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Nigeria has almost 12,000 ATMs, several internet portals and over 130,000 point-of-sale machines”
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When Elegbe started there was a shortage of skills as “nobody went to university to learn electronic payments” but because of Interswitch’s success and the emergence of other players, people “now see a career in the field and view it as long-term and sustainable,” he says. And he welcomes an increased interest from the regulator and the “recognition that electronic payment is not an area to be ignored”. Personally he’s enjoyed watching the business grow and employ 230 people and its effect on the increasingly prosperous Nigerian population. After all, Africa’s secondlargest economy is expanding at up to seven percent a year. Elegbe is also excited about the company’s expansion into Gambia and Uganda and is happy to be exploring “how to take the model into many African countries”.
As he points out, “no two markets are the same and you have to sort our particular needs” but this is a businessman who has made opportunities out of all sorts of challenges. Looking back he is glad to have done well on electronic payments and all the benefits they bring. Looking forward, aside from the company divisions and expansion into neighbouring and international markets, he is interested in how the company’s structure can help build up the infrastructure of health, transport and even government institutions. Interswitch has worked together with various public sector institutions and recently set up Smartgov.CRSG Limited, a joint venture with the Cross River state government which covers the government’s identity management and payment systems. It seems competition is what Mitchell Elegbe does best.
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