, which acts as a safety net in times of crisis. Having readily accessible funds to cover medical bills, car repairs, or other urgent needs can help you avoid going into debt.\n3. Financial Security:\nA savings account offers a level of financial security that goes beyond just keeping money in cash. Funds in a savings account are typically insured by the government up to a certain limit, providing you with peace of mind knowing that your money is protected even if the bank faces financial difficulties.\n4. Interest Earnings:\nUnlike funds in a checking account, which usually don’t earn interest, a savings account allows you to earn a small amount of interest on your deposits. Over time, these interest earnings can accumulate and contribute to the growth of your savings without requiring any active effort on your part.\n5. Achieving Long term and Short-Term Saving Goals:\nWhether you’re saving for a vacation, a new gadget, or a special event, a savings account can help you reach your financial goals. By setting aside money in a dedicated account, you’ll have a clear visual of your progress and can avoid dipping into funds intended for other purposes\n.\n\nConclusion:\nOpening a savings account offers a multitude of advantages that extend far beyond the simple act of stowing away money. It serves as a cornerstone for building a sturdy financial foundation, allowing you to weather storms, achieve goals, and secure your dreams.\nReady to get a personal savings account that powers your dream?\n\nFrequently Asked Questions About Savings Account Online\n1: Can I open a savings account online without going to the bank?\nYes, it is possible to open a savings account without going to the bank.\n2: What do you need to open an online savings account?\nRequirement and document needed will vary by bank but at Moniepoint, all you need to open a savings account online is your BVN, KYC details and a phone number\n3: How much money do you need to start a savings account?\nMost savings account require Zero deposit.\n4: Which bank is best for opening savings account online?\nThe best bank for opening a savings account online is Moniepoint. Click here to get started.

How to Open A Savings Account in Nigeria: Step by Step Guide

Do you ever wonder how you can build good money habits that lays the foundation for helping you achieve your financial goals?\nDo you ever wish that you can be financially free rather than grapple with constant money problems?\nBy cultivating a routine of consistent savings, conscientious spending, and heightened financial consciousness, it becomes possible to surmount these monetary stumbling blocks.\nIn this following article, we discuss ways you can start building good money habits that have the potential to transform your financial landscape.\nWhy Building Good Money Habit is Important\nThe importance of building and nurturing good money habits transcends mere monetary gains; it affects our overall quality of life, emotional well-being, and long-term security.\n1. Achieving Financial Goals\nAt the core of every financial journey lies a set of goals – be it owning a home, funding a child’s education, or enjoying a comfortable retirement. Building good money habits ensures that you consistently allocate funds towards your goals, transforming abstract dreams into tangible achievements.\n2. Mitigating Financial Stress\nFinancial stress can cast a suffocating shadow over our lives, eroding our mental and emotional well-being. One of the most effective shields against this stress is a solid foundation of money habits. When you’re in control of your finances, you’re less likely to be caught off-guard by unexpected expenses, and you’ll possess the confidence to handle financial challenges that arise.\n3. Creating a Safety Net\nLife is riddled with uncertainties, and without a safety net, even minor setbacks can lead to a cascade of financial troubles. Establishing good money habits, such as consistently contributing to an emergency fund, provides you with a safety net that cushions the impact of unexpected events. This safety net offers not only financial protection but also peace of mind.\n4. Breaking the Cycle of Debt\nDebt can quickly become a relentless cycle, trapping individuals in a never-ending loop of payments and interest. By cultivating disciplined money habits, you can minimize the chances of falling into debt traps. Regular saving, controlled spending, and thoughtful budgeting are your tools for preventing the accumulation of burdensome debt.\n5. Building Long-Term Wealth\nWealth isn’t built overnight; it’s a gradual accumulation that stems from consistent, prudent financial choices. Good money habits pave the way for this accumulation by fostering a culture of saving and investment.\n6. Enhancing Financial Literacy\nFinancial literacy is the cornerstone of making informed money decisions. As you develop and maintain good money habits, you inherently increase your understanding of financial concepts.\n\nTop Ways to Build Good Money Habits\n1. Follow a Budget\nCreating and adhering to a budget is the cornerstone of financial responsibility. It helps you track your income and expenses, ensuring that your money is allocated purposefully and preventing overspending.\n2. Set Financial Goals\nDefining clear financial goals provides you with direction and motivation. Whether it’s saving for a down payment on a house or funding a dream vacation, goals give your money habits purpose. Check out \nMoniepoint Personal Banking\n services to power your financial dreams.\n3. Pay Yourself First\nAllocate a portion of your income to savings and investments before paying any bills. This ensures that you prioritize your financial future and build wealth over time.\n4. Pay Bills on Time\nPunctual \nbill payments\n not only avoid late fees but also contribute to a positive credit history, which is crucial for securing favorable loan terms in the future. \n5. Pay Your Debt\nPrioritize paying off high-interest debts to free yourself from the burden of interest payments and improve your financial flexibility.\n6. Monitor Your Account Daily\nRegularly reviewing your bank and credit card statements helps you stay on top of your spending, detect any unauthorized transactions, and maintain a clear financial overview.\n7. Invest in Insurance\nInsurance safeguards your financial stability in case of unforeseen events. Health, life, and property insurance provide a safety net, preventing major financial setbacks.\n8. Save for Retirement\nStart contributing to retirement accounts as early as possible. Compound interest and consistent contributions over time can result in a substantial nest egg for your golden years.\n9. Start Saving Early and Consistently\nThe power of compounding makes starting to save early a strategic move. Even small, regular contributions can grow significantly over time.\n10. Save for Emergencies\nBuild an emergency fund to cover unexpected expenses like medical bills or car repairs. This prevents you from relying on high-interest debt in times of crisis.\n11. Use Budgeting Apps\nModern technology offers budgeting apps that simplify tracking expenses, categorizing spending, and visualizing financial goals.\n12. Live Below Your Means\nSpending less than you earn creates a surplus that can be directed toward savings, investments, and debt reduction.\n13. Start Investing\nDip your toes into investing to grow your wealth beyond traditional savings. Educate yourself on investment options that align with your risk tolerance and financial goals.\n14. Follow Experts\nStay informed by reading books, attending seminars, and following financial experts. Gaining insights from those well-versed in money management can enhance your financial literacy and decision-making.\nConclusion:\nBy incorporating these practical strategies into your daily life, you’ll gradually mould your financial behaviour into a well-structured and rewarding routine that ensures a stable and prosperous financial future.

How to Build Good Money Habits: 14 Proven Tips to Master in 2023

Moniepoint’s personal banking solution offers reliable debit cards to over 33 million Nigerians using its terminals monthly, with an easy dispute resolution system that ensures funds reversal for failed card transactions.\n\n
Moniepoint Inc., through one of its subsidiaries in Nigeria, leads the in-person payments market and with this personal banking solution, Moniepoint Microfinance Bank, another subsidiary of Moniepoint Inc. will be extending its reliable banking infrastructure from the businesses it serves to their customers and employees. Millions of people will enjoy seamless and reliable payments with Moniepoint Microfinance Bank \ndebit cards\n, at the over 1.5 million businesses who currently use its platform. These debit cards will be issued through global payment processors, including Mastercard and Verve.\nThe \napp\n will enable users to make transfers, pay bills and buy airtime, while its debit cards can be used at ATMs, POS terminals, and online. Merchants will also benefit from seamless transactions when customers use Moniepoint cards.\nThe Moniepoint Microfinance Bank team's expertise in building banking solutions is evident in its personal banking app with the introduction of a new card dispute resolution system. This system will enable users to log disputes for failed card transactions, and track them till they get a full reversal, thus giving Nigerians control over dispute resolution for the first time.\nAligning with its \nsponsorship of this year’s season of Big Brother Naija\n, the app will also feature various games. These games will see users earn points with each transaction and compete in pursuit of grand prizes of millions of Naira each week.\nOpe Adeyemi, SVP for Channels and Sales Tools at Moniepoint, said\n:\n“Launching a personal banking product means we can connect businesses and their customers more effectively, backing them with our reliable infrastructure and services. We have always been committed to providing financial happiness, so it was a natural next step when dealing with so many businesses, to also offer our reliable services to their customers and employees. By taking this step, we are determined to power the dreams of millions of people across the continent.”\nOther services such as salary advances, will be rolled out in the coming months.\nThe launch of \nMoniepoint Microfinance Bank’s personal banking\n product follows its strong performance in the business banking market. Its parent company, Moniepoint Inc. was ranked by the \nFinancial Times\n as Africa’s second-fastest growing company (and fastest-growing fintech) in its annual “Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies” survey.

Moniepoint - Leading Business Bank Enters Personal Banking Market

For a team that’s as dedicated to solving problems as Moniepoint is, product development is part of the day-to-day. But every now and then, there’s that period when things get a lot more intense than usual. All hands on deck, pushing around the clock, and unsure if it’s going to come out like you expect. The \nMoniepoint Personal Banking\n product was just like that, and here’s a peek behind the madness that brought it to life. \nA short history lesson.\n\nSpeaking with the engineering and design teams to get a full picture of the product we built, revealed a larger image than I expected. The first thing I learnt was that the idea of a personal banking product wasn’t exactly new to the team.\nBetween 2018 and 2019, Moniepoint (then TeamApt) tried many new things. Instead of the large company we are today, think of a SWAT team. A small elite group of engineers, kicking down doors and taking no hostages - fast and adept. They had the expertise, and had gained experience building products for banks.\nMore than 26 banks in Nigeria, and their customers, used products that they had built. They explored both B2B (building backend operations) and B2B2C (building mobile banking apps). Now, the team was pivoting into building directly for the market and experimenting with a few things.\nThe more common ones you’re familiar with are Moniepoint and Monnify, but one product that was explored is a personal banking solution called Kuwego. Not the flashiest of names, and even a bit cornier when you realise it’s made from \nkudi, owo\n, and \nego\n, all of which translate to money in Nigeria’s major local languages. But the idea behind it and its infrastructure was solid.\nTrue to our mission of creating financial happiness, it was to be a personal banking product that could fully support the user. It would offer the usual transfer, airtime and bill payments, but even more, make loans and savings possible. The team grew this product, and it had over 10,000 customers at the time, but resources were limited.\nThis was 2019, and both Moniepoint and Monnify saw rapid growth, so the team decided to focus most of their efforts on these two products. Kuwego, with all its promise, was put on ice.\nPersonal banking today.\n\nIf building a personal banking product wasn’t entirely new to the team, then what made it such a great idea now? The short answer - customer feedback.\nFor the 1.5 million businesses that use our products, the experience is seamless. Payments are lightning-fast, and downtimes are minimal to non-existent. In whatever way their customers need to pay, they can accept them easily.\nBut this customer/business interface is where most of the challenges lie. Sometimes card payments fail due to reasons that are entirely not the fault of the businesses, or the customers, really. We created the \nrequest for refund\n feature to mediate in periods like this, but what if they didn’t have to occur at all? What if all card and transfer transactions went through?\nEven more, some of these businesses needed a way to manage their employees’ payroll efficiently. If their workers needed salary advances, it could and should be much easier to provide it automatically.\nThe team’s answer to these questions was a project phase. Let’s call it Project X 2.0\nProject X 2.0\nWhen Ope, SVP Channels, got a call from Tosin on a regular weekday in April, he had no idea it would spin out to become something this grand. On the call, he discussed some of the feedback the team had gotten from business owners, and how to implement them.\nWith the feedback they had received, there were two things the team needed to do. The first was to update the mobile app for businesses and give them a better experience. The second, and why we’re here today, was to create a personal banking application.\nAfter that call, and having initially concluded that internal resources might not be enough to carry out the project, the plan was to outsource it. But there was a problem. Unlike the usual product development life cycle, where the amount of work needed to be done determined how long it would take, this was the other way around.\nThere was a deadline. And the search was for a team that could deliver within that short (and probably a bit crazy) timeline. Two weeks of calls and meetings passed, discussing with local and international software vendors (kinda like TeamApt used to be). The two weeks only brought bad news - the people available either couldn’t do it at all, or would take at least 8 months to get it done.\nIf you want to get it done, do it yourself.\nAt this moment, when outsourcing had become unsuccessful, the team decided that we would just do it ourselves, and in 3 months.\nOn 10th May, 2023, Tosin announced that the team would embark on another project sprint. If you’re wondering what the first sprint was about, you should visit our \ncareers page\n to join us and find out. For this new sprint, there was something different that hadn’t been done for a while. Not since the SWAT team days.\nAs Ope had tried to figure out how exactly the team would pull off this insane project in the time available, he realised something. The only way to make this possible was to have everyone working in the same place in real-time. He brought this realisation to Tosin, who agreed.\nThe team working together from across the world was usually just fine. Everyone collaborated seamlessly from different time zones, putting in their best work. But to meet the demand of what we were trying to do, everyone had to be together at the same location. \nAnd that’s exactly what they did.\nFrom the UAE to the UK, US, Canada and even Pakistan, every engineer who would be a vital part of this project was brought down to Lagos. Everyone stayed in the same hotel with everything they needed, and all they had to do was focus on the work.\n\nThe first step is planning.\nBefore anyone’s flight was booked, it was important to consider how exactly we would do this. Firstly, meeting the timeline meant it would be impossible to build from scratch. And it wouldn’t make sense to, anyway.\nThe entire reason we were doing this was because our business owners trusted our services. We had an infrastructure that already banked over 1.5 million businesses. Hence, we decided to just build based on that.\nEven more, Chidum, SVP of Engineering, knew that everyone working on the same source code would bring on more problems. There was a possibility of merge issues, which would only compound as they were fixed. Testing, depending on which components were built out first, would also be impossible. For example, if transfers are built first, it would be impossible to test it without the login process.\nWith all these potential challenges, they decided to use a concept called microservices app. If you’re familiar with our infrastructure, you’ve probably heard of the term “\nmicroservices\n” a few times. This worked with the same concept, but instead of communicating with the different parts via APIs, there was a “super app” component interfacing with the different smaller apps.\nThey broke down the app into smaller functions so each person could build it independently of the other, and the main app would be made up of these parts.\n\nImagine you wanted to build a car and had limited time and people available to do it (yes, the process is automated. Just imagine). You could have everyone working on the car, and building it at the same time. Maybe you begin with the frame, then move to the engines, adding in the doors, one thing at a time.\nWhat they did, instead, was to break it into smaller parts. So different team members worked on different parts, and someone brought everything together seamlessly.  There was onboarding, transactions, dashboard, and many other parts we treated as smaller apps, with a super app that referenced all the apps.\nIt’s a lot more complex, but that’s the simple way to put it.\nSame bank, minor differences.\n\nMost of these functions already existed for the business app but functioned differently. For example, a business owner could have multiple accounts within the same app, while a personal user needed just one. So, while using the same base, the engineering team built a different flavour of the business app that functioned as a personal experience.\nA flavour of an application is, essentially, a variant of a particular application that allows you to modify the existing application. So, you have a new application that behaves in a different way, but works based on the fundamentals that have been implemented on the existing application.\nThis was the same concept across the board. Each microservice app was built to match the custom experience of the personal user based on what previously existed for businesses. This was great for two reasons;\nFirstly, it meant we could build the personal app easier, faster, and more efficiently, meeting the deadline.\nSecondly, it meant that subsequent updates would be less complicated. We could scale easily, and add in new functionality more seamlessly. If we wanted to develop a new feature going forward, we only had to build it in one place.\nBeginning the build.\n\nWith a general idea of the approach to build this, it was time to get to it. Even though the entire project was meant to last 3 months, the bulk of the work would happen in 6 weeks, while the entire team was in one place.\nWhen we first started, we stuck with the traditional team structure, but soon realised that this would not work. We had to break them down into smaller bits. In payments, for example, you had transfers, airtime, bill payments, etc. So we started looking at what complete flows we needed to build.\nSo while there were major teams, these were broken down into smaller groups to focus on specific flows.\nFor this to work, everybody had to be in sync. So the next thing was syncing the dev team with our design system, \nKamona\n. A button is a button wherever you go. The spaces are the same as well. If you were to do an animation of a dropdown or pop-up, it had to be the same. The work here, was agreeing on a design pattern we would use everywhere.\n\nThen these components were assigned to be created, and were in a shared library accessible to everyone. We also built all the widgets separately in a smaller application that everybody depended on. With this, the experience would be uniform across the app.\nBuilding out these components and widgets gave the team time to work on the logic of it, which was the main thing. With the components in place, it became as easy as putting in a line of code, and we had the view we wanted on the application. Then we could concentrate on the View-Model.\nAs this was being implemented, there was still more planning that Chidum, Adrian, and a couple of other team leads had to do. It was like creating our own domain-specific language that we would use elsewhere. As some worked on the components, others worked on the flow.\nThere were questions the team asked to define this. If a person was going to do a transaction, how would they start? What goes where? The flow helped tell a story of the user’s journey using the components that were being created, before going into development. \nAll or nothing.\nSo the first week was spent working on the components, while the leads worked on different flow iterations. From the second week, the PMs broke the flow down into smaller steps each team would work on. There was also a back-end component and an analysis of how the flow would interact with our existing APIs.\nA lot of trust was involved, expecting everyone to do what they needed. Everyone focused squarely on their contributions for the next 4 weeks. The disadvantage of this was that everything didn’t seem like it would work until almost the end.\n\nInstead of thinking of it as the team building a personal banking app for six weeks, think of it as one person building an onboarding app for 6 weeks, and another on transfers for 6 weeks. None of it made sense until we all put it together. The whole app was in a very incomplete state throughout the process.\nIt was an all-or-nothing approach.\nBy the 5th week, it was finally time to put everything together. Given that the teams had all focused on their parts, this first integration understandably didn’t go so smoothly. To find the issue, we had to test everything one after the other. The Enterprise Architect in charge of this process, Paul, ensured that all the hitches were worked through and fixed. After this first integration, however, and identifying the challenge, it was smoother.\nBy the end of 6 weeks, the team had successfully pulled through. All the different moving parts had come together and at last, there was a single product - the Moniepoint personal banking app.\nAnd there you have it.\nAnyone who’s familiar with product development knows that, of course, the end is hardly ever really the end. But the team had done the bulk of it. In Chidum’s words, \n“this was only possible because everyone gave 120%”.\nGrit and technical depth are part of our core values, and for these 6 weeks, they became a whole lot more than just words on marble. If you’d like to be part of a team that’s doing cool, and sometimes absolutely crazy things like this, visit our \ncareers page.\n\n

