Olu Akanmu announced on Monday morning that he is stepping down as the president and co-CEO of Opay Nigeria after two years. It remains to be seen what his next steps will be.
In November 2021, he assumed the role of President at
OPay-Nigeria. During his tenure, Opay experienced remarkable growth amidst
Nigeria’s cash crunch, owing to its effective distribution strategies and
robust infrastructure. As of April this year, the company boasted an impressive
milestone of 30 million registered users.
However, Akanmu has decided to move on to new challenges and
opportunities beyond his role at Opay.
In a series of tweets, he said, “MOVING ON: End of a
Chapter. Moving on to New Ones: My Gratitude to all my colleagues at #Opay for
the good work we did together in deepening #financialinclusion in #Nigeria,
ensuring that fewer and less number of our people are left behind in partaking
out of the opportunities of the #digital financial system.”
“Many thanks also to all our #ecosystem partners and
enablers who complimented us, without which we would not have been able to
deliver on the lofty mission of OPay which is to “deepen financial inclusion
through technology.”
‘Yet there is still so much to be done collectively by us as
all to ensure that no one is left behind by the modern digital financial system.
The lesson of the cashless or limited Cash period earlier in the year is that
millions are not yet included despite the progress we have made collectively as
an #ecosystem.”
“For the Nigeria #Fintech community, the imperative of
ensuring that we serve not only the banked and underserved, but also the
completely excluded which still represents at least 45% of our people should be
our collective and greater patriotic mission, complementing the historic
efforts of traditional players.”
“Collaborations, public-private partnerships, and more
deliberate coordination at the digital public infrastructure (#dpi) ecosystem
layers, would be critical to ensure we succeed in doing the next heavy lifting
to extend the digital financial rail to the next 20 million.”
“The good work of a more inclusive #society where everyone
can fulfil their God-given potential and prosperity becomes more widely shared
continues,” he said.