POST-EVENT WRITE-UP ON CARDEXPO AFRICA 2009

The 9th edition of the International conference and exhibition on card and allied technologies tagged CardExpo Africa 2009 has come and gone but the impact of the event on the financial market still lingers. The theme of this year’s conference was “Channel Strategy: ePayment in a global recession”.



The Three-day Expo which was held on the 16th - 18th June, 2009 at the Prestigious Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria had in attendance Managing Directors and Directors Level Management of Banks, Financial Institutions, Card companies, Identification (hardware and software) companies, Oil and Gas companies as well as government dignitaries.

The evolution in the e-payment industry Africa is gathering momentum. In a continent where countries are described as a developing, the need to accelerate momentum to catch up with the developed countries is paramount, particularly in the area of deployment of the right e-payment channels and infrastructure to guarantee robust e-services. To this end the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Central Bank of Nigeria issued a policy that by 1st January 2009, all government payment must be done electronically.

The primary objective of CardExpo Africa 2009 was to develop a road map for ensuring that the different e-payment delivery channels are in focus and approached methodically thereby tapping into the enormous potentials which lie in information technology but as a way of preparing our young ones for the challenges of the 21st century global job market.

As Africa is now experiencing what we call the “war of the channels”, banks, other financial institutions, manufacturers and customers need to understand the relevance of each channel in the African environment. Most importantly, banks and other financial institutions that are buying and deploying these terminals must also understand the global and domestic trends in customer’s expectation with respect to channels, new technologies across all channels, deployment issues, ROI and profitability indices etc.

The focus on channel strategy in the face of new technology and new markets like the “unbanked” have become even more pertinent in the period of economic recession where cost of deployment is  of great importance to acquirers and transaction fee is critical to the customers.

The objective of this conference and exhibition was to call the attention of Africa and the global industry to the emerging development and requirements in the market. We still need to address the slow growth of card penetration. Pundits say that growing the right e-channels for the right market segment is the catalyst that will cause massive issuance and usage of cards.

“CardExpo Africa” is Africa’s biggest card exhibition. The 2009 edition had the following Platinum sponsors: Chams Nigeria Plc, Diamond Bank, SecureID, Oceanic Bank, Mediterranean Smart Cards Company Egypt (MSCC), Sulphurtel Limited Nigeria and Nasuba Express. Gold sponsors were: Skye Bank Nigeria, Card Centre, Chams Switch and United Bank for Africa. Silver sponsors were: Altech Namitech, Supercard Nigeria Limited, Systemspecs. Industry support category had: Intercontinental Bank, Card Technology Limited, Cardtec systems, Computer Warehouse Group Zenith and Hadey while the following exhibitors also featured: Anabel mobile, Chams Access, Capink, Fidelity Bank, DPMS, eTop, Eartholeum Network Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank, GRGBanking China, Muhlbauer Germany, Omatek Nigeria, Total card Nigeria, Afribank Bank Plc, Paymaster Nigeria, Pajuno Development Company Limited Nigeria, PIC Solutions South africa, Al-brett Nigeria and Teledom Limited  Nigeria.

Furthermore, CardExpo Africa 2009 commercials/adverts was aired on CNN, CNBC Africa and leading national television stations in Nigeria. Also, there were print advert on national dailies, awareness campaigns, press releases and press conference which was well attended.

The visitors count for the 3-day event was 1, 771 (one thousand seven hundred and seventy one) compared to 1, 492 (one thousand four hundred and ninety two) for last year. This increment was as a result of vigorous awareness campaign which was done prior to the event.

In the exhibition hall, the latest technologies, concepts, hardware and software in ATM, POS, Card, Mobile payment, e-Kiosk, Switching, allied solution as well as accessories were on display. The conference affords the delegates the medium to discuss the issues and opportunities relevant to the evolving and exciting e-payment market.

As usual, we had CNA (CardsNowAsia), PassAgeNow, Card Technology Magazine, the Nilson Report, European card review, CNBC Africa, Smart Insight and BusinessDay Newspaper as official media partners.