Making the Dream; Behind the Scenes of Building Moniepoint Personal Banking

TL;DR: Moniepoint’s personal banking solution offers reliable debit cards to over 33 million Nigerians using its terminals monthly, with an easy dispute resolution system that ensures funds reversal for failed card transactions.\n\nMoniepoint was founded with the mission of providing financial happiness to people. With this mission, we’ve powered the dreams of over 1.5 million businesses, providing them with payment tools and banking solutions to help them grow.\nAt these businesses, over 30 million people use our POS terminals monthly. For us, this highlights another way to take our mission further. Supporting the customers of these businesses, as well as their employees, provides a means through which we can power these businesses even more, and impact Africa’s economy.\nThis is why we’ve launched a new product - \nMoniepoint personal banking.\n\nThrough this personal banking app, users can make transfers, pay bills and buy airtime. We’re also launching a debit card which can be used at ATMs, POS terminals, and online. This solution is powered by our reliable payment infrastructure, which our businesses are already familiar with, and ensures we can connect businesses and their customers more effectively.\nOur experience in building banking solutions that cater to our users’ needs has also led to the addition of a new feature for personal users – card dispute resolution. With this, every user will be able to log disputes for failed card transactions and track them till they get a full reversal, giving them control over dispute resolution for the first time.\nRather than a foray into new grounds, we view this as an extension of our current path, providing even better support for the businesses using our products. With the personal banking app and card, customers can now make seamless payments to these businesses. This support will extend to employees as well, with the release of a Salary Advance feature in the coming months.\nAligning this with our sponsorship of this year’s season of Big Brother Naija, this app will also feature various games. These games will see users earn points with each transaction and compete for grand prizes of millions of naira each week.\nWe believe that financial happiness is key to unlocking a better life, and with our personal banking product, we look forward to powering the dreams of millions of people.

Introducing Moniepoint Personal: everything you need to know about our new product.

\n\nWhen I joined Moniepoint 7 years ago, I was just embarking on the journey of carving a career niche. I had studied Mathematics at the University and just assumed that I would do something so directly related to it, that you could draw a straight line on a graph with it. However, life had other more interesting curves and adventures for me, and it’s quite the story.\nIt all started at 1004\nI didn’t join the team as an HR professional right from the jump. Back then, the team was small and was made of a lot of moving parts. I joined Moniepoint through Adrian, who is now VP of User Experience. He was already in the company then, and they were having a get-together of some sort at 1004, and he invited me. At that time, Moniepoint was only about a year old. \nI went for it, met with a couple of people and two weeks after that, Dumebi and Adrian reached out that the project manager for their Access bank project was leaving, and it would be a good opportunity for me to explore. \nI was supposed to go for my Master’s program, but it hadn't clicked yet, so I asked myself, “What do I have to lose?” \nI went for the interview with Tosin. He asked about what I was doing at that time - working with a small IT company as a business development person. He asked me a couple of questions, and at the end of the session, he just said, “Okay, you can resume on Monday.”\nThat was how I started working at Moniepoint.\n\n\nEarly days with the team\nI was very intrigued by Tosin’s dreams. It was very daring, and he was clear on what he wanted to achieve - financial happiness. At the time, there were just about 10 of us; Bunmi, Emeka, Felix, Solomon, Dumebi, Adrian and a couple of others.\nJoining the team was challenging because I had zero knowledge of Assets and Liability Management. I had to understudy the PM, who was relocating in two weeks from the time I joined.\nIt was challenging,  but one thing that has been consistent through the years is growth. As time went by, I picked up a couple of other roles as the company grew. Being a fast-paced but relatively small team, there was always something that needed to be done, and I was ready to take it on.\nThere were different phases, and through all those periods, one thing that kept me grounded was that Tosin was very clear on his direction. He gave different growth opportunities. A lot of “figuring things out by doing” happened as we grew. We were just a couple of young professionals trying to find our way, and many opportunities came. \nAs the team grew, it became necessary to have some structure, and that’s when Tosin suggested that I take on the role of an HRBP. I was unsure at first, considering how different it was from what I was used to, but 7 years down the line, I’m glad I took that step. \nHow People Operations has evolved over the years\nSince I first took on the role, People Operations has evolved beyond just getting the right people into the company. It now also extends to ensuring that people in the company are engaged, and everyone is happy. \nIn some sense, that has always been there since the beginning, but the scale has changed, and the approach has definitely gotten better.\nThe perception of HR is changing as well. People are also beginning to understand that we're not just there for fancy. Before interacting with the larger startup world, I never knew that people thought HR was a non-technical function, they thought it was a place from which people could dispense wickedness.\nBut it's quite technical. For example, a lot of data analysis goes into what we do to make decisions. There's a lot of emotional intelligence required. We need to be able to balance the organisation's needs with the employees' needs. This is evident because, so far, there's been no employee-related lawsuits or situations in which a super disgruntled employee has had to leave the company. \nAnother instance was with benchmarking, i.e. arriving at the new salary structure. We needed to do some type of analysis of what the market is paying in our industry and other industries. The structure is not the same across the board, so we were calibrating to ensure that we were paying market value, and that people feel properly compensated for their work.\nWith additional administrative things like our Women's Day campaign when we sent out packages. We had to curate data on things like staff locations, and how we were going to plan the logistics before those things went out. \nIf we did it manually, we'd probably have had burnout.\nAll of these considerations are important so that no team member feels left out, and everyone at the company gets a good experience working here. With a team of over 1000 people working remotely across different continents, it’s not as clear-cut as it might be if we were all in one building.\nIn this sense, People Operations is as technical as any other role that you can think of,  if you're doing it in the way that you should. What has changed is that people are getting to understand more that it is a lot beyond just hiring and firing people.\n7 Years Later\n\nWe’ve grown over 1000% since I first joined. And as we’ve scaled and added more structure, I’m proud that we've not become one of those super traditional stiff companies. We foster an environment that allows for expression and easy collaboration. The implication is that anybody can reach out to and talk to anyone. In real terms, an intern or new employee can chat with any of the execs on Workplace.\nIt is a fantastic arrangement, as it fosters transparency. You don't feel like anyone is squeezing your neck because you're at work. That's something that I'm very happy that we've been able to maintain over the years.\nI'm also really proud of the calibre of people we bring in. In our \n4Ms framework\n, we refer to this as Mastery. We’re very insistent on the very best people joining the company, and helping them to do their best work. With this, everyone feels like they fit in, and at the same time, no one feels like they’re doing all the heavy lifting alone.\nAnother major milestone is the Women in Tech internship program that we've run for the past three years. At first, when I had the thought, I was a bit uncertain how exactly it would pan out. But it has blossomed with time, and through collaboration with other teams like Marketing. \nAs a result of the program, we’ve had stellar women come on to join the team and do brilliant work. We started it to get women to join the company directly, and every year we’ve done just that. Everyone deserves an opportunity to shine in whatever space they are interested in, and women cannot just write off Tech. There’s a place for them here too.\nWhy Moniepoint?\nI believe that Moniepoint is a very rewarding place to work. Not just because I’m head of People Operations, but as someone who’s been part of the team for years. We’re serious about the work we do and don’t take anyone on the team for granted.\nWe are very high-performance oriented and impact-driven. We’ve recently updated our perks to additionally reflect this, creating a way for employees to earn up to 50% of their salary as a bonus for the work they put in.\nTo put it simply, we care about people. And I know every company says this, but for us, it drives even the products we put out there. Both our products and internal culture are empathy-driven, and it’s evident in everything we do.\nIf you’d like to join a team where you matter, and can do work that matters, visit \nmoniepoint.com/careers\n\n


7 years Leading People Operations at Africa’s second-fastest-growing company

\n\nThis article was first published in \nThe Paypers.\n\nA walk across a street in Lagos, Nigeria, would give you a pretty interesting picture. You would likely come across more than two mom-and-pop shops with “POS here” written out in front. The busier the street, the more likely that interspersed between them are a few other kinds of businesses - a fruit seller, a cybercafe, or a suya stand, all accepting digital payments in one form or another.\nAs early as 3 years ago, it was rather different.\nTo understand how much transformation the financial experience for people and businesses has undergone in the last few years, it’s important to get a sense of the payments landscape in Nigeria.\nPayment in Nigeria, like much of Africa, was previously primarily cash first. Even with the introduction of ATMs and more banking services, it was typical to find taking their cash out of the banks and spending it at the places they needed to.\nThe biggest change to this happened with the introduction of transfers and Nigeria’s cashless policy drive, enabled by the previous establishment of the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS). All of Nigeria’s commercial banks coown NIBSS, and it began operations in June 1994. \nNIBSS was set up to enable easy settlement of funds between banks. With the cashless policy drive, transfers were introduced, done primarily via bank applications. To drive inclusion, these transfers were extended to USSD, which meant that people using feature phones could make transfers too, and the smartphone-technology barrier was less of a problem.\nEmpowering financial inclusion in Nigeria through transfers and agency banking\nWith time, transfers became the most common means of digital payments, and still largely are till today. Apart from sheer familiarity with the method, there’s also a higher sense of security. When making transfers, customers have a sense of control and, with that, higher confidence in the security of their payments. \nSubsequent efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria to further drive inclusion caused agency banking to become a core part of the financial experience in Nigeria. This enabled banking in areas where it wasn’t fiscally feasible or likely that traditional banks would set up branches or ATMs.\nWith agency banking, people become the banks. They receive cash and credit from customers' bank accounts, or disburse cash in exchange for digital payment. In this way, these cash-in-cash-out merchants performed primary banking functions like deposit and withdrawals, for people in areas that didn’t have banking services available to them.\nThese cash merchants, or agents, represent another significant leap in financial inclusion in Nigeria. For people and businesses who initially did not have bank accounts, they also made it possible for them to make payments digitally. This opened these areas and businesses to more intranational transactions that were not limited by location.\nWhen people had to move across distances to sell or purchase products, having these agents to turn in their cash to, made it safer for them. They no longer had to carry large amounts of cash across unsafe places or at unsafe times.\nIn Nigeria, this business safety brought on by access to digital financial services forms one of the cornerstones of the importance of financial inclusion. With access to digital payment and collection services, business is safer, and there is better interconnection between merchants and customers from different places across the country.\nAgency banking has come a long way\nThe earliest version of agency banking depended on terminals that could only accept card payments, and settlement was T-1. This meant that the agents received the money from their transactions the next day.\nApart from affecting the system's efficiency, it also was problematic as tracking transactions was difficult. Agents had to go to the bank in order to track the transactions, armed with only the receipts of the day. There was no digital record accessible to them. \nThe consequence was that the agency banking sphere became a low-trust one. It was not uncommon to hear stories of agents being arrested or harassed in cases of suspected fraud, and tracking these transactions was hard. Getting refunds for failed transactions was also a complicated process, leading to losses for both the agents and customers.\nIn 2019, the service evolved with the introduction of better technology for point-of-sale terminals. Moniepoint, for example, introduced terminals that were reliable and allowed agents to receive their money instantly. Agents could track transactions, get settled instantly and request refunds on behalf of their customers. The service became smoother, setting the stage for the rapid growth of agency banking.\nHow POS terminals and business adoption transformed Nigeria's financial landscape\nBy 2022, digital payments through POS terminals had seen a shift from being primarily agency banking based, to business owners adopting it as well. As businesses saw that they could rely on these terminals, they began to seek ways to accept payments themselves, as opposed to through the middlemen agents. They got their own terminals.\nBusinesses of all sizes could now directly receive payments from their customers. With the business they regularly patronised now accepting digital payments, people also became more inclined to try a digital payment method for varying kinds of transactions.\nFurther innovation helped this transition. For a pro-transfer society, introducing features like “POS transfer” unlocked new kinds of versatility for these businesses. This feature allowed customers to make transfers directly to the terminals instead of using their cards. Where transfers to businesses were out of their control, they could now accept or reject them from their terminals.\nIn March 2023, Nigeria saw a decrease in the availability of cash in circulation. With this, it became more important than ever for businesses to be able to receive payments from their customers. This pressure caused a sharp increase in businesses using terminals, and people opting to pay digitally as cash was scarce.\nWhile cash has seen a return into circulation, this policy change further helped accelerate the drive towards digital payments, especially for businesses.\nBeing part of this evolution since 2015, we’ve witnessed firsthand how much adapting technology, and innovation can change the experience for people every day. Financial technology forms the basis on which much more can be created and explored. If people can pay digitally, commerce can thrive, and the ripple effect improves the economy.\nThis shift towards digital payments is also important, and as it can open the door to a wider range of digital financial service solutions. These businesses, which are supported by access to payment - the mom-and-pop shops, the fruit seller and co - can benefit from access to credit, business management and full banking services.\nWhere traditional systems may not be primed to take on these risks, financial technology solutions are willing to do the work, and by helping these businesses grow, take the Nigerian economy to the next level.

Payments in Nigeria: The Rise of Digital Payments and its Impact on Financial Inclusion

We hope you’ve been holding on to your seats, because it’s finally here. If you weren’t, feel free to hold onto them now.\nFor the past 3 years, we’ve held the Women In Tech internship, and for this year’s edition, we decided to bring them on the team with a bit of a bang. We kicked off this 3rd edition of the Women in Tech internship with a premium event created to celebrate the new intake of emerging women in tech.\n\n\nThe interns got to meet brilliant all-women technical minds within and outside Moniepoint including Adora Nwodo and Chisom Nwokwu, Software Engineers at Microsoft, and Zulumoke Oyibo, co-founder of Inkblot Productions. \nIt’s okay to be jealous, we don’t mind.\nThis event, themed “Tech Dreams, Activated”, was focused on getting the interns acquitted with the team. We welcomed them, dreammaker-style - having fun while equipping them with all they need to know to spur them on their journey.\n\nWe hung out at The House in Victoria Island, Lagos, having insightful conversations,  interactive hands-on activities, and exciting games. It helped foster a shared sense of camaraderie, and a deep understanding of what it means to build a career in tech as a woman.\nEach year since 2021, Moniepoint has had 5 women join the team to work on products in real-time, doing impactful work in technology as we create solutions to improve the experiences for over a million businesses in emerging markets. \nEvery intern gets to become a full-time dreammaker, and in this way, we ensure that young African women have access to build a career in technology beyond the 6-month long internship.\nThis year 5 women have been accepted via the internship to join Moniepoint in 4 roles; System Administration, Quality Assurance, Frontend engineering and Product management.\n\n\nEach of them will receive direct mentorship during the internship. Other perks include; a salary, work tools, and merch. The best part; they get to work with the team on live projects that are impacting millions of businesses in emerging markets, and will get an offer of full-time employment depending on assessment after the internship.\nIf you’re a woman and are interested in transforming the financial experience for businesses in Africa, we’ve got a spot for you. Visit \nmoniepoint.com/careers\n

Highlights from the 2023 Women-In-Tech Internship Mixer

In Q2, we expanded our offerings to better suit the businesses we support. We launched Working Capital Loans, designed to help merchants solve capital challenges and keep their businesses running and growing.
\n\n⁠\nThe Working Capital Loans product offers businesses a line of credit relative to their capital (or stake) in the business. They are short to medium term loans ranging from 7 to 120 days which can be easily, and in some cases, automatically renewed. This way, any merchant who runs his business via their Moniepoint account may have access to a line of credit proportional to the business that passes through the Moniepoint account. The product is already widely adopted by a number of their businesses; supermarkets, fuel stations, etc. and currently has zero defaults so far. \nReport shows that access to finance remains one of the biggest hurdles faced by African small businesses, which predisposes them to an inability to invest in and grow their business. With insufficient working capital loans, these businesses are held back from restocking so they can scale as they ought to. \nThe new product allows businesses access to a revolving credit facility that they can use for purchasing additional inventory and short term working capital for smooth business operations - solving two major problems; access to affordable credit whenever they need it and convenience in accessing the credit.\nThe launch of this service was particularly crucial as we now serve over 1.3 Million businesses. \nAdditionally, in May, we got listed by the Financial Times as the second fastest-growing company in Africa. This, like everything else we accomplished in this quarter, was only possible because of the businesses who trust and depend on us, and our devotion to supporting them.\nBut we are only a reflection of our team; the people that make the product work. We call them “DreamMakers” as they help power the dreams of business owners. Get it? Well, with how much work DreamMakers put in to make financial services seamless for our business owners, it was imperative that, beyond their salaries, people got rewarded for how much work they put in, and that’s what we did.\nTo make this happen, in Q2, we introduced a performance bonus structure, which ensures that every DreamMaker can earn an additional 50% of their salary each month, with a baseline of 15%. Think “Money” in our 4Ms.\nIf you’re ready to join a team that’s impacting Africa’s economy, visit \nmoniepoint.com/careers\n.\n

Launching working capital loans to support businesses better; our Q2 milestones.

