As the global fintech landscape undergoes rapid transformation, 2025 is shaping up to be a landmark year for collaboration between Canada and Africa.
At the heart of this momentum is the Canada-Africa Fintech Summit (CAFS), an ambitious initiative designed to connect two thriving fintech ecosystems for mutual growth and innovation.
In this exclusive interview with Nairametrics, Dr. Segun Aina, Chair of CAFS 2025, explores how this summit is positioning itself as a high-impact platform for cross-border partnerships, investment, and talent development.
Dr. Aina paints a compelling picture of why now is the right moment to bridge these two regions. From Canada’s newly launched Global Africa Strategy to Africa’s booming digital payments and fintech sectors, the summit is riding the wave of economic alignment, technological convergence, and a shared vision for inclusive prosperity.
For him, CAFS 2025 is not just a networking event—it’s a strategic intervention, designed to turn potential into policy, pitches into partnerships, and ideas into investment. Excerpts:
Nairametrics: What inspired the creation of the Canada-Africa Fintech Summit (CAFS), and why is 2025 a pivotal year for this collaboration?
Dr. Segun Aina: The inspiration for CAFS stemmed from a strategic vision: to create a robust, credible platform where two complementary fintech ecosystems—Canada and African countries—could intersect in a meaningful way. On one side, we have Canada, with a well-regulated, innovation-driven financial sector and a strong tradition in tech development, research, and global investment. On the other, African countries—home to some of the world’s fastest-growing fintech markets, with mobile-first infrastructure, a youthful tech-savvy population, and a deep need for inclusive financial services.
2025 is pivotal because it aligns with several major shifts. First, Canada has launched its Global Africa Strategy, which explicitly seeks to increase economic ties with Africa through trade, investment, innovation, and people-to-people relationships. Second, according to Statista’s 2025 market forecasts, Africa’s digital payments sector is projected to reach a total transaction value of approximately USD 236.10 billion by 2025. In the realm of digital assets, the number of users in Africa is expected to reach around 53.89 million by 2025.
These projections underscore the rapid expansion of Africa’s fintech landscape, driven by factors such as increased mobile penetration, a youthful and tech-savvy population, and growing digital financial literacy. The convergence of these dynamics highlights why 2025 is a pivotal year—making the Canada-Africa Fintech Summit (CAFS) not only timely but a strategic necessity to catalyze cross-continental collaboration and investment.
Nairametrics: How does CAFS 2025 align with broader economic and technological goals for both Canada and Africa?
Dr. Segun Aina: CAFS 2025 is deeply aligned with Canada’s Global Africa Strategy, which prioritizes innovation, sustainable development, and economic diplomacy. The strategy aims to expand bilateral trade and investment, particularly in high-growth sectors such as fintech, clean technology, and digital infrastructure. CAFS operationalizes these priorities by bringing together policymakers, investors, and tech leaders from both regions to form strategic alliances.
From Africa’s perspective, fintech is central to economic development—serving as a lever for financial inclusion, tax base expansion, SME growth, and job creation. It also encompasses every sector such as education, trade, agribusiness, health, transport, climate change, and the environment, etc.
According to McKinsey & Company’s report titled “Fintech in Africa: The end of the beginning” (August 2022), fintech revenues in Africa are projected to grow thirteenfold, reaching approximately $65 billion by 2030. This significant growth is attributed to factors such as increased smartphone adoption, a youthful population, and the expansion of digital financial services across the continent.
The Canada-Africa Fintech Summit (CAFS) aims to bridge these economic ambitions by fostering collaboration in key areas like digital payments, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. By bringing together stakeholders from both continents, CAFS facilitates partnerships that can harness this projected growth for mutual benefit.
Nairametrics: The summit’s theme emphasizes “nurturing talent, fueling growth, and forging cross-border prosperity.” How will CAFS 2025 tangibly achieve these goals?
Dr. Segun Aina: CAFS 2025 is not a talk shop. It is a meticulously curated platform designed for outcomes. To nurture talent, we will be partnering with Canadian and African academic institutions to launch exchange programs, joint certifications, and upskilling tracks in digital finance and fintech product development.
