Fintechs dominate Africa's tech industry, and for good reason. For instance, in 2021, two-thirds of venture funding raised by African startups went to fintechs. 6 out of Africa's 8 unicorns are also fintechs. Although the entry of fintechs into African financial services first seemed like a threat to traditional players, particularly banks, that is fast changing. Today, banks are seeing fintechs less as competitors and more as partners as it has become clearer that collaboration is what the industry needs to enter into a new wave of growth. On Friday, April 22nd, for the first edition of the Ecobank Fintech Breakfast series, several industry experts spoke about what these fintech-bank collaborations entail and how they can benefit both sides. They included Tomilola Majekodunmi, CEO of Bankly, Gbenga Ajayi - Partner, QED Investors, Daniel Ahouassa -Co-founder and Co- CEO, Weblogy, Isaac Kamuta - Group Head: Cash - Payments, Cash Management and Client Access, Ecobank Group, and Tayo Oviosu, Founder and CEO, Paga Group. They discussed how to identify the right partners, how to structure partnerships that work, how to manage the challenges that may arise from partnering, and how to expand across the continent by leveraging partnerships