This is a love story. Well, something like that. And like most of the best love stories, it starts with a gift. On Valentine’s Day, February 14th 2022, Moniepoint got its business banking licence. This pivotal moment and all that came after it is sometimes viewed in isolation, but it’s hard to understand the present without a bit of a journey to the past.\nIt began with a promise.\nStarting off as a bootstrapped company wasn’t a bed of roses, but by 2018 we had seen some success. As an enterprise solutions provider for banks, TeamApt, as we were called then, created multiple solutions that were being used by most of the traditional financial institutions in Nigeria.\nBut we were looking to do more. Experience in the banking sector had provided us with unique insights, and a perspective that most others just did not have. The combination of this spurred our next challenge, setting us on the path to building what Moniepoint is today.\nGetting there required a few steps, the first of which was building an Agency banking solution.\nThe birth of the Moniepoint terminal\n\n\nTobi Amira, Loans VP at Moniepoint, often \ntells the story\n of his first month on the job. I interrupted him mid-lunch, sharing an idea I had to build an agency banking application. This wasn’t exactly our first encounter with Agency banking. As a service provider to financial institutions, we had built Point of Sale (POS) terminal applications for some of the country's biggest Payment Terminal Service Providers (PTSPs).\nThis was different. Driven by the goal of spreading financial happiness, I couldn’t ignore how much financial inclusion in Nigeria needed to improve. Most of the “big guys” supported the people with little risk, but this meant that so many others were left underserved.\nAgency banking could help bring these people on board by taking the digital financial services they needed closer to them, but there were a few problems with the existing systems that our team needed to fix.\nMost notable were the problems with reconciliation, stability, and a lack of transparency. As a result of these problems, agency banking wasn’t appealing to agents because they were often at the receiving end of customer complaints and dissatisfaction. This, in turn, meant that agency banking was generally not growing at the scale necessary to significantly improve the financial experience for the people who needed it.\nRight off the bat, we decided that we wouldn’t just build, but we would do so differently. Armed with industry experience and market research, we built a product that would solve these problems, effectively changing the trajectory of agency banking.\nAmong \nother things\n, we added another leg to the transaction process flow that allowed agents to get real-time reports of their transactions. We also built a hyperlocal distribution network, powered by a system that ensured agents could see and track how much they earned. This combination made even the earliest version of Moniepoint something that people were excitedly waiting for.\nAround this time, something else was happening too.\nInnovation on two fronts; inventing virtual accounts.\n\nIn 2018, transfers were a lot different than they are now. All payments via transfers required manual confirmation. If you paid a company, someone had to check to see if the funds had entered the company’s bank account and confirm that the sender's name matched the customer's. Manually. \nThis tediousness meant that while transfers were a preferred payment option for customers due to their instant nature and speed, the time it took to confirm these transactions worsened the experience for both the businesses and the customers.\nTo solve this, we got to work on a product that was not previously available in the market - virtual accounts.\nThese accounts could be assigned to customers, and transaction confirmation was digital. This meant that if customers did decide to \npay via transfer,\n confirming their transactions would be fast and seamless, and there was no more manual bottleneck.\nThus, \nMonnify\n was born.\nThe Monnify product quickly gained traction with early adopters like Piggyvest, Cowrywise and Fairmoney using them to drastically improve payments processes for their users. Continuing on this path, Monnify would go ahead to completely change the pay-via-transfer experiences for thousands of companies across Nigeria.\nThe journey to powering dreams for Nigeria’s businesses\nBy 2019, TeamApt had pretty much completed its transition towards creating consumer-facing products, and I had refocused most of the team’s efforts on these two products. Both Moniepoint and Monnify began to see rapid growth and adoption.\nBarely 2 years after its launch, \nMoniepoint\n became Nigeria's leading agency banking solution, processing up to $7 billion in over 120,000,000 transactions monthly. Its partner product, Monnify, hit a milestone of over $22 million daily in 500,000 transactions.\nAt this point, agency banking played the role of a middleman between businesses and their customers. People withdrew cash from agents to pay to businesses that weren’t digitally enabled. These businesses then also gave their cash to agents to credit them digitally, so they didn’t have to take the cash from the day’s business home.\nWith this level of adoption of Moniepoint by agents, it became clear that there was more that we could do, and their data told the same story. Each month, 16 million unique cards were used on the Moniepoint terminals, representing over 25% of banked Nigerians. \nAgents had always been a layer towards digitisation, and it played the role of a middleman between businesses and their customers. People withdrew cash from agents to pay businesses that weren’t digitally enabled. Also, these businesses gave their cash to agents to credit them digitally, so they didn’t have to take the cash from the day’s business home.\nIt was clear that cash wouldn’t be the prevalent means forever, so we decided to also bank these businesses and enable them to receive payments directly. \nBut while designing this solution, we soon realised that the agents they currently served technically qualified as businesses, except, they sold cash for a commission.\nWe already gave these agents a wallet, insurance for their terminals, and a debit card to spend directly from their wallet. Furthermore, an experience with the agents opened the doors to exploring a credit solution.\nAs Moniepoint was being adopted, we had been approached by some of their agents who kept getting loan requests. Based on this, we decided to give out a few loans, and it went great. The loans were repaid, and the team began exploring credit solutions too.\nWith that last offering, Moniepoint was already providing a suite of tools for their agents.\nAll of this was covered under the payment and switching license we had, as well as partnerships with other organisations. But to extend these services to businesses, we had to get a banking license, so we applied for one.\nWhile waiting for it to come through, We all got busy building out the first iteration of the Moniepoint platform for businesses - offering bank accounts, loans, and of course, payment tools like the POS terminals we had become so known for.\nWhen the news came, on February 14th, 2022, that Moniepoint had received its banking license, we were excited but, most of all, prepared. In about two months, on Apr 13, 2022, Moniepoint MFB was live.\n\n\nPOS Transfer\nTeamApt had always built products that met customers' specific needs, and we maintained this customer-centric approach with our business bank. We listened to the problems businesses had, and created solutions for them.\nOne of the key outcomes of this was the creation of the \nPOS transfer feature\n.\nAccepting transfers is a pretty common mode of payment acceptance for most businesses. People found them safe and easy, and would often opt for transfers as a means of payment. The downside for businesses, however, was that they couldn’t control the transfers made to their businesses, or track whether they were successful or not.\nTo improve the experience for businesses, we developed a feature on the Moniepoint terminals called “POS transfers”. It went through several iterations, and the final version was something that enabled businesses to see the transfers on their terminals, and confirm the details of the person sending it, before the money entered their accounts.\nThis was an important step, as it brought the Moneipoint terminals closer to being an all-in-one payment solution for businesses, accepting whatever means of payment their customers preferred.\nInnovation like this, coupled with a transition of the same distribution network that had worked so efficiently for onboarding businesses, saw us hit a milestone of  $10 billion in monthly successful transactions, just seven months after officially launching as a business bank.\nGoodbye TeamApt, Hello Moniepoint.\n\nDespite these milestones, we had a bit of a problem. We had struggled with our brand for a bit. Having built a name while creating solutions for banks, and then gone ahead to build successful products like Moniepoint and Monnify, which served businesses, people often couldn’t reconcile us with these products. The name “TeamApt” was disconnected from these products, and describing ourselves was a big challenge. \nWhen she first joined the company, TeamApt’s Global Marketing Lead presented her ideas to the executive team and advised that we take on the name of our flagship product, Moniepoint. At the time, Moniepoint was just gaining traction, and the idea seemed rather brazy.\nBut with all the growth the team had seen since its transition to creating consumer-facing products, it was finally the perfect time.\nUntil this point, Moniepoint was still just considered a product of TeamApt. And because of how ubiquitous Moniepoint was,  TeamApt was almost invisible. Moniepoint was the product that people knew and loved, and it made sense for the company to become known by the name of this product we were heavily associated with.\nSo, by January 2023, TeamApt Inc. changed its name and officially became Moniepoint Inc.\nHowever, this was only one way the team had changed. We had gone a long way from being a guerrilla team of ex-Interswitch engineers. We had now become a global entity with over a thousand team members spanning more than 7 countries. From being completely bootstrapped, to being powered by some of the world’s leading VC firms, including QED, for whom Moniepoint was a pilot investment in Africa.\nMoniepoint set its foot forward boldly, and we were here to stay.\n\n\nThe cash crunch\nOn the cusp of this phase of immense growth for the team, external policy changes were being made in Nigeria that would change the experience for everyday users and test the decisions that we, now called Moniepoint, had made.\nIn March 2023, as part of its effort to aid in adopting cashless means of payments, combat inflation and prevent fraud, the central bank of Nigeria started a Naira redesign. The consequence was a reduced availability of cash and, by extension, increased reliance on digital payments.\nWith this policy change, we saw an increase in the adoption of Moniepoint by businesses. Our positioning as a business bank helped make it easier for these businesses to see the Moniepoint terminals as the solution that they could depend on, making it easier for them to make the switch.\nHaving a solution like this was important, especially for SMBs. Being able to begin accepting payments digitally with ease, helped most of these small businesses thrive during the cash crunch. Without cash, the role of the agency banking cash-in/cash-out service was a lot less impactful, and businesses that could accept payments directly led the charge.\nIn this period, our team saw record transaction volumes daily, and we increased our focus on site reliability in order to handle the surge. We had to ensure that the reliability we had become so known for didn’t change.\nThis experience further validated our decision to focus on serving businesses, and the devotion we’ve had to helping them grow since.\nAfrica’s second-fastest-growing company\nToday, on the streets of many states in Nigeria, Moniepoint has become a synonym for “POS terminal”. It currently serves over 1.3 million businesses, with a monthly TPV of roughly $ 12 billion in 400 million transactions. It is present in every local government in the country, rightly earning it the financial inclusion award from the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2022. \n\nBy May 2023, Moniepoint also got listed by the Financial Times as the second-fastest-growing company in Africa. A peek behind the curtains would show that our “magic” comprised of a ruthless devotion to innovation, and the grit to solve the unfancy problems that were often ignored.\nDriven by the mission to create financial happiness, we created a solution to meet the needs of everyday businesses that were historically overlooked and, using these businesses as touchpoints, changed the trajectory of finance in Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria.\nBut all the best stories are the ones that are still being written. There’s much that’s still to come for us as a team, and many more people beyond Nigeria’s borders, who need the kind of products we’ve spent years building and refining. If our journey so far is anything to go by, then I’m confident that we’ll accomplish so much more.\n

Redefining Payments and Banking in Nigeria; the Moniepoint story.

We have made four different account statements available to all business owners. \nEach statement type is tailored to suit the specific need of the business. Let us walk you through what they are and how to take advantage of this feature.\nStandard Statement:\nThe standard statement report provides business owners with a comprehensive summary of their account activity. It offers a consolidated view of transactions and balances, allowing users to quickly review their financial information at a glance. \nWith this type of statement, business owners can specify the start date for the desired statement period, and the end date for the desired statement period as well as export the statement in either PDF or Excel formats.\nTo download a standard statement, follow the instructions below:\nSign in to your account as a business owner\nSelect business owner profile\nClick on the side menu and select businesses\nClick on download statement\nClick on statement type and select standard statement\nSelect the date range and file type\nClick on export to download the file to your device\nExtended Statement:\nBuilding upon the standard statement, we have introduced the extended statement report. This report provides Business Owners with more detailed information about their account activity. \nIt includes additional data such as charges, commissions, source and destination information, enabling users to gain deeper insights into their financial transactions. With this type of statement, business owners can specify the start date for the desired statement period, and the end date for the desired statement period as well as export the statement in either PDF or Excel formats.\nTo download an extended statement, follow the instructions below.\nSign in to your account as a business owner\nSelect Business Owner profile\nClick on the side menu and select businesses\nClick on Download Statement\nClick on statement type and select extended statement\nSelect the date range and file type\nClick on export to download the file to your device\nDaily Business Summary Statement:\nTo cater to our Business Owner’s specific business needs, we have introduced the daily business summary statement report. This report presents a detailed breakdown of account activity on a per-business basis. It includes information such as the total gross amount, total net amount, total charges, and total transfers for each day. This report empowers Business owners to monitor their daily business performance more effectively. \nWith this type of statement, business owners can specify the desired date for the statement report as well as export the statement in either PDF or Excel\nTo download a daily business summary statement, follow the instructions below.\nSign in to your account as a business owner\nSelect business owner profile\nClick on the side menu and select businesses\nClick on download statement\nClick on statement type and select daily business summary\nSelect the date range and file type\nClick on export to download the file to your device\nDaily Terminal Summary Statement:\nIn addition to the daily business summary statement, we have introduced the daily terminal summary statement report. This report provides business owners with detailed insights into their account activity on a per-terminal basis. It includes information such as the total gross amount, total net amount, total charges, and total transfers for each day. \nThis report allows users to track their transactions at a more granular level, facilitating better analysis and decision-making.\nUsers can select the desired date for the statement report.\nWith this type of statement, business owners can specify the desired date for the statement report as well as export the statement in either PDF or Excel.\nTo download a daily terminal summary statement, follow the instructions below.\nSign in to your account as a business owner\nSelect business owner profile\nClick on the side menu and select businesses\nClick on download statement\nClick on statement type and select daily terminal summary\nSelect the date range and file type\nClick on export to download the file to your device\n