To fuel growth, we will host pitch sessions and demo days where African fintechs can secure venture capital from Canadian and global investors.
To forge prosperity, we are enabling regulatory harmonization dialogues, green finance workshops, and diaspora-led investment panels that will create tangible pipelines for cross-border expansion. Several roundtables across sectors are part of the program. The expected outcome includes the establishment of new sustainable partnerships, funding introductions, and the establishment of a Canada-Africa Fintech strategy and other initiatives to be delivered by Canada Africa Fintech Summit Inc, a Canada-incorporated non-profit organisation.
Nairametrics: How can African and Canadian fintech ecosystems complement each other in areas like AI, blockchain, and digital payments?
Dr. Segun Aina: Canada has strong R&D capabilities, advanced academic institutions, and a regulatory environment that fosters innovation through sandboxes and open banking initiatives. Africa, meanwhile, offers scale, agility, and a large addressable market that is willing to adopt digital-first solutions.
Take blockchain: African countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa are already experimenting with blockchain for payments, identity, and agricultural finance. Canadian firms can bring the infrastructure, cybersecurity tools, and investment needed to scale these models regionally. In AI, Canadian institutions like the Vector Institute are global leaders. Imagine what we can do when African use-cases meet Canadian research capacity.
Nairametrics: Diaspora remittances are a major focus—how can fintech bridge the gap between high costs and inefficiencies in cross-border transfers?
Dr. Segun Aina: Diaspora remittances are a significant focus for the CAFS 2025, given their critical role in supporting households and economies across Africa. In 2023, Sub-Saharan Africa received approximately $54 billion in remittances, with Nigeria alone accounting for $19.5 billion, representing 35% of the region’s total.
However, the cost of sending remittances to Africa remains high. The average cost of sending $200 to Sub-Saharan Africa was 7.9% in the second quarter of 2023, significantly above the global average and the UN Sustainable Development Goal target of 3%.
Fintech innovations offer promising solutions to reduce these costs. Platforms like Chipper Cash and Africhange are leading the way:
- Chipper Cash provides free transfers and some of the lowest cross-border rates, facilitating cost-effective remittances across Africa and the UK.
- Africhange, a Canadian-based remittance company, offers users an easy way to send money to and from Africa and North America with little to no transaction costs, speedy payment settlements, and excellent customer service.
By leveraging technologies such as blockchain, stablecoins, and peer-to-peer models, these fintech solutions can significantly reduce the cost and friction associated with cross-border money transfers.
At CAFS 2025, we will host remittance-focused labs where fintech innovators, traditional banks, regulators, and diaspora communities can collaborate to scale these impactful solutions, aiming to enhance financial inclusion and economic development across the continent.
Nairametrics: What regulatory hurdles currently hinder smoother remittance flows between Canada and Africa, and how can policymakers address them?
Dr. Segun Aina: Key regulatory bottlenecks include KYC/AML inconsistencies, currency controls, data residency rules, and the lack of passportable licenses. African fintechs often face uphill tasks when trying to access Canadian markets due to stringent compliance expectations.
Policymakers can fix this by piloting joint sandboxes, signing bilateral fintech cooperation agreements, and recognizing each other’s eID and KYC protocols. At CAFS 2025, we are convening the Canada-Africa Regulatory Innovation Forum to begin co-creating these harmonized pathways.
Nairametrics: Beyond remittances, how can fintech drive deeper financial inclusion for unbanked populations in Africa?
Dr. Segun Aina: Fintech can provide last-mile credit, savings, and insurance through mobile interfaces and agent networks. For instance, M-Pesa transformed access to mobile money in Kenya. Startups like Paga in Nigeria or MNT-Halan in Egypt are extending this further with microloans and savings groups.
CAFS will spotlight these models and support them with exposure to capital and partnership. We believe 50 million new Africans can be brought into the formal financial system over the next five years if these models are adequately funded and supported.
