Financial technology, financial inclusion and msmes financing in the south-west of Nigeria

The Strategic role Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play in achieving sustainable development cannot be over emphasized in any given economy. Regrettably, the difficulty in accessing finance from the formal financial institutions remains the greatest problem to development and survival of MSMEs sector in Nigeria. In the light of this, this paper provided functional solutions by examining developments, innovations and new financing windows available to MSMEs viz-a-viz Financial Technology that is capable of enhancing the goal of financial inclusion as a strategic tool of achieving sustainable development in the MSMEs sector in Nigeria. We classify the methodologies and approaches the researchers have adopted to predict the impact of Financial Technology on financial inclusion in respect to MSMEs financing in the South West States of Nigeria. We notice that MSMEs financing has the potential to be the fourth largest sector to be disrupted by Financial Technology in the next five years after consumer banking, payments and investment/wealth management in the financial sector. We identify that financial institutions need to collaborate and capitalize on the Financial Technology ecosystems by leveraging on artificial intelligence, big data, data analytics and MSMEs friendly applications in effectively lending to MSMEs sector. We observe that Financial Technology has the potential to drive financial inclusion, with high internet, electricity and mobile phone penetration more states will achieve the 20% financial exclusion target faster by the year 2020. This study also provided recommendations for financial service providers, government and regulatory authorities for this emerging sector going forward.