Account Statement Export Made Easier

What happens when a QA Engineer and an Internal comms manager meet in a surprise interview? Well, you’re about to find out. It's not every time someone leaves a company and returns after a year, so when I saw Paschal being introduced as a new hire, I knew I had to get the tea. So, I got him on a call to spill without telling him why. Let’s see how much of his story we’ll get.\n\n
\nCelz\n: Hi, Paschal. Thanks for your time. How’s the weather today?\nPaschal\n: The weather in Glasgow has been brilliant. We've been getting alot of sunshine. The temperature has been between 15 and 27 degrees Celsius. How’s it over there?\nCelz\n: The weather is quite fair. I usually only take note of the weather when I wash because I have nowhere to go, lol. \nPaschal\n: I know, right? So, to what do I owe this conversation? Is this an episode of RIPPLES? \nCelz\n: Lol, I know RIPPLES is like my badge now, but that’s not why we’re here. I just thought of having a conversation with you. So let’s start with what you do. \nPaschal: \nOkay, what I do here - I am a QA engineer with Monnify (our payment gateway). My role entails ensuring the quality of the products we’re shipping out before they reach the end user. Sometimes, I do QA for Monnify business loans, but I mostly work with the Monnify core team. \nPaschal\n: My work involves ensuring the products are bug-free before releasing them to the customers. I also have to check that it meets the customer’s needs. For example, if the product were a toothbrush, I'll be checking to ensure the toothbrush is not faulty, but beyond that, I have to make sure the toothbrush serves the customer's functional needs. If it’s for a kid, it should be smaller and fancier. An adult doesn’t need fancy, they need a tongue cleaner to be added to the back of the toothbrush. The bristles also have to be good enough. I know this analogy is slightly different because we are selling digital products, but I hope that analogy clarifies it. \nCelz\n: Yes, it’s clearer. Now I’ll want you to explain how a quality check as a QA engineer differs from what a Product Manager does, but I can no longer hide why I thought to have a conversation with you. You were previously listed on our alumni list, but your profile on Workplace says you joined us recently. Why’s that? \nPaschal\n: The information you have are correct. I was with the team before, but I left in 2021.\nCelz\n: I see. Were you trying to test other software, or why did you leave?\nPaschal\n: Wow, nice one. I relocated to Scotland for my Master’s in Big Data Technologies, and I did not want to mix school with work, so I left. \n\n\nCelz\n: Wow, congratulations. That’s a big one. I’m guessing you’re back because you’re done, so safe to ask how the experience was, yeah?\nPaschal\n: It was good but gruelling. It wasn’t as easy as expected, there were many difficult times, but I’ll say the experience was worth it. \nCelz\n: Interesting. I like to believe that nothing good comes so easily. But in those trying times, what would you say kept you going?\nPaschal\n:  I don’t want to sound patronising, but I’d say that my experience at Moniepoint equipped me to a large extent. If I had an assignment and it wasn’t looking like I could work on the task, I’d just remember times we had daunting tasks at Moniepoint and how we always approached things from a ‘Can do’ perspective, so I’d keep trying and pushing. GRIT is the word. I know it sounds simple, but it is the reality. No matter how hard it gets, just get the job done. If you work with Moniepoint, that’s your subconscious. It isn’t dependent on how hard the task is, you just have to do the work. I also think that working at Moniepoint improved my analytical mind, which I have applied in many areas of my life, and my studies aren’t left out. \nCelz\n: Talking about your work gives you an analytic mind. Earlier, you mentioned that you are a Quality Assurance Engineer. If you were talking to someone who knows nothing about your work. How would you explain it?\nPaschal\n: My work involves ensuring the products are bug-free before releasing them to the customers. I also have to check that it meets the customer’s needs. For example, if the product were a toothbrush, I'll be checking to ensure the toothbrush is not faulty, but beyond that, I have to make sure the toothbrush serves the customer's functional needs. If it’s for a kid, it should be smaller and fancier. An adult doesn’t need fancy, they need a tongue cleaner to be added to the back of the toothbrush. The bristles also have to be good enough. I know this analogy is slightly different because we are selling digital products, but I hope that analogy clarifies it. \nCelz\n: Definitely. I’m curious, though. How is this different from what a product manager does?  \nPaschal\n:  I see why you have that question. When it comes to assuring quality, the Product Manager assesses the product on a higher level, while a QA engineer does a deeper assessment. The Product Manager relies on input from the Quality assurance engineer in assessing the product. It is also the work of the quality assurance engineer to take full charge of quality across the software development lifecycle. So it is not just about testing what has been built but also ensuring the processes followed are such that other things that were working before won’t break. \nCelz\n: That’s quite explanatory. So what does your day-to-day task look like? \nPaschal\n: First, I work with the Technical Product Manager to define the requirement. Then I work with the Enterprise Architect to get insights on the implementation details. I rely on input from the software developer to navigate through sanity tests on whatever features they built. Using these inputs, I identify test scenarios to discover bugs that may affect users on production. While testing, if I find a bug, I log the bug on our bug management software - xxx. From there, I manage the bug life cycle until it is fixed. \nCelz\n:  That’s great. Sounds like you love your job. But you studied Big Data Technologies for your master's. You’ve not mentioned your first degree, but why Quality Assurance? \nPaschal\n: Okay... My first degree was in computer science. During my internship, I started to learn programming. I did Java with Parox. When school resumed, I did some projects in Java language. But at some point, I realised that I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I thought I would. That’s when I started exploring roles in engineering. In 2014, I started testing. I noticed that the more I tested, the more interested I was in testing. I found it an interesting niche and decided to grow in that area. So yeah, I've been doing this since 2014. Sometimes, it’s boring, but when I get to work on different products, it makes me come alive, and I just want to keep going.  \nCelz\n: Interesting. You started testing in 2014 and joined us in 2017. So Moniepoint isn’t the only place you’ve worked. So why Moniepoint again? After your second degree?\nPaschal\n: Thank you for asking. This is a question I asked myself over and again. Because Moniepoint is the sixth place I had worked throughout my 9 years career, it looked like that was the only place I was willing to return to. Working here is different - is it autonomy? Or the people I work with. Mehn, I work with the most highly motivated people that want the job done. There’s an obvious high drive and commitment in the right direction. So when I was leaving, it wasn’t part of my plans to return. But I just completed my Master’s, and Moniepoint is the only place I could think of returning to. \nCelz\n: I see. A lot has changed in one year. Are you still confident in the decision to return here?\nPaschal\n: If I didn’t return now, maybe later I would have because the growth is massive. Everything and everyone is growing. The staff strength compared to when I left is almost 1000 more. And that’s even better for me because it means we have more hands, and I can give more time to the product. That’s my key responsibility. The workload is a lot more balanced, and roles are clearer.  And the culture? I thought it was good before, but it’s better now. It is also more defined, and the teams in charge of driving culture and ensuring staff welfare seem to be more intentional. \nCelz\n: While I’m blushing on behalf of the People’s Operations and Employee Experience team, mind shedding more light?\nPaschal\n:  Hmm. So, I like to use our core values to describe the culture in order of how I have seen it play out here -TECHNICAL DEPTH,  GRIT, CANDOUR, and EMPATHY. Now the aforementioned is about the kind of colleagues I have. But beyond departments, the attention to the employee experience is outstanding. The effort to get feedback on our general and departmental experience, the recent monthly performance bonus structure. So many things I can’t start listing. But I know there’s been a huge improvement. I wake up every day wanting to work, not just because I love QA engineering but also because I know the management here sees and appreciates me.\n\nCelz\n:  I could turn on my video now. I’m probably red from blushing. I’ll share this feedback with the affected team. That's good feedback. So what would you say is the main thing you love about working here?\nPaschal\n: First, it’s the impact we have on lives. I have friends in Nigeria who share their Moniepoint (using the POS and our payment gateway) experiences with me, and I am so proud to be in this team. Then, of course, the people. I probably mentioned this earlier - I love the people I work with. The synergy here is seamless. If I were describing these with our 4Ms, that’s be Meaning and membership. \nCelz\n: That’s interesting. We’ve come to the end of the conversation. Thanks a lot, Paschal, for your time. \nPaschal\n: You’re welcome. Thanks for having me. Looking forward to being on an episode of Ripples. \nCelz\n: Lol. Sure. Have a great day. 

Back to the Monie: Paschal’s growth story

Mastering the important business terms can be confusing\nAnd that is why we have listed the most important terminology every entrepreneur should know. \nIn this article, we’ll break down 61 essential business terms.\nConsider this your cheat sheet for deciphering the language of business and achieving success. \n\nTop Business Terms Every Business Owner Should Know\nAccount Payable\n: The amount owed by a business to its suppliers or creditors for goods or services received but not yet paid for.\nAccount Receivable\n: The amount of money owed to a business by its customers or clients for goods or services provided but not yet paid for.\nAcquisition\n: The process of one company purchasing another company, usually with the aim of expanding its market share, gaining access to new products or technologies, or achieving strategic goals.\nAngel Investor\n: An individual who provides capital or funding to early-stage or startup companies in exchange for equity ownership or convertible debt. They typically offer financial support, mentorship, and industry connections to help the business grow.\nAnnuity:\n A financial product or investment contract that provides a series of regular payments to the investor over a specific period, often used for retirement planning or income generation.\nArbitrage: \nThe practice of taking advantage of price differences or disparities in different markets to make a profit, usually by buying low in one market and selling high in another.\nAsset Stripping\n: A strategy where a company sells off its assets, such as property, equipment, or subsidiaries, often for quick financial gain, without considering the long-term sustainability or future growth of the business.\nAuditors\n: Professionals or firms responsible for examining and verifying the financial records, statements, and practices of a company to ensure accuracy, transparency, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations.\nAutomatic Gratuity:\n A predetermined and automatic service charge added to a customer’s bill in certain industries, such as restaurants or hospitality, typically for large groups or parties, as a gratuity or tip for the service staff.\nB2B\n: Abbreviation for “Business-to-Business,” referring to commercial transactions, interactions, or relationships between two or more businesses rather than between a business and individual consumers.\nB2C\n: Abbreviation for “Business-to-Consumer,” denoting commercial transactions, interactions, or relationships between a business and individual consumers.\nB2G\n: Abbreviation for “Business-to-Government,” representing commercial transactions, interactions, or relationships between businesses and governmental entities or agencies.\nBalance Sheet\n: A financial statement that provides a snapshot of a company’s financial position at a specific point in time, showing its assets, liabilities, and shareholders’ equity.\nBranding\n: The process of creating and establishing a unique and recognizable identity, image, or reputation for a product, service, or company through various marketing and communication strategies.\nBusiness Account:\n A business bank account specifically designed for business purposes, allowing the business owner to manage financial transactions, receive payments, and track expenses related to their business operations.\nBusiness Cycle\n: The natural fluctuation of economic activity characterized by alternating periods of expansion (growth) and contraction (recession) in the overall economy.\nBusiness Ethics:\n The principles, values, and moral guidelines that govern the behavior, decision-making, and conduct of individuals and organizations in the business environment, encompassing concepts such as honesty, integrity, fairness, and social responsibility.\nBusiness Etiquette\n: The customary code of behavior and professional conduct expected in business interactions, encompassing polite and respectful manners, communication norms, and appropriate behavior in various business settings.\nBusiness Failure: \nThe cessation of business operations due to financial insolvency, poor management, lack of market demand, or other factors resulting in the inability to sustain profitability or meet obligations.\nBusiness Goal:\n The desired outcome or achievement that a business aims to attain within a specific timeframe, typically based on strategic objectives and aligned with the company’s mission and vision.\nBusiness Incubator\n: A supportive environment or program that provides resources, mentorship, and guidance to early-stage startups or entrepreneurs to help them develop their business ideas, launch their ventures, and accelerate growth.\nBusiness Insurance\n: Insurance coverage specifically designed to protect businesses from various risks and potential losses, including property damage, liability claims.\n
Business Intelligence\n: The process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data to gain insights and make informed business decisions. It involves using tools and techniques to transform raw data into meaningful information for strategic planning and operational improvements.\nBusiness Model\n: The framework or plan that outlines how a business creates, delivers, and captures value. It describes the organization’s revenue sources, target customers, value proposition, cost structure, and key activities necessary for its operation.\nBusiness Name: \nThe official and legal name under which a business operates and conducts its activities. It serves as the primary identifier of the company and is often associated with its brand and reputation.\nBusiness Opportunity\n: A favorable circumstance or situation that presents the potential for a business to achieve success or generate profit. It may involve identifying gaps in the market, emerging trends, or untapped customer needs that can be leveraged for business growth.\nBusiness Plan\n: A comprehensive document that outlines the goals, strategies, operations, and financial forecasts of a business. It serves as a roadmap for the organization, guiding decision-making and providing a blueprint for achieving objectives.\nBusiness Policy\n: A set of guidelines, principles, or rules established by a business to govern internal operations, decision-making, and employee behavior. These policies define acceptable practices, standards, and procedures within the organization.\nBusiness Process Management\n: The systematic approach to identify, design, implement, monitor, and optimize business processes to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and overall performance. It involves analyzing workflows, automating tasks, and continuously refining processes.\nBusiness Process Outsourcing\n: The practice of contracting specific business functions or processes to external service providers. It allows businesses to delegate non-core activities such as customer support, payroll, or IT services to specialized companies, often resulting in cost savings and increased focus on core competencies.\nBusiness Proposal\n: A formal document that outlines a proposed solution, project, or partnership to address a specific business need or opportunity. It typically includes detailed information about objectives, deliverables, timelines, budget, and expected benefits.\nBusiness Strategy\n: The long-term plan of action designed to achieve the goals and objectives of a business. It involves analyzing the competitive landscape, identifying target markets, formulating competitive advantages, and determining the allocation of resources to maximize success.\nC2C:\n Abbreviation for “Consumer-to-Consumer,” referring to transactions, interactions, or relationships between individual consumers through online platforms or marketplaces where they can buy, sell, or exchange goods or services.\nCapital:\n The financial resources, including cash, investments, and assets, available to a business for funding its operations, investments, and growth. It can be categorized as equity capital (contributed by owners or shareholders) or debt capital (borrowed from creditors or lenders).\nCash Flow\n: The movement of money into and out of a business over a specific period. Positive cash flow indicates that more money is coming in than going out, while negative cash flow means more money is going out than coming in.\nCounter Service\n: A type of customer service where customers order and pay for goods or services at a designated counter or service point. It is commonly seen in fast-food restaurants, cafeterias, or retail establishments where customers take their purchases directly from the counter.\nDebit Cards\n: A debit card, issued by banks, is a plastic payment card enabling electronic transactions using funds from current or savings accounts. It’s used for in-store purchases, online shopping, ATM withdrawals, and bill payments.\nEquity\n: The ownership interest or stake in a business that belongs to the shareholders or owners. It represents the residual value of the company after deducting liabilities and is often associated with ownership rights and claims to future profits.\nExpenses\n: The costs incurred by a business in its day-to-day operations, such as salaries, rent, utilities, raw materials, or marketing expenses. Expenses are deducted from revenue to calculate profitability.\nFixed Cost: \nThe expenses that remain constant regardless of the level of production or sales, such as rent, salaries, or insurance premiums. Fixed costs do not vary with changes in activity or output.\nFranchise\n: A business model in which a franchisor grants a franchisee the right to operate a business using its established brand, products, and systems in exchange for fees or royalties.\nGross Revenue\n: The total revenue generated by a business before deducting any expenses or costs. It represents the total sales or income earned by the company.\nKPI\n: Abbreviation for “Key Performance Indicator,” which is a measurable value that indicates the performance and progress of a business towards its objectives. KPIs are used to evaluate and track critical aspects of the business’s performance.\nLedger\n: A record-keeping book or electronic system that tracks financial transactions, including income, expenses, assets, and liabilities. Ledgers are used to maintain accurate and organized financial records for the business.\nLimited Liability Company (LLC)\n: A legal business structure that provides limited liability protection to its owners (members) while allowing flexibility in terms of taxation and management. LLCs blend elements of partnerships and corporations.\nLiability\n: The legal obligation or responsibility of a business or individual to settle debts, pay obligations, or compensate for damages. It can include financial obligations, legal claims, or any other debts or responsibilities.\nMargin Cost\n: The additional cost incurred by producing one additional unit of a product or service. It helps determine the profitability of each unit sold by calculating the difference between the selling price and the variable costs.\nMinimum Viable Product (MVP)\n: The basic version of a product or service that has enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for future development. MVPs are used to test the market, validate assumptions, and minimize development costs.\nNet Income\n: The profit earned by a business after deducting all expenses, taxes, and other costs from the gross revenue. It represents the final amount of money the business retains after all obligations have been met.\nOwner Equity\n: The ownership interest or value of a business that belongs to the owner or shareholders. It is calculated by subtracting the business’s liabilities from its assets and represents the owner’s residual claim on the company’s assets.\nPersonal Banking: \nPersonal banking\n encompasses a range of financial services provided by banks to individual consumers. Its goal is to aid individuals in managing personal finances, offering services like savings accounts, debit and credit cards, loans, and financial advice.\nPrincipal of a Company\n: The individual or group with primary authority and responsibility for managing the affairs and operations of a company. The principal is typically an owner, executive, or key decision-maker within the organization.\nProfit Margin\n: The percentage of revenue that remains as profit after deducting all costs and expenses. It is a measure of profitability and indicates how efficiently a business manages its expenses in relation to its revenue.\nRisk in Business\n: The possibility of financial or operational loss or uncertainty associated with business activities. Risk can arise from various factors, including market conditions, competition, regulatory changes, and financial instability.\nReturn on Investment (ROI)\n: A financial metric used to evaluate the profitability and efficiency of an investment. It is calculated by dividing the net profit from the investment by the initial cost of the investment and expressing it as a percentage.\nSavings Account\n: A savings account is designed for saving money securely. It offers a modest interest rate while allowing individuals to deposit and access funds easily.\nStock Taking\n: The process of physically counting and recording the inventory or stock of goods held by a business. It helps ensure accurate inventory records and facilitates proper stock management and control.\nSWOT\n: Abbreviation for “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats,” which is a strategic analysis framework used to assess and evaluate the internal and external factors that can impact a business. SWOT analysis helps identify areas of competitive advantage, areas for improvement, potential opportunities, and potential risks or challenges.\nTurnover in Business\n: Turnover refers to the total sales or revenue generated by a business during a specific period, typically calculated before deducting any expenses. It represents the value of goods or services sold by the company.\nUnlimited Liability\n: Unlimited liability is a legal concept where business owners are personally liable for all debts and obligations of the business. In the event of financial difficulties or legal claims, owners can be held personally responsible, risking their personal assets.\nValue Proposition\n: A value proposition is the unique combination of products, services, features, or benefits that a business offers to its customers. It articulates the value or benefits customers can expect from choosing the company’s products or services over competitors.\nVariable Cost\n: Variable costs are expenses that change in direct proportion to the level of production or sales. They fluctuate based on the volume of goods or services produced, such as raw materials, direct labor, or commissions.\nVendor Company:\n A vendor company refers to a business or supplier that provides goods or services to other businesses. It is the entity from which another company purchases products or engages in business transactions.\nGlobalization\n: Globalization is the process of increasing interconnectedness and integration of economies, markets, cultures, and societies worldwide. It involves the exchange of goods, services, information, and ideas across national borders, facilitated by advancements in technology, transportation, and communication.\nWorking Capital\n: Working capital represents the funds available to a business for its day-to-day operations. It is calculated by subtracting current liabilities (short-term debts and obligations) from current assets (cash, accounts receivable, inventory) and indicates the company’s liquidity and ability to meet short-term financial obligations.\n
\nFinal Thoughts:\n Whether you are a new business owner or an experienced one, keeping yourself updated with these business terms is great for your vocabulary and of course your business. \nAt Moniepoint, we will do our best to keep this list updated so you can be sure to learn something new when next you check out this page. \nSo bookmark it today and don’t forget, Moniepoint is powering business dreams with our range of banking solutions: from \nbusiness account\n, POS terminal, Expense cards and to working capital loans. 

61+ Essential Business Terms Every Entrepreneur Should Know

We are aware of the false reports about recent events in Anambra State, where businesses continue to use our services without any issues.

We have always remitted all funds to the Anambra State government and have been crucial in helping the state government improve its revenue collection operations.