Expectedly, we had one hundred and twenty conference delegates in attendance for each day of the conference. The Opening ceremony was well attended with:

Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, Chairman, Intermarc Consulting
Doyin Salami, Director, Lagos Business School
Aderemi Babalola, Minister of State for Finance
Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State Governor
Dankwanbo Ibrahim Hassan, Accountant General of Federation Nigeria
Ono Ruhl, Country Director, World Bank represented by Ismail Radwan
Emeka Onwuka, Managing Director, Diamond Bank Plc
Demola Aladekomo, Managing Director, Chams Plc
Valentine Obi, Managing Director, eTranzact
Buka Kyari, Managing Director, Valucard Nigeria
And delegates from the financial .

Interestingly, CardExpo Africa had for the first time specialized forums namely ATM forum, Identification forum, e-Government forum, EMV, Risk & Fraud Forum, Card forum, RFID contactless forum, Switching forum and Mobile banking forum with the following speakers:

Piet Cooreman, Diebold Limited, Belgium
Andrew Oduory, Paynet/Pesapoint Group, Kenya
Deniz Karan, NXP, Turkey
Michael Malan, MD, Compuscan, Uganda
Sola Bajomo, Altech Namitech, Nigeria
Barry Coetzee, CEO, Iveri Payment Technologies, South Africa
Basil Udotai, Managing Director, Technology Advisors, Nigeria
Graham Band, Visa International, London
Seung Lee, Techtrek Inc
Kofo Akinkugbe, Managing Diector, SecureId, Nigeria
Stephen Leonard, CEO, PIC Solutions
Garry Marsh, Head, ebanking, Diamond Bank Plc
Kirbin Vladen, Head of Foreign sales, ROSAN, Russia
Femi Williams, MD, Supercard Nigeria
Hany Fekry, MSCC, Egypt
Graham Gunn, 3line Nigeria
Kolapo Solesi, COO, Sulphurtel Limited Nigeria
Femi Akinware, Tag attitude Nigeria

The following topics were presented at the Expo:

“Channel strategy: ATM, POS, Internet and Mobile”
– Ismail Radwan

“The Dynamic of e-payment in an economic recession”
– Doyin Salami

“ATM – Aggregation and convergence of channels everyone is a winner”
– Piet Cooreman

“Trends & new technologies in the transport market”
– Deniz Karan

“Interfaces with e-Government”
– Barry Coetzee

“Benefits of EMV (fraud reduction, multi-application), EMV implementation process, future developments (contactless and mobile)” - Gaham Bond

“Review of the specific challenges that granting credit in Africa can pose”
– Stephen Leonard

“Case study presentation on using Biometrics and Card technology to establish a means of identifying borrowers to deliver a successful credit bureau in Uganda”
– Michael Malan

“Challenges facing financial institutions in the e-payment arena, how to build am e-payment business”
– Hany Fekry

“Mobile: A new banking paradigm”
– Andrew Oduory

You can download these presentations here
               
One of the major highlights of the CardExpo Africa 2009 is VIP Networking Cocktail & Dinner Boat Cruise which brought together leading local and international figures in the payment industry. The cocktail was hosted by Card Technology Africa Magazine. Also the Galanight was on the last day of the Expo and it attracted stakeholders in the payment industry.

The other major highlight was the Gala Night which is to reward companies and individuals in the industry that have distinguished themselves over the years and in support of the ideas of CardExpo Africa. The Galanight featured music by a live band, award presentations and presentation of Raffle draw prizes. The keynote speaker for the Galanight was B. J. Rewane, MD, Financial Derivatives Company Limited.

The following awards were given to the recipients:
Achievement Award (Corporate category) – MSCC, Egypt
Achievement Award (Corporate category) – eTranzact, Nigeria
Achievement Award (Corporate category) – SecureID, Nigeria
Achievement Award (Individual category) - Mr. Demola Aladekomo
Achievement Award (Individual category) – Dr. Dotun Sulaiman

Furthermore, the following contracts and deals were signed at Expo:
1. Chams Plc signed a 40,000 POS deal with Daewoo Cooperation
2. Chams Plc sold MX6000 datacard machine
3. Sulphurtel Limited launched operation in Nigeria
4. Nasuba Express launched into the Nigerian market with prospects of 16 banks signing up.

CardExpo Africa 2009 was a huge success in terms of turn-out of delegates as well as the interest from the private sector. We will like to use this medium to thank our Sponsors and Exhibitors, Media Partners and the general public for their interest in CardExpo Africa 2009.