Pan-African payments company, Cellulant Nigeria has assured of its commitment to the growth of Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
In a presentation on Arise TV’s Global Business Report, Head, SME Sales, Cellulant Nigeria, Ademola Okuleye, gave the assurance while discussing using technology to improve Nigeria’s SMEs.
Okuleye explained Cellulant offers a secure, seamless payment and collection platform that allows them to concentrate on other business areas. He added that adopting technology will help SMEs reduce operational costs and maximize profit.
He said that in several sectors, including power, human resources, and payroll, technology has significantly increased the efficiency of SMEs in Nigeria.
Okuleye said, “There are many ways technology through the use of software and apps readily available today is helping SMEs cut operational costs. If you look at power, renewable energy helps SMEs reduce power costs. Non-core staffing functions can be outsourced to existing apps for accounting, payroll and setting up meetings. There are many apps for communication, too, and that’s why the value of voice calls is reducing viz-a-viz data calls. You are here in Lagos but can set up meetings with customers in any part of the world. Technology improves your revenue because your cost of operation is reduced.”
He continued by saying that when it comes to payments, Cellulant is onboarding SMEs to address their payment and collection concerns by supplying them with solutions that allow them to directly collect payments or pay out to their consumers.
“We have a platform that makes it easy for businesses to monitor transactions, reconcile and settle funds seamlessly. If you’re a CEO in Lagos and have several stores across the country, you can view all your business transactions on one dashboard. Easy access to your payments operations gives business leaders across Nigeria more time to do other things.”
When asked on whose responsibility it was to hasten the adoption of technology, Okuleye said it’s a shared duty between the public and commercial sectors.
“The government has a responsibility regarding regulations needed to make business easy for SMEs and infrastructure, which is the biggest problem we have in Nigeria and Africa. There’s also a huge burden on the private sector, which sells the products and needs to create awareness. The private sector can create forums and events where SME owners and proprietors can come together and gain a basic understanding of the technology.“
Cellulant offers locally relevant and alternative payment options For international, regional, and local merchants in Africa. It operates physically in 18 nations and processes payments for companies in 35 more. It provides a single API payment gateway called Tingg that enables businesses to accept payments both online and off, providing their clients with seamless payment experiences.