We are working closely with the Anambra State Board of Internal Revenue to ensure a smooth transition in collection points for tax payments under their new leadership.

Statement re: Anambra State

\n\nLet’s imagine, for a second, that you woke up this morning as a systems admin. You get out of bed, have breakfast and sit at your work desk. You turn on your computer, and you have a few requests pending;\n“Hi, thanks for your help so far. Please, can you help with the password reset again. I didn't make use of it the last time”.\n“Good morning sir, I have completed the setup, is there a need to allow the vpn connect?”\n“Hi Gabriel, thanks for the guide. Please, my VPN doesn't work without connecting to the internet”\n“Hello, my computer logged me out. It was requesting that I update my password but I wanted to do it later”\nWait.\nBefore you lose your wits and slam your fists on your desk, that’s just the start of the day. There’s a lot more where that came from. Being a system administrator is typically stereotyped as having to deal with a lot of “silly” requests. And it can sound like that. But at the heart of it is solving problems, and that’s why I started in this field in the first place.\nTo successfully take you through a day in the life of a systems administrator, you need a bit of context. My name is Gabriel, and I’m the lead systems administrator at Moniepoint. Depending on where you might have first heard the term, you might have varying ideas of what a system admin does. But I like to think of what I do as solving problem, or making sure they never happen in the first place. With that in mind, here’s what a typical day for me is like;\n\n\n8:30 am\nMy day rarely starts typically, but one thing it always starts with is problems. We call them requests. By the time I log on, there’s likely a thing or two pending that I need to attend to. Someone who needs a password reset, or another person curious about a problem they’re having with their VPN. And it probably sounds a bit dreary, starting with problems, but that’s the exciting thing about being a system admin - the opportunity to help people on your team by solving their problems.\n9:00 am\nBy 9:00 am, I have meetings with my team to discuss pending projects and things we need to do. During this meeting, we might highlight necessary updates that we need to make to our systems or new solutions that we can explore. \nAs a team lead, meeting like this is important to stay in sync with my team and collaborate to solve pending issues.\nBefore Moniepoint, I worked as an IT support staff and found it limiting. I couldn’t solve problems myself and often had to escalate them. Often, I had ideas for how things could be improved or done differently, but these were outside the scope of my role, so they weren’t considered.\nBut things are different here. I joined Moniepoint in July 2021 after receiving an offer from the HR recruiter. It was exciting until I was told it would be an internship. That gave me mixed feelings - I was excited to try something more in line with what I wanted to do, but also a bit sceptical about taking an internship. After the internship, what next?\nThroughout the interview process, I kept asking what would happen after the internship was over, and everyone told me the same thing - “it will depend on your performance”. Determined to give it my best, I decided to go for it.\n10:30 am\nAfter our morning meetings, I’m usually back to addressing more requests. I get requests from level one and two support teams, as well as HR, Operations and anyone else who might need my help. Think of my number as “911” for system emergencies.\nI get a “Hi Gabriel, I need access to the core banking database on xxx server.”, and an, “How far Gabriel? We need to review everyone's permission on xxx”.\nWhen I started as an intern, it took a minute for me to get used to it as I still had relatively limited access and had to collaborate to get things done. But soon, I noticed a difference here that made me decide that I wanted to be a part of this team - I was seen and heard.\nMy contributions counted.\nWhen I brought up ideas and said, “Oh, why do we do it this way? Why not something else?” I often got the go-ahead to do a test run and compare my new solution with existing ones. Once I did it and got feedback, there was no judgement. If it worked, cool, we’d switch to the new solution. If it didn’t, it was also fine. I had validated what we were doing, and I could move on to the next thing. There was room for growth and for my ideas, and that made me want to stay.\nOne time, when I’d just joined as an intern, I had to set up about 300 laptops over a weekend. My first reaction? “It’s impossible”.\n\nBut I took a moment to look at it differently. The reason why it would be impossible was because we were using a manual method at that time. David wrote a script to handle this task, but it was still taking time to run. Then I had an idea to simplify it, and I tried it out. It worked, and in under 24 hours, I had finished what seemed like an impossible task.\nMy role began to evolve quickly. I started working with David five months after my internship started, and by the next month, he confirmed my employment.\nWe worked together for two more months, and then he introduced me to Devops. At this time, I was also handling our data centre and a few other things. With the transition to DevOps, I could perform my role as a system administrator on a whole new level.\n11:00 am\nRemember how I mentioned that some days go atypically? Well, this is usually around the time that it gets like that. If nothing happens, great. But on April 14th, 2023, something definitely happened.\nI got a call from someone saying they couldn’t access the internet. At first, I assumed that it was a one-off and try to solve it as such, but I began getting more messages with the same complaint. When I checked Workplace, our internal communication platform, I realised everyone had the same problem.\nCode red.\nThe interesting (and scary) thing about being a system administrator is that you often work in a live environment. My line manager, David, often says, \n“Don’t press spoil”,\n i.e. don’t break things. In a live environment, one thing going off could affect everyone.\nIf no one could access the internet, then nobody could work, and this could affect the company. I had to do something. To check what the problem was, I get on a call with my team. I checked my computer and the system logs, but neither was particularly helpful. I decided to get someone else’s laptop, and then I was finally able to identify the issue - the computer wass reporting back to its local host, so it could not access the internet.\nWe identified the issue, but there was no way to apply a solution to everyone because of the same problem - the laptops are offline.\n11:30 am\nWith a bit of time past since this began, it became even more crucial that we fix it for everyone. Creating a fix for this meant accounting for most laptops being offline, and we needed to find a unique way to apply this solution. Wrote a few lines of code, modified, and modified it, and then sent it to David to crosscheck before we ran it. We finally found a way to run the command for everyone, and soon, we were all back online.\nYou know that scene after a hero saves the city, and everyone around them claps? That’s how I feel. It’s a great part of the experience for me at Moniepoint. I get to do things that move the needle. I can create solutions to problems and see those solutions deployed in real-time.\n\n\n2:00 pm\nStill on April 14th, as an analogy for an atypical day, everything was a bit settled by this time, but I still had a few people for whom the general solution didn’t work and I had to address them personally.\nThere are a lot of highlights in my career as a systems admin, but there are three key moments for me;\nWinning the MVP award at the Moniepoint end-of-year event last year\nGetting informed that I would be promoted to lead System Administrator (in under two years since I joined the company).\nEvery moment when I get a “Thank you, Gabriel” after helping someone with a problem.\nIt’s one thing to get the opportunity to make key contributions to the company where you work, and it’s another to also  get recognised for these contributions. It’s truly exciting that I’ve been able to find both.\n4:00 pm\nBy 4 pm, things have often gotten a lot more quiet. Most of the major issues are out of the way, and we’ve done our part to keep things up and active. Throughout the day, I collaborate across teams to ensure that everyone else can have a smooth working experience, tackling challenges as they come and working to ensure that everything goes smoothly.\nNo matter how chaotic it gets, I’m excited for the opportunity to solve problems. Each problem is an opportunity to try things differently and explore new creative solutions. I get to test out every idea I have and think of the best way to make contributions that count.\nIf you’re looking to join a team where your contributions count and you can solve problems, visit \nmoniepoint.com/careers\n\n

A Day in the Life of a Lead System Administrator

\n\nAre you curious about the state of small businesses in Nigeria?\nAre you wondering how many small businesses exist in Nigeria and what their impact has been on the economy?\nDo you want to know why some small businesses fail and others succeed?\nThen you are in luck!\nThis is because we have curated, vetted and categorized an updated list of important small business statistics you should know as a business owner.\nIn this post, you will find\nGeneral small business statistics in Nigeria\nGlobal small business statistics\nAn in-depth explanation of the top small business statistics in Nigeria.\nReady?\nLet’s dive in.\n\nTable of Contents\nTop Small Business Statistics in Nigeria \nInteresting General Small Business Statistics \nTop 10 Small Business Statistics \n\nTop Small Business Statistics in Nigeria \nIn Nigeria, SMEs contribute 48 % to the national GDP \nSMEs account for 96% of businesses and 84% of employment\nOne of the most effective ways for SMEs to connect with their target audience is through social media. In January 2023, there were 31.60 million social media users in Nigeria, equating to 14.3 percent of the total population\nAt least, 39,654,385 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) operated in Nigeria as of December 2021 \nResearch shows that over 50% of SMEs fail in their first year of operation\nMore specifically, the research shows further that more than 95% of SMEs fail during their first five years \nOver 40% of small businesses fail due to no market demand for their products or services \nObtaining finance, finding customers and infrastructure deficits are the most pressing problems of SMEs\nElectricity is responsible for the highest cost to operations followed by rent and the cost of capital\nLocal government levies are the most difficult taxes to comply with.\n\nInteresting General Small Business Statistics \nGlobally, 90% of all companies are small businesses and they account for 50% of jobs\n600 million jobs will be needed by 2030 to absorb the growing global workforce, making SME development a high priority for many governments around the world \nOne of the most effective ways for SMEs to connect with their target audience is through social media. Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities. In 2021, over 4.26 billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to almost six billion in 2027\nThere are around 400 million small businesses worldwide\nMore than 20% of small enterprises fail in the very first year, and nearly 50% of small startups fail within the first five years (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021)\nAbout 70% of businesses with employees will survive their second year in business\nSMEs represent about 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide\nThe International Finance Corporation (IFC) estimates that 65 million firms, or 40% of formal micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in developing countries, have an unmet financing need of $5.2 trillion every year, which is equivalent to 1.4 times the current level of the global MSME lending\n 63% of Nigerians say that their income is not enough for them, let alone with dependants\nFormal SMEs contribute up to 40% of national income (GDP) in emerging economies \n64% of surveyed small businesses use social media in their marketing strategy (The Manifest, 2019).\n\nTop 10 Small Business Statistics \n1: Social Media is one of the Strongest Channels for SMEs\n\n\nOne of the most effective ways for SMEs to connect with their target audience is through social media. In January 2023, there were 31.60 million social media users in Nigeria, equating to 14.3 percent of the total population. Using social media channels for your advertising operations has a wealth of benefits.\n2: Number of SMEs in Nigeria\n\n\nAt least, 39,654,385 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) operated in Nigeria as of December 2020 as against 41,543,028 million that were in existence in 2017, indicating a decrease of 4.5 %. The agricultural and wholesale or retail sectors accounted for the largest proportions of informal micro enterprises (MEs) operating in Nigeria in 2020. In that year, the number of wholesale MEs reached approximately 12.8 million, while for the agricultural sector, the count reached around 14.8 million.\n3: Value of SMEs in Nigeria\n\n\nSmall and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are essential to the growth of any economy because they have a significant potential to create jobs, advance local technology, diversify output, foster home grown entrepreneurship, and integrate with large-scale industries. In Nigeria, SMEs contribute 48 % to the national GDP.\n4: Number of Jobs Created by SMEs in Nigeria\n\n\nSmall businesses play a crucial role and contribute to the economy’s expansion and a strong economy typically has a strong small business sector. In Nigeria, SMEs account for 96% of businesses and 84% of employment.\n5: Average SME turnover in Nigeria?\n\n\nIn SMEDAN and NBS findings, 64.5 % of micro-enterprises in Nigeria have a monthly turnover of less than N50,000, while 29.4 % have an average income of N50,000 to N300,000, and the remaining have a monthly turnover of N600,000 to N900,000.\n6: Percentage of SMEs that Fail\n\n\nAlmost 50% of Businesses fail in their first year of operation, according to research. More specifically, the survey informs us that more than 95% of SMEs fail during their first five years. Although risk cannot be completely eliminated, recognising it better always helps.\n7: Over 40% of Small Businesses Fail Due to a Lack of Demand\n\n\nIt is important to conduct deeper market research prior to starting a business. Over 40% of small businesses fail due to no market demand for their products or services. 19% say failure was due to being “outcompeted” while 17% say it was because of their poor product offering.\n8: Effect of COVID-19 on SMEs in Nigeria\n\n\nBusinesses were hindered as a result of lockdowns and movement restrictions intended to stop the spread of COVID-19. This created enormous anxiety for the Nigerian business community and investors. A recent survey shows that about 94.3 % of the businesses in Nigeria have been hit by the pandemic. That number is so high considering the number of small businesses in Nigeria.\n9: Most Common Reason for Starting Up SMEs\n\n\nAccording to a 2019 study by Guidantfinancial, 55% of its respondents established their firms in order to be their own bosses. People’s desire to pursue their passion is the second most important factor. This response was given by 39% of the study participants. Other factors include discovering the opportunity, needing a retirement plan, and being dissatisfied with one’s current employment.\n10: Challenges Affecting SMEs in Nigeria\n\n\nThe main challenges affecting the SMEs in Nigeria include poor/ inadequate infrastructure. This has been a major obstacle to the growth of SMEs. Lack of access to funds is another challenge that small business owners face. Asides from power, the lack of good access roads and other social amenities has also hindered the growth of SMEs.\n\nConclusion\nThe small business economic activities in Nigeria play a significant role nationwide and are essential for wealth generation, job creation, economic diversification, innovation, and poverty alleviation.\nWith a good financial business partner, most small business can achieve their potential with increase access to infrastructure by government and \nloan facilities by financial institutions\n.\n\nSources:\n\nGuardian\n\n\nSME360 NG\n\n\nCBN\n\n\nPWC\n\n\nThe Cable\n\n\nWorldbank\n\n

Small Business Statistics in Nigeria For 2024

Our team at Moniepoint has seen much growth in recent times. We’re now over a thousand across over six countries, all working to power business dreams across emerging markets. With this drive, it’s important for us to connect globally, and that’s why we’re excited to welcome Ross Strike to the team.\nRoss Strike is joining Moniepoint as Head of M&A and Investor Relations. He is a finance professional with over a decade of investment banking and venture capital experience. Ross will be responsible for developing and executing our M&A and fundraising strategy, as we expand into new markets.\nMoniepoint is currently the second-fastest growing company in Africa, per FT’s latest ranking, and we’ve recently shared some milestones we hit in the first quarter of 2023. We’ve seen much growth in this period, and with Ross joining the team, we’re looking to reach newer heights.\nHe is joining Moniepoint from British International Investment, where he led their investment in Moniepoint. Ross was one of the founding members of BII’s venture capital investment team, helping to scale the firm’s early-stage activities, which has deployed over $350m across over 40+ investments. He started his career in Citibank’s investment banking team and is a Kauffman Fellow. \n\n\n\nHe has spent most of his career pursuing a passion for financial inclusion and supporting businesses, both of which we’re also excited about at Moniepoint.\nAmong other things, Ross likes to travel and meet new people and cultures. He has spent a bit of time exploring Kano, Nigeria, and as he joins us, we hope he finds more adventures across the African continent.\n

Welcome Ross Strike, our new Head of M&A and Investor Relations

\nWhen you ask an employee their favourite thing about working at your company, there are quite a few responses they can give. At Moniepoint, the most common one we get is “the people”. Today, we’re sharing a reason why this is a big part of why employees love working here - our open door policy.\nWhat’s an open door policy?\nAn open door policy is a way of shaping the culture of an organisation to be embracing approachability. This means regardless of role, position, or level, every member of the company can interact, engage with one another and can raise issues without fear of retaliation.\nThis workplace rule fosters an open line of communication, builds trust, and encourages employees to discuss job-related ideas or issues with their immediate supervisors or any senior-level managers.\nWhy do we use the open door policy?\n#ForTheCulture!\nDiversity and equity are very crucial to us as a company and the products we build. It is therefore very important that we cultivate this in our day-to-day, which means all doors are wide open for the flow of diverse ideas, people, and enabling equality of opportunity through fairness and transparency. Using the open door policy has created an environment where people know that their work matter and always plugs into the big picture of powering dreams. \nTo build trust!\nWhether it's a community, a group of friends, a cooperative or, in this case, a company, trust is a major part of its social contract - it's why people can function optimally, show up every day at their best, and grow the company into what it is today.\nThe open door policy intuitively engrafts trust into the processes we have within the company, as it naturally creates an atmosphere of employees who have one another's back.\nMaking ideation and collaboration seamless!\nA beautiful feature of having an open door policy is that it makes it easy for teams to collaborate. As we have grown and expanded over the years, and especially in the last couple of months, our open-doorness has helped us function as a well-oiled machine. As everyone knows, they can literally knock on the other person's door, and it'll be opened to them to share, collaborate, brainstorm and find solutions to any problem.\nHow do we keep the door open?\nBy consistent communication\nIt may sound super simplistic, but it works! Constantly communicating the fact that you can reach out to anyone on the team company-wide has given everyone a constant awareness of it. \nBy example\nThere's a lot to be said for leading by example, and this falls under it. From the communications tool we use, to the way senior executives respond to requests, the policy is fostered by the living example of every team lead who encourages their direct reports to feel comfortable coming to them with ideas, feedback and concerns.\nBy applying some ground rules\nDiscussing an open door policy can feel like a lot of pressure, especially for already mega-busy executives, but that's where some ground rules apply. For us, it's about setting expectations. For example, we have a general rule about how long it should typically take you to reply to a colleague and how to respond when you are incredibly busy and need to come back to address what they've contacted you about.\nHow our core values also help bring it to life\nThe core values of Moniepoint inherently makes room for an open door policy.\nFor example candour is one of our core values, and in itself, it connotes being open and honest with feedback, so people don't fall into a pattern of holding back good feedback that's essential for growth.\nEmpathy, another core value that we possess as a company, does this in a two-pronged way. Firstly is in dealing with users, and then in communicating with colleagues. This helps leverage the policy in a well-rounded way.\nAnother core value of ours, which is technical depth, is a wonderful push factor that spurs our employees on to making good use of this policy. It drives them to ask for help, and learn from one another, thereby making great use of the policy.\nGrit, which translates to courage and determination in DreamMakers (this is what we call ourselves), is another example of a push factor that helps bring the policy to life for us at Moniepoint.\nWould you like to experience what it's like to work in an environment where growth is inherently enabled through policies like this? Head over to \nmoniepoint.com/careers\n.\n

