Top information technology experts, banking and financial services professionals who represent renowned global brands will assemble at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos for a two-day Zenith Tech Fair, tagged ‘Future Forward 3.0’ hosted by Zenith Bank Plc.
The bank said in a statement on Tuesday that the event which holds November 22-23 will showcase leading technology innovations including artificial intelligence, contactless payments, cybersecurity, cloud computing, fintech, data analytics, financial intelligence, and communication technologies.
It said the keynote address ‘Artificial Intelligence – application and bias’ will be delivered by a renowned IT specialist and managing director, Huawei Technologies, Nigeria, Chris Lu while prominent IT practitioners who represent top global brands will make presentations.
They include solutions architect, Amazon Web Services, Demola Sanusi; partner and leader cybersecurity, Deloitte, Temitope Aladenusi; vice president/cluster head, Visa West Africa, Andrew Uaboi; director of risk management, CBN, Dr. Blaise Ijebor; head, UiPath EMEA Banking and Financial Services, Keelan Singh; partner, McKinsey Digital, Shweta Juneja; financial services technology lead, Microsoft, Wole Odeleye; Founder/CEO, Cinemax, Ope Ajayi; and managing director, Terragon, Elo Umeh.
The fair, according to the organiser will also feature two-panel discussions that will explore the growth prospects for digital payments technology in an ever-growing financial landscape.
The first panel which will examine ‘The next frontier: Digital wallets, contactless payments and Buy now pay later (BNPL)’ has Lu as the host, with five discussants, including the country director, Palmpay, Fey Wong, managing director, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), Premier Oiwoh, managing director, Verve, Vincent Ogbunude, country manager, MasterCard, Ebehijie Momoh, and managing director, Network International, Adelola Agbebiyi.
The second panel will explore the theme ‘The intersection of Fintech, eCommerce and SMEs – Collaboration for growth.’
It will be hosted by John Obidi and has five discussants, including the CEO, Konga, Nnamdi Ekeh, managing director, Lydia, Tunde Kehinde, regional director, Meta, Stan Martins, CEO, SystemSpecs, John Obaro, and founder, Bland2Glam, Seyi Banigbe.
The annual expo will also feature a welcome address by the founder and chairman of the bank, Jim Ovia, opening remarks by the GMD of Zenith Bank and chairman, Body of Banks’ CEOs, Nigeria, Ebenezer Onyeagwu and DMD, Zenith Bank, Adaora Umeoji; goodwill messages by the minister of communication, innovation and digital economy, Bosun Tijani and a presentation by the minister of industry, trade and investment, amongst others, Doris Anite.
Recall that the first edition of the fair held in 2019 featured a hackathon that produced ten winners, including Octave Analytics Limited, which won the grand prize of N10 million while the second edition held in 2022 was won by a cleantech company, Ecotutu which went home with N20 million.
To register and participate, visit www.zenithbank.com/techfair. The event will be live on Zoom for participation and streamed on the bank’s social media pages, including YouTube.
