Lars’ Exploration - Exploring the Nigerian technology ecosystem and bringing it up to par.
A week ago, the Chairman of Concordium Foundation visited Nigeria to explore the tech landscape hosted by BCS Africa. Here's a detailed summary of events of his two-day exploration.
The hustling and bustling in Nigeria and the aggressive adoption of financial technology have earned it the largest economy on the continent, retaining its title of being the giant of Africa. Investments and pouring in and unicorns are springing up and its emerging market yet remains one of the ripest relative to the neighbouring countries.
A little consideration of the fastest-growing companies reveals that the financial technology industry makes up a huge chunk of this fertile market, one well-positioned to merge seamlessly with the implementations of the future digital economy. Previously unsure about the effects of the offshoots of the blockchain technology because of its regulatory roguery, the government determined its best move to adapt the possibilities of this financial technology in the country was the introduction of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) whose launch has yet been problematic after multiple failed attempts.
While still fertile, waiting to be exploited with just the right technology infrastructure, Lars Seier Christensen, the chairman of a Swiss non-profit foundation facilitating the adoption of a next-generation blockchain technology built with the architectural framework and specifications which can be adapted to meet the requirements of businesses & governments globally, sights the Nigerian market with an opportunity-binoculars and visits to objectively explore the space and interact with thought leaders across industries.
Who is Lars Seier Christensen?
Beyond being the chairman of Concordium Foundation, Lars is what most would describe as a financial veteran. After being one of the pioneers in FX and derivatives trading globally, building the Saxo bank from ground up, employing over 1,500 persons across the 150 countries it was located in and serving customers in over 170 countries, he sure is a financial juggernaut. He also fully owns a billion-dollar venture capital named Seier capital which specializes in investing in early-stage companies with a number of companies added to its portfolio across a number of industries including art, fashion, sports etcetera. Despite this amount of fortune, he maintains a humble objective personality capped with business brilliance.
The Gist of the Visit
Lars' exploration scheduled for the 13th to 14th of April kicked off with an interview on Arise News' Global Business Report section. Lars led by ROTUS, the interviewer, discussed a number of topics including; blockchain technology’s potential in Nigeria, the impact of technology hubs, securing funding, Corporate governance, his personal investment philosophy, CBDCs and even Bitcoin.
He identified Nigeria as one of the largest technology heavyweights in the continent and applauded the growing number of tech hubs as they provide assistance to founders in formalizing their companies and handling all of the moving parts of establishing a successful company.
Lars’ experience in the traditional financial sector has inculcated in him a strong conviction that blockchain technology with all of the efficiency it brings is the next big technological trend and it will come with increasing regulation as can already be seen from the news around the globe in recent days.
“A lot of blockchains, not just the early ones, go straightly against what regulators have tried to fix in the other space for a very long time, …to protect people against criminals and against terror and against money laundering...” Lars opined, stating the need for such necessary architecture to be built rather than added on, which is difficult in most cases.
See full interview.
With the media eager to get him to share more of his wealth of experience and insight into the Nigerian tech space, Lars had two other interviews with CryptoTv+, the biggest crypto media in the country and Business day, a nationwide reputable print media.
Day 2, April 14th, was the crux of the official exploration. It started with a visit to TalentQL, the parent company for AltSchool - an educational platform taking a different approach, as its name suggests by focusing on technical skills and career development for software engineering. After a tour around the company, Lars had a conversation with the team behind the platform discussing their operations, student demography, and payment plans.
Another Q&A with Lars was carried out here, where Lars encouraged the project team to include courses on foundational blockchain knowledge in their subsequent educational modules. It was an intriguing place even for the host team - BCS Africa - which even got Lars taking out his camera to capture some scenes.
Leaving AltSchool, He headed for Vibranium valley, one of the single largest tech hubs in Nigeria housing a number of Startups. He met with Venture Group Capital, the venture group facilitating the valley and funding the best startups from it. You could tell, this was the kind of environment Lars loved to be around, the questions and answers went back and forth, conversations almost never-ending. It had to end though in order to prepare Lars for the big evening - the evening where he convenes with the top shots and thought leaders across all industries in Nigeria.
Themed #AnEveningWithLars, the exclusive event was the icing on the cake of Lars’ exploration. Held at the 5-Star Four Points Hotel; Lagos by Sheraton, the event played host to a number of important personalities including Fehin Tolu and Olorunfemi Jegede - the founders Credpal, Femi Olubanwo a partner at the reputable Banwo & Ighodalo law firm, Tolu Latunji of United Capital Group, Babatunde Oparinde director of operations at Yellow Card Financial, SIBAN represented by the president Senator Ihenyen, Tobi Ajayi the founder of Nord Vehicles, Rachel Onoja the director of learning at AltSchool, Akin, the country lead for Rust Nigeria, Dr Chinonso Egemba (Aka Dr Aproko), Tunde the Chess Guy, and so many more thought leaders.
Lars gave a keynote address, conversed with the thought leaders present and even played card games. It was an intriguing evening and impressive sight with all of the key personalities convening and engaging with one another. There were some appetizers on sight, perhaps, to lubricate your oral joints to make conversing much easier.
The event was covered by AriseTv, CryptoTv+ and Techpoint and some other appointed professionals.
Lars’ visit exposed him to a lot of significant connections across a number of industries in the country. With the in-depth conversation that he's had and still having, he’s getting a good grasp of the technology ecosystem of the giant of Africa, identifying its strengths, and weaknesses as well as spotting opportunities to bring it up to a measurable level globally. Let’s see how things unfold because they will.
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