Getting a handle on Moniepoint’s open door policy

On February 2nd, 2023, Tosin made a post on his internal work timeline; \nHey guys. I just took this quiz, and it says my personality would be a goalkeeper if I were on a football team. Want to know what your personality says about you? Take the quiz here.\n\nIn under 3 hours, we had over 100 responses, the internal comms equivalent of a viral post. So how did this happen?\nFirst off, who am I? My name is Celestina Dike (everyone calls me Celz, and you can too). I’m the Internal Communications manager at Moniepoint Inc., and if this is the first time you’ve heard about me, you’ve not been reading our blog, and I’m hurt.\nAt Moniepoint, we think of ourselves as a high-performance sports team, but it wasn’t always like this. We made a collective decision to create this narrative, and this is the story of how it happened.\nIt started with an idea.\n\nIn August 2022, Didi reached out to me. She’d had a conversation with our Head of People Operations, Naz, and they decided we needed to define our internal culture. “Culture” is thrown around everywhere in the corporate world, and we wanted to be different. We wanted a way to define exactly what we meant when we talked about the kind of culture we have at Moniepoint.\nSo, I had to work on a culture campaign.\nBut when this went live, how exactly would we get people to \nlive\n the culture? It was one thing to say \nxxx\n was our culture, but what would make it memorable to every team member? How could this be engaging to them? I had my work cut out for me.\n \nAs we defined this culture, one of the earliest conclusions was that we’re not a family. I’m sure you’ve heard us talk about this often. Instead, as we’ve described \nhere\n, we think of ourselves as a sports team. This became the overarching metaphor for the process.\nAnd we took it a step further. We weren’t going to be defined as just any sports team. Teams across different sports had different structures and dynamics.So, we picked the most popular sports in the world, one that our multicultural team across continents could relate with - football.\nOn a football team (soccer, if you’re American), everyone had defined roles, but this didn’t get in the way of accomplishing goals. Everyone on a football team knows what they’re there to do, and they do it. However, a striker would defend if that’s what the situation required. That’s the kind of synergy we were going for.\nThe Eureka Moment (or something like that).\nI don’t really think of the point where I thought of the personality test as a Eureka moment, but I suppose it counts as one.\nI had been brainstorming about the campaign, and the best way to get people to engage with it when I remembered the personality tests I loved to take online. I’ll be honest, no matter how busy I am, I’d always take the test whenever I come across them. “Take this test to find out what currency you are”? Sign me up!\nAnother important detail that made the personality test idea stand out from the rest of what I explored, was how immersive it would be. Beyond just communicating the culture, it could form a useful base for improving both inter and intra-team interactions.\nSo as we tried to figure out a way to kickstart the culture campaign, I suggested a personality test, and the team was on board with it.\nThe next thing Yemi (our creative director) and I had to do, was define the different personalities using a typical football team. We wanted to focus on just four so it wasn’t too complicated. In this way, it was also easier to connect it to existing personality models like the Hartman Personality Profile that’s based on 4 colours, and the four temperaments.\nTo connect these team roles to personality types, I reached out to one of our partners with experience in psychology and personality tests. With their help, we were able to create a model that helped identify each personality type.\nWe finally settled on a personality typing that connected the football roles to personality types on the colour wheel. Here’s how we categorised them;\nGoalkeeper\nWhat stands out when you think about a goalkeeper? For me, it’s making sure the ball doesn’t go into the net, and that means paying attention to details. On the colourwheel, the Goalkeeper’s personality is Blue. Like a goalkeeper, people with this personality are very detailed and have their eyes on the ball always. They ensure that nothing slips past them. In the work place, they are typically ​​structured, organised, functional, and formal.\n\nDefender\nThe defender is a silent advocate for the team. They tend to be relaxed, friendly, and informal but pay close attention to and detail to tasks they’re assigned. Their personality colour is green, and when they’re on a team, they give their all to whatever tasks they’re assigned.\n\nMidfielder\nThe midfielder is a collaborator. They have a vibrant personality coloured yellow, and they connect the team. They love project management and are amazing with bringing resources together to get a project done. They’re fast and spontaneous and help a team move forward.\n\nStriker\nFor a quick picture, think Messi or Ronaldo. The striker is someone who is a goal-getter. They identify opportunities and take advantage of them in order to get the maximum results possible. Their personality colour is red. They are efficient and structured, and will typically be the first person to offer to take on tasks.\n\n
\nDesign, Engineering, and tests\nWith the basic framework of the test in place, the next thing was creating the actual test. I had to meet with Adrian, our VP,  User Experience and Chidum, VP of Engineering,  to explain what we were trying to achieve. We then agreed on a process and flow for the project.\nThe test had three parts;\nThe opening page with a basic explanation of the test and a place to fill in your name (or nickname).\nThe test proper where you had to pick an option from a couple of questions\nThe results page where you saw your personality type\nAdrian’s team got to work with the designs, and while they were on it, I worked on the results page with Yemi and Olympio (brand designer).\nAt this point, even though we had everything we needed, the culture campaign couldn’t exactly go live yet. We were still called TeamApt, but not for long. I knew that we were going to \nchange our name\n soon, and so I had to work with that as I crafted the campaign. The “culture book” we put together had Moniepoint branding, and so did the personality test we were putting together. This meant they could both only go out after the name change was official to avoid spilling the tea.\nThe process was on, and for now, I mostly had to wait.\nIterations\nPersonality test v1\n\nI got the first version of the personality test from Chidum on the 28th of November. By then, they had not done the results page to share or download. This was the first iteration. You could only click the link, and go through the questions.\nOn review, the comms team settled on the fact that the pictures attached to the questions on the test didn’t work. I reselected the images and got back to have them changed. Luckily Chidum and I are best friends (or that’s what I like to believe). He created a group with the engineering team that made it easy for them and me to collaborate.\nPersonality test v2\nBy the 5th of December, they had redone it, and we realised that there was another problem - we couldn’t share the test via Workplace chat (our internal communication platform). We didn’t know if it was a feature or a bug. We had to fix that too.\nPersonality test v3\nBy the 8th of December, we decided that we had to personalise it further. The tests started with you putting in your nickname, and we wanted that nickname to feature at the end. So, we fixed the ending page to make the test come across as more personal. At this point, Chidum was making most of the changes himself, which I thought was really cool.\nPersonality test v- no longer counting\n\nWe also had text corrections to improve the clarity of the questions on the test. I reached out to the partner we had worked with earlier for clarification, and we adjusted it. But this created yet another problem.\nWith these adjustments, the algorithm got a little out of whack. The questions weren’t quite matching the results. On the first attempt of the quiz, everyone got a result they agreed with. But by the time we had made a couple of changes to improve the experience of the quiz, the results changed. As the code was being worked on, there was a mixup, and we had to correct that too.\n3.. 2.. 1.. Liftoff 🚀\n\nWe made tweaks and adjustments right until the final day. On the night before, we added a copy at the beginning. There was also an issue with the quiz not working on some devices.\nOn the morning of “D-Day”, I met with Chidum and his team to explain the issue with the algorithm. We had tiny fixes with the grammar and many other tiny changes. We had a standard that we wanted this test to meet, and all hands were on deck to make it happen.\nSoon, it had all come together, and we were ready to launch.\nTosin took the test and shared his result, and soon, the timeline was full. Everyone shared the results they got, and, interestingly, agreed that it reflected their personalities. By our next townhall, people were using the terms “striker, “defender”, and co, to describe themselves.\nLessons and takeaways\nAt the time that I started with this, I was just transitioning into my role as internal communications manager. This was somewhat unfamiliar territory, and the scale of the project also meant that it was more tasking than was typical. But with smooth cross-team collaboration, we were able to pull off something that got our multicultural team of almost a thousand (at the time) engaged. I was so excited that I tweeted about it.\n\nGoing through this process also made it easier to relate with my team, and this is something we’re extending to everyone else as well. With an idea of each other’s personalities and how it fits into our culture, collaboration is easier, and team members can work together more effectively. Culture becomes less of an undefinable thing floating in the ether, and becomes real to every one of us.\nIf you’d like to be part of a company where culture isn’t just a buzzword, click \nhere\n to claim your spot.\n

Making culture go viral - the story behind Moniepoint’s internal culture-based personality test.

Do you want to reset your business pin?\nIn this article, we will share with you a step by step guide on how to reset your business pin.\nResetting your business pin on Moniepoint is simple and straightforward.\nSo if you want to reset your pin for whatever reason, do not fret. Simple follow this step by step guide to resetting your pin.\n\n1: Launch your Moniepoint Business App \n\n2: Sign in using your current username and password\n\n\n3: Select your account\n\n\n\n4: Click on the 3 triple bars\n\n\n\n5: Click on the setting icon\n\n\n6: Click on Security\n\n\n\n7: Click on Reset Transaction Pin\n\n\n\n8: Enter your current pin. Then enter your new desired new pin. Confirm your new pin by entering it again\nOnce you have entered your old and new pin, the Change Pin Button becomes enabled\n\n\n\n9: Click  on Change pin\nOnce you click Change Pin, an OTP code will be sent to your registered phone number.\n\n\n\n10:Enter the OTP sent to you. The OTP is a 6-digit code that is usable within 30seconds of receiving it.\n\n\n\n11: Once you enter the code, click on “Submit” button and your pin will be successfully changed.\n\n\n\nThere you have it. You have successfully changed your pin. If you still have challenges, please use the help button to get more help or chat with our support team.\nDon’t have a Moniepoint business account? Get a \nbusiness banking account\n in less than 5 mins\n

How Can I Reset My Moniepoint Business Pin?

Law and legal constraints aren’t the first thing anyone thinks about when they talk about the tech industry. When you hear “tech”, your mind immediately goes to a lot of code and design. And, fair enough, that’s an important part of it, just not quite the full picture.\nThere are laws and regulations all around us. Everything that works in our cultured society works because there are laws in place guiding it. The technology ecosystem is no different. For every technology solution created, every bit of innovation that escapes into our world, laws exist to guide and advise its creation and use. This area is where technology law resides.\n\nOkechukwu Eke - Moniepoint's Head of Legal\nTo understand how this works at Moniepoint, I had a chat with Okey, Our Head of Legal. The first thing I learnt, was that the scope of the legal team covers five broad areas;\nLitigation management\nDocumentation - contract reviews and drafting\nIntellectual property management\nManagement of the secretariat\nProvision of legal advice\nLet’s take a peek into each of them;\nLitigation & dispute management\nThe primary task of our legal team is to avoid litigation. That sounds ironic (why have a legal team if you want to avoid court cases?) but stay with me. Having a product that is used by millions of businesses means that it’s inevitable that we’ll get some complaints. When these complaints arise, the first thing we do is to understand those complaints and respond to them appropriately after relevant investigations have been conducted.\nLitigation takes time and resources on both our side, and that of our businesses, and we’d rather ensure they have an experience as smooth as possible while using our products. This is why we often try to resolve whatever challenges they might have, without it leading to a court case.\nBut real-world scenarios don’t often play out as we’d intend. Ultimately, some of these situations lead to litigation, but that only happens in a small percentage of cases. A very small percentage.\nFor the most part, our legal team works hard to ensure that these situations are resolved without ever leading to a court case, and that every side stays happy.\nDocumentation - contract reviews and drafting\nWhen Okey joined early on, he realised that we had a bit of a problem. Our documentation system wasn’t optimised, and this meant that, it wasn’t very easy to track and review documents and agreements. We needed better documentation management.\nDocumentation management basically involves drafting and reviewing contracts. On a day-to-day basis, the legal team receives requests from different business lines and functional teams to draft or review contracts.\nWhen they receive those requests, they provide the required legal support. Sometimes that whole contract review process might involve negotiations with counterparties. Counterparties could involve our customers, and it could also involve our suppliers, depending on who we’re entering a contract with.\nTo solve our documentation problem, we started using a contract management platform called Juro. With this tool, we now have a centralised contract management platform. It allows members of the sales team to generate contracts by themselves - they can go on the platform, and input details by themselves, and contracts are automatically generated. This aids efficiency and reduces the time that would have been spent on drafting contracts. The legal team also put up standard contract templates on that platform to enable other teams to create contracts as needed.\nJuro \ndid a case study\n on how this changed our legal documentation system\n.\n Through that same platform, we get our contracts signed by relevant signatories, and then, of course, we have all of those contracts in a shared folder that any member of the legal team can access.\nIntellectual property management\nIntellectual property management (or IP management if you’re cool), involves registration of relevant trademarks for our products and services, or trademarks with regards to our brand or company names.\n“Moniepoint” is our unique identity, and as we create products for emerging markets, it’s important that we protect both our identity and our intellectual property, by having them registered.\nI know it doesn’t sound as dramatic as your favourite suits episode where Harvey is battling it out in court, brandishing sarcasm while being suave, but this is important too. As we expand as a global company, we aim to ensure we have this trademark registered to avoid possible infringement, i.e. someone else going ahead to register these trademarks and then claim ownership of the mark.\nManagement of the company secretariat\nWe (and I say “we” because I’m unofficially part of the legal team now), manage the company secretariats of various entities. After these entities have been set up, there’s sometimes a need to make certain filings when there are changes - such as changes in shareholdings or composition of directors, for example.\nWe make those filings at the corporate affairs commission to ensure that our records are up to date. It also involves the filing of our annual returns when due.\nProvision of legal advice\nThe legal team is also part of the product development cycle. Occasionally, we receive requests from business lines and functional teams to provide legal advice on certain issues. So we carefully consider the issue on the ground, look at what existing laws state on the issue, and then also consider the commercial side of things in providing legal advice. We consider both the legal side and the commercial side in order to arrive at a solution for the business. \nWe ensure that our responses are timely to internal stakeholders so that they can provide value to the various businesses out there. For instance, if we delay in providing feedback when requests are made, that will, in turn, delay the feedback provided to businesses.\n
\nThese 5 areas blend to create a unified approach that keeps the company out of legal risks, and ensures that our products and services remain accessible to business owners.\nTaking the law into your hands\nOf course, I don’t mean that illegally, but being a legal team in the tech industry feels a little like that. They’re always “hands-on” with the law, guiding the company to avoid legal risks. That’s why having a legal team in your tech company is important.\nIt can be tricky, but according to Okey, if you’re setting up a team for your company, or start-up, then you want to get people who;\nUnderstand your business\nUnderstand the risk appetite of your business\nUnderstand the challenges your company could face from a legal perspective\nOnce all of these things are understood, it guides your head of legal, or the person managing your legal team, to be able to source for legal counsels that will be able to solve problems. \nOf course, in choosing legal counsels, it’s also important to choose legal counsels that are smart and commercially savvy. Not just people who know the law, but people who are also aware of the commercial implications of actions. It’s necessary to strike that balance between the legal and commercial aspects of a business, and that’s what the best legal teams do.\nAd Astra Per Aspera\nForgive my Latin, but if you’re unfamiliar with the term, it means “through hardships to the stars”. The philosophy of Moniepoint’s legal team is to manage legal risks through sound legal and commercial analysis. This philosophy ensures that the legal team is at the heart of the business. So, the legal team will always provide quick and innovative solutions to the problems that the functional team has from time to time, to ensure that the entire team makes it... to the stars. As Moniepoint grows and evolves, we’re out there to provide value and enable opportunities for the business. That's our philosophy.\n
\nIf you think our legal team is awesome, and you’d like to be a part of a team doing awesome things in awesome ways (is that too many “awesomes”?), visit \nmoniepoint.com/careers\n to claim your spot.\n

Going on the stands with Moniepoint’s legal team.

