By Rukayat Moisemhe
President of FintechNGR, Dr Stanley Jacob, says digitisation has become the minimum requirement for business relevance, urging Nigerian business leaders to make digital transformation a boardroom priority to build future-ready enterprises.
Jacob, who is also the Group Chief Innovation and Technology Officer at Meristem, made the call at the maiden edition of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) Business Innovation Series on Thursday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that FintechNGR is a Nigeria-based, non-partisan organisation focused on creating an enabling environment for financial technology innovation.
Jacob said the gap between digitally native companies and legacy enterprises had become a survival challenge rather than merely a technology issue.
He said organisations that failed to embed digital transformation into their core business strategy risked losing competitiveness in an increasingly technology-driven economy.
“Digitisation is no longer optional; it is the minimum requirement for relevance.
“Businesses must move beyond viewing technology as an operational tool and instead make digital transformation a strategic boardroom agenda that drives innovation, resilience and long-term growth.
“With more than 200 million people, about half of them under the age of 30, and approximately 3.5 million young Nigerians entering the workforce annually, digitisation is the minimum requirement for relevance,” he said.
Jacob said the growing digital relationship between Nigeria and the United Kingdom (UK) was creating significant opportunities for businesses.
According to him, UK-Nigeria bilateral trade has reached about £8.1 billion annually, with digital and technology services becoming an important driver of growth.
He noted that Nigerian fintech firms, including LemFi, Moniepoint and Kuda Bank, were expanding operations in the UK, while British fintech company Wise had secured its first Nigerian licence.
He also cited the UK Export Finance commitment of £746 million to modernise Apapa and Tin Can ports, as well as Airtel Africa’s 80-million-dollar Lagos data centre, as investments strengthening Nigeria’s digital infrastructure.
Jacob identified regulatory clarity, infrastructure investment and talent development as the three critical pillars for sustaining the country’s digital ecosystem.
He said initiatives such as the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Open Banking framework, the Federal Government’s Three Million Technical Talent Programme and partnerships between Nigerian and UK institutions were strengthening digital capacity.
Jacob urged business leaders to ensure their digital strategies were reviewed regularly, adequately funded and driven from the boardroom.
He also advised organisations to assess their customer experience, data governance and cybersecurity readiness while forging strategic partnerships to accelerate innovation.
“Future-ready enterprises are those that leverage data for decision-making and build digital platforms rather than isolated products.
“They also prioritise cybersecurity as a board-level responsibility and embrace strategic collaborations,” he said.
Jacob warned that between 70 per cent and 80 per cent of digital transformation initiatives failed because they were treated as information technology projects instead of enterprise-wide business transformation programmes.
He identified digital skills shortages and weak governance structures as major barriers to successful digital adoption, particularly among African businesses.
According to him, businesses that combine technology with strong leadership, governance and skilled talent will be better positioned to harness opportunities emerging from the growing UK-Nigeria digital ecosystem.
Also speaking, President of the NBCC, Mr Abimbola Olashore, represented by the chamber’s Vice-President, Mr Akin Osuntoki, said technology had become a strategic driver of growth, competitiveness and long-term sustainability.
Olashore said businesses across industries were rethinking how they operated and created value through digital transformation, innovation and data-driven solutions.
He said the NBCC Business Innovation Series was conceived as a platform to bring together business leaders, innovators, investors and other stakeholders to promote collaboration and practical solutions for transforming industries.
According to him, innovation has become a strategic imperative for organisations seeking to remain relevant and competitive.
Chairman of the NBCC Programmes Committee, Mr Tajudeen Ahmed, said digital transformation extended beyond technology to include visionary leadership, innovation and the willingness to rethink business models.
Ahmed said businesses that embraced digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, automation, digital payments and data analytics, would be better positioned to scale operations, improve efficiency and unlock new opportunities.
He said the Business Innovation Series was established to equip businesses with the knowledge, strategies and partnerships needed to thrive in a digital economy.
Chief Operating Officer of Risevest, Mr Awa Ekekwe, said businesses could no longer afford to delay digital transformation because the future had already arrived.
Ekekwe said that while technology enhanced business scalability, people, sound processes and effective governance remained the foundation for sustainable enterprises.
According to him, artificial intelligence and other digital tools are only as effective as the people deploying them and the governance structures supporting their use.
“The muscle of businesses in this time and age are still the people while your processes and governance structures are the foundation which you then leverage technology on,” he said. (NAN)
Edited by Esenvosa Izah