Ovia, CBN, Google Others Speak At Zenith Tech Fair 2.0  

The Second Edition of the Zenith Tech Fair, themed “Future Forward 2.0” is set to hold next week with the founder of the bank, Jim Ovia, leading personalities from Google, Central Bank of Nigeria, Visa, amongst others to speak at the event.

The keynote address, “The Future of Banking: Digital Transformation Journey”, is expected to be delivered by Brett King, a renowned futurist, bestselling author, award-winning speaker, Founder of Moven and Author of Bank 4.0.

Conceived in the mould of global technological events such as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and EmTech Asia, the fair will showcase leading technology innovations that cut across different aspects of life, such as Artificial Intelligence, Computing, Machine Learning, Blockchain, Robotics, Big Data, FinTech, Augmented Reality, Data Analytics, 5G and Communication Technologies, among others.

The event is also expected to feature Hackathon sessions to identify innovative startups, panel discussions, masterclasses and exhibitions.

Group managing director of Zenith Bank Plc and chairman, Body of Banks’ CEOs, Nigeria, Ebenezer Onyeagwu, including  eminent IT practitioners who represent top global brands will make presentations. These include; Tarik Alatovic, Senior Partner, McKinsey; Juliet Ehimuan, West Africa director, Google; Ola Williams, country manager, Microsoft Inc.; Andrew Uaboi, vice president/head, Visa West Africa; Mrs Rakiya Mohammed, director of Information Technology, CBN; Chris Lu, managing director, Huawei Technologies Nigeria, and Dame Adaora Umeoji, deputy managing director of Zenith Bank Plc, amongst others.

The fair will feature three panel discussions on “The future of payments: what next and how can we get there”, which will be hosted by Prof. Yinka David West of Lagos Business School as the host, with four discussants, including Agada Apochi, managing director, UPSL; Olu Akanmu, managing director, Opay; Premier Oiwoh, managing director, NIBBS; and Kari Tukur, V/P & head of Products East/West Africa, MasterCard.

There will also be discussions on “What are the main challenges of digital transformation in the financial industry? How do we solve them?” which will be hosted by Brett King and has four discussants, including Tosin Eniolorunda, managing director, TeamApt; Obi Emetarom, managing director, Appzone; Dr. Babatunde Obrimah, COO, FintechNGR; and Olugbenga Agboola, founder/CEO, Flutterwave.

Founder/CEO, Ourpass, Samuel Eze, will be hosting the panel discussion on  “Driving the global trade revolution with technology: current transformation trends”. The panel, is expected to consist of Mike Ogbalu III, managing director, PAPSS; Akeem Lawal, Divisional CEO, Interswitch; Massimiliano Spalazzi, country manager, Jumia; and Dr. Ozoemena Nnaji, director of Trade & Exchange, CBN.

The first edition of the Zenith Tech Fair was held on November 27, 2019, with the theme, ‘Future Forward’, the fair featured a hackathon which produced ten winners, including Octave Analytics Limited, who won the grand prize of N10m; Neohaul Technologies, the first runner up who received N6m prize; and reQuid Technologies, the second runner up who won N5m. Other winners who took home N1m each includes Termii, Xcard Nigeria Limited, Payonhold, Escrow Inc, Alerzo, Nairapacket and Qview.ai.