If you’re a business owner, one constant worry is how to reduce business expenses without sacrificing quality, reputation or laying off staff.\nCash flow is a constant source of worry for most small and mid size businesses. According to business statistics, 95% of businesses fail within their first 5 years and cash flow problems are one of the major reasons behind these failures. \nHence, it is crucial for business owners to understand how to optimize expenses and enhance profit margins. An effective approach to achieve this is by minimizing waste.\n\nTop 10 Ways to Reduce Cost and Minimize Waste\nDiligently Review and Renegotiate Supplier Contracts\nDeploy Cost-Effective Marketing Strategies\nAdopt Energy-Efficient Practices\nEnhance Inventory Management\nTap Into Outsourcing Opportunities\nFacilitate Remote Work Arrangements\nManage and Analyse Expenses\nEstablish Effective Cash Flow Management\nInvest in Employee Training and Development\nHarness Technology\n\n1: Diligently Review and Renegotiate Supplier Contracts:\nRegularly evaluate your existing supplier contracts for potential savings opportunities. Do not hesitate to renegotiate terms or pricing based on current market rates, the volume of purchase, or your long-standing relationship with the supplier. It is also crucial to seek competitive bids from multiple vendors periodically. This comparative analysis ensures you’re receiving the most cost-effective deal and the highest value for your investment.\n2: Deploy Cost-Effective Marketing Strategies:\nA pivot towards digital marketing platforms can be a game-changer in terms of cost efficiency. Platforms such as social media, email marketing, and search engine optimization offer more targeted reach at lower costs than traditional advertising channels. Free or low-cost marketing tools and online platforms are excellent resources to augment your digital marketing strategies. The key is to strike a balance between digital and traditional marketing, thereby avoiding unnecessary expenses on conventional advertising, without completely eliminating its benefits.\n3: Adopt Energy-Efficient Practices:\nBy reducing energy consumption, your business can save a significant amount on utility bills. Implementing energy-efficient equipment and promoting responsible practices among employees can contribute to these savings. For instance, switching to LED lighting, optimizing temperature settings for HVAC systems, and encouraging employees to turn off unused lights and devices can collectively result in substantial cost reduction.\n4: Enhance Inventory Management:\nAn efficient inventory management system can help mitigate storage costs and prevent capital from being tied up in unused stock. Regularly review and analyse your inventory to identify slow-moving or obsolete items that might be incurring unnecessary costs. Adopting just-in-time inventory practices can also be a strategic move to prevent overstocking and minimize storage expenses.\n5: Tap Into Outsourcing Opportunities:\nConsider outsourcing non-core tasks, such as payroll processing, IT support, or accounting, to external service providers. Outsourcing can reduce labour costs, provide your business with specialized expertise on an as-needed basis, and allow your team to focus on core competencies. This strategy is particularly beneficial when these functions do not form the crux of your business operations.\n6: Facilitate Remote Work Arrangements:\nIf adaptable to your business model, remote work options can lead to significant cost savings. By allowing employees to work from home, the requirement for physical office space can be reduced, decreasing rent, utilities, and expenses on office supplies.\n7: Manage and Analyse Expenses:\nRegular tracking and review of all business expenses can identify potential cost-saving areas. Eliminating or reducing non-essential expenses like unnecessary subscriptions, memberships, or excessive travel, can lead to substantial savings without compromising the business operations. Utilizing a \ncorporate expense card\n can simplify the process of managing and tracking these expenses.\n8: Establish Effective Cash Flow Management:\nOptimizing cash flow management by monitoring and efficiently handling accounts receivable and accounts payable can help your business finances stay healthy. Offering incentives for early payments can expedite receivables, while negotiating longer payment terms with suppliers can provide more breathing space for your cash reserves.\n9: Invest in Employee Training and Development:\nEmpowering your current employees through professional development can eliminate the need for outsourcing or hiring additional staff. Training programs can improve their skills, boosting productivity and operational efficiency. While it involves an upfront cost, this investment will likely result in significant cost savings in the long run.\n10: Harness Technology:\nThe strategic deployment of technology can streamline business processes and reduce the need for manual intervention, leading to cost and time savings. Incorporate business management software, cloud-based storage solutions, and automation tools to make operations more efficient and potentially reduce the need for additional staff. The right technology can not only optimize operations but also provide competitive advantages in today’s digital age.\n\nConclusion:\nWhile operating costs are inevitable for any successful company, small and medium-sized businesses can implement straightforward measures to decrease expenses, ultimately resulting in higher revenue.\nTry one or a combination of these tips and you will, you will gradually witness a reduction in business costs sooner than you anticipate.

10 Ways To Reduce Business Expenses

\n\nIn Q1, the team hit some pretty big milestones, but the milestones by themselves don’t often tell the full story. With just the numbers, it’s easy to forget that we’re made up of people, doing the work to make things work. For every milestone we hit, there was a lesson. A way in which we had to adapt to meet challenges as they came, evolving to keep ourselves on track.\n\nIt started with a change in the demands of our users. Regulatory changes in Nigeria saw a shift in the dependence of businesses from cash, to almost strictly digital transactions. Our focus since inception has been on enabling businesses to make a shift like this, but what’s that saying about being careful what you wish for?\nThis cashless policy caused a surge in growth that our support infrastructure wasn’t ready for at the time, but that didn’t last for too long. To meet the increased demand and ensure that we were serving our business owners effectively, we scaled our resources. Currently, we have a 92% CSAT score, even with 10,000 daily interactions.\nIn Q1, we processed a total of 1 billion transactions for our businesses. On its own, this might already sound like a lot, but the scale is even more profound when you put it into context. First, hitting the 1 billion transactions took us 3 times as long in 2022 (9 months). Even more, our transfer feature got hit by industry infrastructure failures, but we didn’t let this get in the way. As we solved this, we launched an additional feature, recurring transfers, to help businesses schedule payments.\nOur \nsite reliability team\n also swung into action, making sure that merchants could (as their name implies), rely on us. We reduced disputes due to processor failures to about 10% daily and reduced downtime by 60%.\nWith the demand surge from businesses and, the reliability of our platform, POS requests went up by 1000%. \nEvery 30 seconds, we activated a terminal for one of our merchants\n. This increased demand was so high, that our manufacturers had to create a new factory line for us. A win, not just for us, but for the businesses we’ll power to accept digital payments with ease.\nWith this growth, we were able to onboard more businesses, surpassing the 1 million mark of merchants who trust our products. We also hit a milestone of over 500k apps in the hands of business owners. But the heart of this was onboarding some of Nigeria’s largest hospitals;\nObafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital\nFederal Medical Centre, Asaba\nNational Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi\nIrrua Specialist Teaching Hospital\nFederal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital\nNnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, and others.\nAll of this contributed to our total processing value of $43 billion for Q1 alone.\nPlacing a premium on membership, we had a leadership retreat in the Seychelles. It was a great time for everyone to get in sync, bracing for the other milestones we intend to hit in the rest of 2023. Furthermore, to enhance our synergy as a team, we designed and developed our very own personality test based on our culture. \nWith all of this in perspective, it’s less about the numbers in isolation, but also about every member of the team. Every milestone we hit, helped us connect with each component of \nour 4Ms framework\n, building a sense of membership and meaning as we make money through our mastery. \nIf you’d like to be a part of a team that’s focused on being better every day, visit moniepoint.com/careers to claim your spot.

Showing grit in the face of challenges; our Q1 2023 milestones.

\n\nTL;DR: Moniepoint has been listed as the second fastest-growing company in Nigeria by the Financial Times in its latest ranking.\nWe’ve recently been listed by the Financial Times, the world’s leading financial publication, as second on its annual list of  Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies. This list was compiled by \nStatista\n, a leading research company renowned for its insight into African companies’ performance, in a rigorous screening process.\nSince our pivot towards creating solutions for businesses in 2019,  we’ve had one goal - to power the dreams of businesses in emerging markets. Every growth on every metric we’ve seen since then, speaks primarily to the progress we’ve made with creating solutions that over a million businesses can depend on.\nIn this survey, companies were ranked by their revenue’s absolute growth rate and compound annual growth rate (CAGR), between 2018 and 2021. Our growth rates of 321%  (absolute) and 7,373%  (CAGR) in this period, led to us claiming the number 2 spot, ahead of hundreds of leading companies from diverse industries like technology, telecoms, financial services and healthcare.\nOur team has also grown massively in this period, and there are now over a thousand of us, all of whose collective efforts are validated by this recognition. Our focus on demographics that are typically excluded from formal systems remains unchanged as we remain devoted to powering the dreams of businesses across emerging markets.

Moniepoint Ranks 2nd on the Financial Times’ List of Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies.

\n\nRisk and compliance management involves dealing with a company’s reputation with regulatory bodies. It’s important for us to stay within the boundaries of stipulated regulations by the designated regulatory body like the Central Bank of Nigeria and attend to law enforcement requests. My job is to ensure that we do.\nI also work with the different product teams as they develop products. I’m there to guide them on the risks to consider and remind them of regulations that guide their design. \nBecause this is a field that not many are familiar with, I often get asked what I do. Here are some peculiar things I have to do daily or weekly as a risk and compliance manager in the tech industry;\nBonding with internal stakeholders\nOne of the foremost things I must do is to bond with my colleagues. When my name is mentioned, I don’t want people to become defensive, as this puts a strain on my ability to successfully perform my role. It’s much easier to work with people when they’re relaxed around me, as it makes it easier to know the processes they’re undertaking and give advice. \nI always work hard to buy that confidence and trust across internal stakeholders. It helps to ensure they don’t feel compelled to contact me. Instead, I want them to naturally feel like they can carry me along when they have an ongoing project or challenge and not that they have to do it out of compulsion.\nNo matter how good you feel as a risk and compliance executive, you will have hitches if you don’t understand the company's products.  So, I work hard to ensure that I have a good rapport with my colleagues across the company to be efficient. With this rapport, whenever I give recommendations, they realise I’m on their side and are willing to listen and consider them.\nPropose solutions when there are no existing regulations for the business\nThe tech industry is pretty face paced. This means that sometimes, regulations are unable to keep up. Every day, we see new ideas within the tech ecosystem—for instance, crowdfunding platforms and companies. But then, we didn't have a regulatory body for crowding until it was signed last year. \nThis is why a part of what I do involves acting proactively and proposing solutions to the regulators. Certain things never change regarding regulations, and I want to make the regulators see that. So, I write to the regulators to get our processes reviewed and checked for compliance. \nThrough this, I’m inviting them and not waiting on them. They’ll check if we have processes in place, and once they are, there wouldn't be issues with the regulatory bodies.\nYou can also find me checking the regulations governing similar businesses in other countries. It’s often said that “there is nothing new under the sun”. Someone somewhere must have started something similar. So, it is my job to check, and armed with that knowledge, I can use the regulations in that country as a guide, pending when my country has a local law to address the business.\nGain the trust of external stakeholders \nAnother part of my routine is building relationships with stakeholders outside of my organisation. Collaboration is key, especially in risk and compliance. Without collaboration, covering all the necessary grounds to ensure we abide by regulations becomes impossible.\nBy gaining their trust through regular interactions, I also make it easier for them to give me access to the necessary information I need to carry out my role seamlessly. It's like buying a house. You need the keys to all the rooms if you’re going to inspect them fully, and that access is what building trust provides.\nSo, it’s important for me to keep working and delivering to show these stakeholders that I can be trusted and that working with me is collectively beneficial.\nCommunicating with the team\nI’d say that one of the superpowers of any risk and compliance officer is having effective communication skills. It is a needed skill as you would always have to communicate with members of your immediate team or even other interrelated teams. \nI always have to communicate every day, especially when there are overlapping functions. With an auditor, for example, I must employ the use of awareness and tact to identify that as a risk and compliance person, my role ends at point Z, and I can allow the auditor to come and continue from there. \nI had to consciously build my communication skills in my early career years, especially in the office. I’d say that communicating clearly and objectively with an open mind has proven helpful so far. \nRisk-free zone\nWhen a day of analysing risks and ensuring compliance is done, I like to kick up my feet and spend time in my risk-free zone - bonding with my husband. You know what they say about all work and no play. Despite risk and compliance in tech being face paced, I create time to make memories with my husband. We do this by exploring new places and cooking new recipes. You’d always find us spending time cooking together. \nAmongst the many peculiarities of risk compliance, one of the most frequent things I have to deal with is a lack of awareness about it. Because of this, one of my core responsibilities is helping people understand the importance of risks and compliance. That way, they’ll always turn to me when necessary because they understand how I come in.