Nairametrics: What trends are you seeing in Canadian investment interest toward African fintech startups?
Dr. Segun Aina: There is a noticeable shift. Canadian VCs, DFIs like FinDev Canada, and even pension funds are beginning to see Africa as a long-term bet. In 2023 alone, over $200 million in fintech investments had a Canadian investor on the cap table. Sectors of interest include remittance technology, embedded finance, and RegTech.
CAFS will accelerate this trend by providing vetted pipelines, due diligence-ready startups, and strategic co-investment opportunities with African funds. With recent developments between Canada and its southern neighbour, we see opportunities for more investment flows to Africa from Canada.
Nairametrics: What criteria will investors at CAFS 2025 prioritize when evaluating fintech startups from Africa?
Investors will focus on:
- Market size and scalability
- Clear regulatory pathways
- Revenue growth and traction
- Founding team strength and governance
- ESG alignment and impact metrics
Startups that can articulate how they navigate regulatory challenges, serve underbanked markets, and sustain unit economics will be favored.
Nairametrics: How can African fintechs better position themselves to attract Canadian venture capital and strategic partnerships?
Dr. Segun Aina: They must align with Canadian investor expectations on transparency, IP protection, and data governance. Joining Canadian accelerators, publishing impact data, and forming alliances with local diaspora investors are crucial steps.CAFS is working with hubs like DMZ.
Nairametrics: What regulatory misalignments between Canada and Africa pose the biggest challenge for fintech expansion, and how can they be resolved?
Dr. Segun Aina: Fragmented licensing, data protection divergences, and inconsistent financial consumer protection laws create friction. The solution lies in dialogue and experimentation.
Our post-summit initiative—the Canada-Africa Regulatory Innovation Forum—will work with Africa’s umbrella regulator, the Association of African Central Banks, and some other key regulators, together with OSFI Canada, Canada financial services regulator, to create playbooks for sandbox alignment, data localization negotiation, and fintech passporting. Incidentally, Africa Fintech Network, one of the co-organisers of CAFS, is already coordinating efforts with some other partners for Africa’s fintech licensing passporting.
Nairametrics: How can summits like CAFS influence policymakers to create more harmonized fintech regulations?
Dr. Segun Aina: By giving them access to real-time market insights, startup pain points, and global benchmarks. When regulators meet innovators face-to-face, they understand the urgency for flexibility.
At CAFS, we are hosting closed-door policy labs for regulators, providing case studies from African and Canadian agencies.
Nairametrics: With rising concerns around cybersecurity and fraud, what frameworks should both continents adopt to ensure secure cross-border fintech operations?
Dr. Segun Aina: We recommend:
- ISO 27001 and NIST compliance for fintechs
- Cross-border incident response mechanisms
- Enforced cybersecurity audits for payment processors
- Joint threat intelligence sharing platforms
CAFS is partnering with cybersecurity leaders to deliver simulation workshops and best-practice training during the summit.
Nairametrics: What role do blockchain and AI play in advancing green fintech solutions to be discussed at the summit?
Dr. Segun Aina: Blockchain enhances transparency in carbon credit trading and ESG reporting. AI can optimize energy consumption in credit models or insurance pricing.
Green fintech is an emerging focus at CAFS 2025. We are showcasing use cases where solar lending, carbon offset traceability, and AI-driven agri-finance are making measurable impact in both continents.
Nairametrics: Beyond 2025, what lasting impact do you hope CAFS will have on Canada-Africa fintech relations?
Dr. Segun Aina: Our goal is legacy. A self-sustaining Canada-Africa fintech corridor that drives co-innovation, trade, investment, and job creation. By 2030, we envision:
- 100+ cross-border fintech partnerships
- At least $2billion in bilateral fintech funding
- Harmonized fintech policy frameworks
- Joint academic programs in fintech, ESG, and innovation.
CAFS 2025 is the spark. But our vision goes beyond the summit. We are laying the groundwork for an inclusive, digitally empowered, and prosperous future that both continents can be proud of.