Fintech in Nigeria is growing at an impressive scale. The sector features at least one billion-dollar companies that’s been operating for two decades, a startup recently sold for a historic price and a host of new entrants making waves around the continent.

But compared to how fintech works in some countries, Nigeria has some way to go. 

Lithuania is one such country. The northeastern European nation has grown over the past decade to become a bustling fintech hub. A country of just 3 million people, Lithuania is aiming to be a dominant player on the global fintech market. Among other things, it’s becoming a much sought after port of entry into Europe for non-EU startups.

There are lessons for Nigeria in how Lithuania has risen to prominence. This was the subject of a virtual event organised by TechCabal in December in partnership with Ventures Platform, the Nigerian venture capital firm.

Ventures Platform is the implementing partner on the Nigerian side of Digital Explorers, an EU funded (and Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs co-funded) project created in 2018 for knowledge exchange between Lithuania and Nigeria.

According to Adaeze Sokan, director of design and strategy at Ventures Platform, the project has two sides two it; talent development, and institutional knowledge exchange.

The talent development aspect has seen 15 Nigerian ICT specialists taken to Lithuania, where they have worked on improving their skills on the job. Following up on the success of the first cohort, a female-only cohort of data scientists/analysts will be in Lithuania for 6 months.

On exchanging institutional knowledge, TechCabal partnered with Digital Explorers to conduct a benchmark study for fintech ecosystem development in Nigeria, drawing from lessons in Lithuania.

“Lithuania has been nurturing its fintech ecosystem for quite a while. After Brexit, we strongly hope to see our capital Vilnius become the EU centre for regulated fintech companies.”

That was Dalia Kreiviene, the director of external economic relations and economic security policy department, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania. 

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Source: Techcabal