A Day In The Life Of A Risk And Compliance Officer In The Tech Industry

Automation is a common phrase amongst software developers and test automation engineers. You must have heard people using this phrase during a software development cycle and were confused. You may know what it means, but you don't understand why and how it plays in software development. \nThis article deeply delves into test automation and its role in software development. \nWhat is test automation?\nTest automation ensures that you have manual test cases automated using specific automation tools. An example of such automation tools could be Selenium or Cypress. Not only do you use these tools, but you also use them with the knowledge of a programming language. It could be Java, JavaScript, or any other programming language that supports automation. \n\n\nWith test automation, all your manual test cases are written down in a code base. It helps you in the future when you want to run regression tests. Therefore, you don't have to start testing them manually again. Instead, you can just run your script from your system, and it automatically tests those existing test cases you had added in your script. \nThe concept of test automation is helpful across many organizations. It allows companies to have a database that assists new QA engineers. These newbies now know how things are done in the organization. \n\nThe role of test automation in software development \nFrom my experience as a QA engineer, test automation wears many hats in the software development life cycle. Some of its benefits include:\nTime-saving \nThe goal is always to optimize for time when building a software, and test automation makes it happen. For instance, you have about a thousand test cases to execute, and the business expects you to go live the next day or that weekend. It means you're running on a tight schedule, and implementing these test cases isn't feasible if you run them manually. \nYou need more time to test manually, which is where test automation comes into play. If these scripts were automated, you don't have to do anything. All you need to do is run the automated scripts, and it will test for you within five or ten minutes, depending on the largeness of your test suites. \nYou would have already gotten feedback on all these tests in a little time. But if you had decided to do it manually, you're looking at spending the whole day and some more on it. \nTest automation helps you reduce the time it takes to execute your test cases.\nFaster feedback \nYou'd also get faster feedback when your test cases are automated. The more time you save on executing your test cases, the faster the feedback you will get. \nIf you were to test manually, you would look at six to seven hours to get feedback. But with test automation, you can get feedback within 20 minutes.\nReduces business expenses \nTypically, businesses are always looking for ways to reduce their businesses, and test automation is one of the ways to go about it. You won't need more manual testers if you have an engineer that can automate. You're saving time and a lot of money with one engineer that can automate. \nEven if you need manual testers, you wouldn't need so many. This way, you're saving the money you would have used to pay these manual testers' salaries.\nIncreases test coverage \nTesting manually limits your test coverage because you are human. Many factors can hinder your progress, such as fatigue. Sometimes, it could even be a simple oversight. \nIt isn't unusual to feel that it would still be working because something was working before. Thus, you tend to ignore and not test it. However, automation doesn't think like humans. It does every instruction given to it to perform. \nSo, if you have like a thousand test cases, it would test all the test cases and give you feedback. If anyone fails, it will provide you with feedback; you can see the errors on the logs. Thus, giving you a higher test coverage. \nReusability of test suites \nLet's say you write a test script that has to do with login functionality. Then, maybe you move to another product that also has login functionality. You don't need to rewrite that login functionality because you've already written it for another product. \nAll you need to do is pick the test you wrote and use it in your current project.\nImproved accuracy \nIf you rely on manual testing, you might not check everything and ensure a hundred percent accuracy. You might skip some test cases believing it was working before and everything is working. But automation will test everything and give you accurate feedback against what a manual tester would have given you.\nWith manual testing, it's easy to assume that all your 10,000 test cases are working perfectly. But when you run the scripts, you might discover some tests failing. For example, you can see that 80% of the test passed while 20% failed. It means it is more accurate than manual testing. \n
\nTest automation and its role in the quality of the software\nWith all the roles that test automation plays in the software development life cycle, it improves the quality of the software. Therefore, test automation equates to higher and better quality in software development. After all, it gives you accurate feedback. \nSome of the metrics you can use in checking software quality are: \nIt meets the business requirement \nLess high-impact bugs complaints \nStability - almost 100% uptime. \n\nTest automation also helps to improve quality through feature coverage. For example, you're trying to simulate thousands of virtual users interacting with your web application. It is more of a performance test because you're automating the process of simulating users that will hit your application. \nLet's say you have the Moniepoint business app on production, and you're expecting a minimum of 200,000 users to be on that app. Now, you want to simulate that before you even get to production to be sure the servers will not crash. It would be best if you were sure you wouldn't have any downtime when you get 200,000 or 300,000 users. \nThen, you get to know the bandwidth at which the server can take or the servers' limits or breaking point. You'd now put it at that point that if you get to this particular number, stop other people from going into the server until someone leaves. So it doesn't go down or get downtime.\nNow, you understand how test automation helps to improve quality and makes your product outstanding. \nHow does test automation integrate with continuous integration and continuous delivery process? \nThere's what we call a pipeline in our dev ops tools, and I'll explain continuous integration with an example. Let's say you finish automating your test cases, and you need to add the test cases to the pipeline. You're doing this to ensure that if there's any deployment from the developers' end, you don't need to go and trigger it manually. So once there is any new code deployment, automatically, the CICD picks up your automated test scripts and runs them for you from the start of testing. \nOn the part of integrating, it is adding your automated script to the pipeline, and then you set up the configurations on the pipeline. How do you want your automated script to be run? Is it immediately after a code has been deployed? Or do you want it every 10 minutes? Or 20? Or every 24 hours? Once you add it to the pipeline and set those configurations, this pipeline is now the CICD tool. \nWhenever you have deployments, it checks the configuration to know how to run the code based on your settings. If it's for every 5 minutes, it runs the tests every five minutes and sends feedback. If any build fails and everything doesn't pass successfully as it should, it stops deploying the build to the next environment. \nChallenges in implementing test automation \nI'd be lying if I said implementing test automation is easy. While it is useful and has many benefits, some people or organizations ignore it because of the challenges they might have encountered. \nSome of these challenges are:\nThe technical know-how\nIt could be that the test engineers within the organization are not familiar with the chosen automation tool, or they do not know the programming language. Often, they are used to the manual system, and navigating automation processes becomes difficult for them.  \nNot knowing how to prioritize tests \nWith automation, you need to know how to rank lower priorities against test cases of higher importance. When you run the automated scripts, it should test for test cases that are relevant at that time so that it doesn't waste the time of everyone involved in the project. \nTypically, you should test those of higher priorities before lower-priority test cases. So, prioritizing tests is another challenge that many engineers face. \nCommunication and collaboration \nIt is essential to know how to pass information to every team member involved in the project. You also need to know how to reach out to teammates when there is an issue. \nFor example, I have a blocker that is blocking me from being able to write my automated tests. It could be that there is someone on the team who can help me with a more straightforward solution that could unblock me in less than five minutes. But because I do not know how to reach out or communicate, I try to research independently. \nThen, I spent about two or three hours on something I could have resolved in five minutes. Therefore, communication is another challenge. You need to learn how to communicate well or properly research when you have an issue, or else you wouldn't be able to solve it. \nTaking actual user conditions into account \nLet's use the earlier scenario of stimulating virtual users that hits a specific application. If you don't consider things like that, it might be challenging because things will still be breaking once you go to production. \nSo, take actual user conditions into account. \n
\nMeasuring the success of your test automation \nOften, it isn't about creating something new or automating a process. You need to check that it is working and successful. As a new engineer in a new organization, the best way to measure the success of your test automation is by checking if it \ncatches all those bugs it's supposed to notice. \nFor instance, you write an automated script and run it for the first time, and everything succeeds. Then, a code change springs up somewhere, and you may not be aware of the change. Then, they tell you it's time for production, and you rerun your automated script. A successful automation should catch that bug and show that something has broken.\nIt is best to remember that sometimes, some tests could fail due to network issues or a change in the UI flow. If you know the difference in the flow, you need to update your flow to match what you currently have. \nOne of the ways to test your success metrics is by checking that it captures a failure if there is a change in code or something breaks in a process that was working initially. Once it signals that something is wrong, you can check manually to know why it's failing. \nIt allows you to delay deployment until the issue is resolved. Once they fix the problem, you can rerun your script and ensure everything is a hundred percent successful before giving the go-ahead for production. \nBest practices for creating and maintaining automated test suites \n\nCreating and maintaining automated test suites is a detailed process. Some of the ways to go about it are:\nDecide which tests to automate\nEvery test automation plan must begin with narrowing down which tests will benefit from being automated. So, it's advisable to automate tests using some of these qualities: \nTests requiring repetitive action with vast amounts of data \nTests prone to human error \nTests that need to use multiple data sets \nTests that extend across numerous builds \nTests that must run on different platforms, hardware, or OS configurations \nTests focusing on frequently used functions \nTypically, you'd need to talk with your product manager and discuss ticket priority. So, once you have tickers, you need to divide them into higher and lower priorities based on the metrics I have highlighted above. \nFor example, you know that login tickets would have a higher priority because you cannot do anything inside the application if you cannot log in. The same applies to the registration, as you cannot do anything in the application without registering. \nSo, you sit with your PM and draft out those higher-priority tickets. Start with the registration flow, go ahead to the login, take the next higher-priority feature, and automate. \nDivide tasks based on skill\nWhen creating test suites and cases, assign each to individuals based on their technical expertise. For example, if the test requires a proprietary tool to be executed, it will allow team members of varying skill levels to create test scripts with reasonably minimal ease. \nCollective ownership of tests\nIt is crucial to keep in mind that everyone has a role to play when it comes to test automation. It isn't just about a single tester or engineer to carry out the entire automation testing project. Everyone involved in the process has to be active and on deck. \nIf the rest of the team does not stay up to date every step of the way, they will not be able to contribute in any meaningful way. \nRemove Uncertainty \nThe entire point of automation is to achieve consistent and accurate test results. Whenever a test fails, testers have to identify what went wrong. However, with an increase in the number of false positives and inconsistencies, a corresponding increase in the time required for analyzing errors occurs. \nTo prevent this, one has to eliminate uncertainty by removing unstable tests in regression packs. Additionally, automated tests can sometimes miss out on checking necessary verifications because they need to be updated. You can prevent this with sufficient test planning before running any tests.\nIt is also essential to be conscious of whether every test is always up to date. Also, ensure that the sanity and validity of automated tests are adequately assessed throughout test cycles. \nTest on real devices \nNo matter the website or app, there is a need for it to be tested on real devices and browsers. \nKeep records for better debugging \nWhen tests fail, it's essential to keep records of the failure and text and video logs of the failed scenario so that testers can identify the reasons for the failure. It also helps when new engineers come on board. \nChoose a testing tool with an in-built mechanism for automatically saving browser screenshots in each test step. It makes it easy to detect the stage at which the error occurs. \nUse data-driven tests\nA manual test becomes out of the question if multiple data points need to be analyzed together. The sheer volume of data and the number of variables would make it impossible for any human to conduct quick and error-free tests. \nImplementing data-driven automated tests boils it down to a single test and a single data set, which can then be used to work through an array of data parameters. Thus, it helps to simplify the process.\nEarly and frequent testing \nStart testing early in the sprint development lifecycle to get the most out of automation testing. It also helps if you run tests as often as required. By doing so, testers can start detecting bugs as they appear and resolve them immediately. \nDoing this saves much of the time and money that would have to be spent to fix bugs in a later development stage or even in production.\nPrioritize detailed and quality test reporting \nAutomation should reduce the amount of time QA teams have to spend verifying test results. So, set up adequate reporting infrastructure with the right tools which generate detailed and high-quality reports for every test. \nGroup tests according to parameters such as type, tags functionality, results, etc. A good test summary report should be created after each cycle. \nAutomation is not the same as Artificial Intelligence (AI) \nOne of the biggest misconceptions I hear about automation is that it is the same as AI/ Machine Learning! To wrap up, I want to clarify that both concepts are different. \nThe concept of machine learning implies that things automatically happen based on instructions, or it learns and understands how testing is done before it starts doing it on its own. But for automation, you need to add specific actions they need for it to work how you want it to. 

Test Automation in Software Development Life Cycle

A brief but detailed intro to Moniepoint’s 4Ms framework.\n\n\nIt’s the 21st century, and let’s face it, work isn’t anything like it used to be. Now we’re all about a healthy work culture while maximising productivity, and for a good reason. The world is evolving, and we should too.\nThe thing, though, is that striking that balance can be a little tricky. And although many companies claim they’ve done it, they’re often unwilling to talk about the how. So ultimately, it’s much like the Lochness monster. You don’t know what it is for sure, but you’ve heard rumours of its existence.\nFor anyone looking to join our team, however, we’ve decided to make this as lucid as possible. If we say we’re creating the best place to work, as well as ensuring you’re able to give your best, how exactly are we doing that?\nWell, meet the 4Ms framework.\nThe “M”, as I’m sure is obvious, is from “Moniepoint”, but each of the 4Ms stands for a distinct way we approach giving everyone who’s a part of Moniepoint a wholesome experience. Here’s a breakdown;\nM for Meaning\nNo one really likes working. I mean, think about it. No one sets out at the beginning of their life with the decision to spend hours stuck in front of a computer, click-clacking away. What we all can relate to, though, is making some difference in the world.\nWhether or not you like “working”, you want to leave some impact on the world. You, and I, want to feel like the things we do are making a difference out there. And that’s the first thing we think about too when defining the ideal workplace.\nHere’s some context. \nLast year\n, we powered \n592,677\n businesses across industries like Agriculture, Education, Healthcare, Non-Profits, and so much more. Often, we’d get messages from people whose lives have been changed by what we do, and everyone on our team gets to say, “Hey! I did that!”.\nHere’s someone on our team sharing what that feels like;\n\n\nM for Membership\nLet’s put this out there - we are not a family. I mean, it’s a cool concept, and I get why it’s common to refer to your workplace as a family, but family is different. I could decide to stop talking to my family, and they would still love me (probably. I’m not so sure). But that’s not healthy, and that’s not the kind of workplace we’re creating either. Instead, we think of ourselves as a team, in every sense of the word.\nSee, on a team, everyone has a role. And playing that role makes the team complete. When we win, we do so knowing that everyone made a contribution. We worked together to make this happen, and we celebrate as such. \nOn a team, no one is less important than the other. The goalkeeper is just as important as the striker, and the defenders have to connect with the midfielders to make it all work. I hope you get the football references.\nBut if you still don't believe me, believe Waqas.\n\n\nM for Mastery\nTo put this simply (and a little informally), everyone here knows their *bleep*. And that’s what you want. Life is a lot easier when you know you can count on the next person to put in a hundred percent, and that’s what we always do.\nMuch of what we do at Moniepoint revolves around creating solutions for emerging markets, that have either not been previously available, or were inaccessible to those who needed them. This means that we’re doing a lot of groundbreaking work, and don’t plan on ever giving up. We’re innovating cool stuff like \nPOS transfers\n and working with kick-ass \ndesign systems\n.\nIt’s a lot, and that’s what makes it worth it. It leaves everyone feeling like genuine badasses (is “badass” still cool to say?). From engineering to legal, marketing to design, everyone on the team is a master at their game. And we think like minds belong together, don’t you?\nWell, even if you don’t, Kemi thinks so;\n\n\nM for Money\nI’ll be straight with you; everything I’ve written above is just fancy English if you’re not getting paid what you’re worth. And companies tend to dance around this bit a lot. “It’s not about the money”, is something you probably might’ve heard often enough. But, we still need to pay them bills though, don’t we?\nWe understand the importance of not just getting paid what you’re worth, but also enjoying pretty awesome perks. I mean, what better completes the experience of doing meaningful work, being on a team where you fit right in, and working with people at the top of their game in the industry, than getting paid what you deserve? The only thing that sounds better is a pyramid scheme (but we don’t do that here).\nOf course, you don’t have to believe anything I’ve written. Tolu not only talks about this, but he also goes further to tie everything in.\n\nSo what’s it to you?\nWell, you tell me. I’ve laid it bare for you, and you’ve got additional evidence from members of our team. Think where you currently work has a better framework for creating an ideal workplace? Then send me a mail \nhere\n. Otherwise, visit \nmoniepoint.com/careers\n to join us. Bonus points if you talk about our 4Ms in your cover letter.\n

This is not just the usual corporate write-up about culture. I promise. 

In November 2022, we had decided to split the database which our services write into. We initially had everything one just one service, and that was a problem. If, for example, that central database went down, it would affect everything. If we had a slow query on a database, automatically, everybody was affected, and it wasn’t a good experience for our users.\n\n\nSo we took that insight and decided that we had to split our services. In the course of this splitting, we deployed at night because there was less traffic, and at that time, everything looked fine. But the next morning, by 5:30 am, there was a problem.\n\n\nThe scale of our products at Moniepoint and the delicacy of financial services means that there is little to no room for error. Keeping the trust of our users, merchants who depend on us for a complete business banking experience, requires that our products and services remain active. But the world isn’t perfect, and that’s where site reliability engineering comes in.\n\n\nWhat is Site Reliability?\n\n\nSimply put, Site reliability is the discipline or structure put in place that acts as a supporting system for software, applications or products.\n\n\nSite reliability is what happens when you ask a technical team to design an operations team. This means that, unlike traditional technical engineers, devs and other tech-related roles, site reliability engineers (SREs) apply some software principles to their day-to-day work to ensure the proper flow of our services.\n\n\nIn the incident from November, our SRE team helped identify the problem we had early on. The person on duty noticed that we started having slow queries on the database. We saw the slow query, and connected it to the deployment the night before. \n\n\nIn our language, we call it “deploying beans”. If you’ve ever had to prepare beans, then you know that cooking beans is very difficult, and it doesn’t always come out right. Apparently, what happened was that when the new splitting was done, they missed out on a vital column.\n\n\nSo we all had to get on a call - site reliability with enterprise architects and the head of infrastructure. We resolved that issue before 7:30 am that morning.\n\n\nThere are four primary responsibilities of our Site Reliability Engineering team;\n\n\nMonitoring:\n A foundational requirement for every SRE, monitoring involves collecting, processing, aggregating, and displaying real-time quantitative data about a system. This could include query counts and types, error counts and types, processing times, server lifetimes and other things that need to be monitored. We use tools to observe for any abnormalities in the system, so we can get ahead of them before they disrupt our services. Active monitoring was why we were able to detect the problem with our database, and get ahead of it before it began to affect our users.\n\n\nAvailability: \nWe are responsible for the availability of the services we support. After all, if services are unavailable, end users are disrupted, which can cause serious damage to our organisation's credibility. We ensure that every service we render remains available.\n\n\nPerformance:\n Our service needs to be not only available, but also highly performant. For example, how useful is a website that takes 20 seconds to move from one page to another or a transfer that takes 1 week to go through? Beyond just making our services available, they must also perform at a level that provides a seamless experience for our users.\n\n\nIncident management\n: SREs manage the response to unplanned disruptions that impact customers, such as outages, service degradation, or interruptions to business operations. We identify the problem, work to ensure that the services are back up and running, and coordinate with the necessary stakeholders to make this happen.\n\n\nHow do we maintain site reliability?\n\n\nThe SRE role is a diverse one, with many responsibilities. An SRE must be able to identify an issue quickly, troubleshoot, and mitigate it with minimal disruption to operations.\n\n\nA partial list of the tasks we typically undertake includes;\n\nWorking with the Devs, Enterprise Architect, Infrastructure or System Admin to solve problems using software - whether it’s code-related, a quick fix or infrastructural upgrade.\nBeing on call to detect any service abnormalities. This is not the most attractive part of being an SRE, but it is essential. We must be available to attend to errors, even outside of typical work hours.\nWe facilitate discussions of strategy and execution during incident management. We call this “leading a war room”.\nPerforming postmortems to identify processes that can be put in place to avoid further disruption in the future. For every issue we encounter, we fix them and then put in systems to ensure that they never occur again.\nAutomating: SRE can be tedious and boring, if everything is done manually. Automation not only saves time but reduces failures due to human errors. Spending some time working on automating tasks can have a strong return on investment.\nStand-ups to discuss and Implement best practices, We are in several areas of service management.\nHow we designed an effective on-call system\n\n\nAn on-call management system streamlines the process of adding members of the SRE team into after-hours or weekend call schedules, assigning them equitable responsibility for managing alerts outside of traditional work hours or on holidays.\n\n\nIn some cases, an organisation might designate on-call SREs around the clock. In our case, we have a team of application monitoring and technical engineers available before working hours, during working hours and late nights, who are the first touch when issues arise, i.e. we use on-call schedules to make sure that someone's always there to respond to major bugs, capacity issues, or product downtime.\n\n\nIf they can't fix the problem on their own, they're also responsible for escalating the issue. For SRE teams like ours, who run services for which customers expect 24/7/365, 99.999% uptime and availability, the on-call SRE has multiple duties:\nProtecting production systems: The SRE on call is a guardian to all production services they are required to support.\nResponding to emergencies within acceptable time: we have automated monitoring and alerting solutions that also empower our SREs to respond immediately to any interruptions to service availability.\nInvolving team members and escalating issues: The on-call SRE is responsible for identifying and calling in the right team members to address specific problems.\nTackling non-emergent issues: we have secondary on-call engineers scheduled to handle non-emergencies.\n\n\nHaving an on-call system ensures that you’re able to detect problems at off-hours, and this is especially important for financial services. Having a remote SRE team also increases our efficiency. We’re available round the clock to attend to issues and are able to gather on a call and fix issues, no matter where we are.\nAn SRE team you can rely on\n\n\n\nBusinesses sometimes deprioritise site reliability, leaving the load for just one person to handle. But the advantage of having a team, instead of just one person, is that there’s always someone available to detect any issues that might arise.\n\n\nWith our transactions per minute hitting new milestones every day, site reliability has become more important for us than ever. Our team grew, and our system made everyone’s jobs clear and fluid. Part of ensuring that we run effectively is a culture that ensures that our team can run efficiently. For our teams, we prioritise;\nA focus on engineering\nBalanced workload to avoid burnout\nPositive and safe environment\n\n\nBeyond this, every member of the team has a couple of characteristics that contribute to effective site reliability engineering. Some of them include;\nAttention to detail\n: Our team refers to this as \nbeing paranoid\n. It could be just a small spike and something someone else could ignore, but finding out exactly what is happening (and why) is important. If there’s a spike or reduction in the values you’re monitoring, what caused it? Is it a normal pattern, or is something wrong? That paranoia helps a lot. We’ve sometimes detected bugs just by being attentive to changes in our system that might’ve otherwise been ignored. \nWillingness to learn\n: A site reliability engineer doesn't need to know everything, but you should be close enough. This is important because you’ll need to interact with different teams, to solve different problems that might arise. So you want to be versatile enough to interact with them, and find a solution that works.\nTaking responsibility\n: As a site reliability engineer, it’s important to understand that it’s your responsibility to ensure that services stay up. This sense of responsibility keeps you attentive to processes, and with good attention to detail, keeps you ahead of downtimes.\n

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