A New Frontier: My Experience Navigating the Exciting World of FinTech | by Boluwatife Theresa Fadele | April 2023
The world of financial services in Africa and beyond is in a constant state of transformation, with innovations continuing to push the boundaries of what is possible. Recently, there has been an increase in the use of natural language processing, such as ChatGPT, as the basis for cutting-edge products across various industries. Bloomberg, for example, recently announced the development of BloombergGPT, which marks the first step in applying this exciting technology to the financial industry.
As a curious and forward-thinking financial expert in Nigeria, I am fascinated by the rapid pace of innovation in recent years. In my quest to increase my value added, I made a remarkable discovery before the global pandemic of 2020. I stumbled upon the enormous potential of Python and its applications in accounting and finance. This revelation reinforced my long-held belief that businesses could achieve success by effectively leveraging internal and external data. In a short time, I realized that data science and analytics had the power to revolutionize finance in ways that traditional accounting software could not match. The hunger for knowledge only grew stronger.
So I searched for opportunities to learn these skills and ended up in two fully funded mentorship and scholarship programs at SheCodeAfrica and Dataquest. These experiences were the most exciting times of my life. I was a financial professional with technical skills – a rare combination. I successfully graduated from both programs with an active portfolio and a renewed determination to be an extraordinary financial professional.
These experiences were nothing short of exciting and I knew I wanted to take them further. I started looking for master’s programs in data science and analytics, but something still didn’t add up. I wanted to stay in finance and be one technical sister, not a software developer. It wasn’t until I got a full-time position at AFEX that things started to become clearer. I spent over two years there, applying my skills on the job, learning about the Commodities Exchange and contributing to process improvements. It was the best decision I ever made for my career.
Fast forward to January 2022 and I decided it was time to look at my high school dreams. With more experience under my belt, I had a better idea of how I wanted to use my skills in technology, but I still didn’t know which course would cater to my interest. I didn’t even know there was a continuing education course called FinTech. For me, FinTech meant startups that offer innovative solutions in the financial industry. But I wanted to learn how to combine finance and technology, so I entered Google: a major that combined the knowledge of finance and technology. And voila! MSc. Financial technology emerged. I researched and selected schools and began working on my applications.
In October 2022, I received an offer to study FinTech and Policy at the University of Surrey starting in February 2023.
The experience so far has been nothing less than exciting and deeply insightful. My courses have exposed me to industry-relevant FinTech regulations and guidelines, the different concepts and divisions of FinTech – PayTech, InsurTech, Blockchain among others – and how companies can succeed in innovation based on various key innovation approaches and artificial intelligence in FinTech. I’m excited to start applying these concepts in the real world and can’t wait to share them with you.
My journey into the world of FinTech has been a new frontier and it’s even better than I imagined. If you are a finance professional interested in technology or are interested in learning how to break into FinTech, then watch this space! I can’t wait to show you the amazing things I’ve learned.
