GITEX NIGERIA has announced the launch of MINT AFRICA by GITEX, a new future-finance platform aimed at accelerating the transformation of Africa’s financial economy through technology, investment, regulation and innovation.
The platform will debut in Lagos during GITEX NIGERIA week in 2027, bringing together governments, regulators, banks, institutional investors, fintech companies, technology firms and digital-asset innovators as the global financial system undergoes rapid technological change.
According to GITEX, the financial sector is entering a new era in which money is becoming programmable, real-world assets are increasingly being tokenised and agentic artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape how financial services are delivered and financial decisions are made.
Stablecoins and digital assets are also challenging traditional financial rails, while digital identity, cybersecurity and interoperable payment infrastructure are emerging as critical components of modern economies.
GITEX said Africa has an opportunity not only to adopt these technologies but also to help shape the next generation of global finance.
Lagos is expected to play a central role in that transformation. Nigeria is Africa’s largest fintech ecosystem, while Lagos has become home to several of the continent’s most prominent financial technology companies and continues to attract entrepreneurs, capital and technology investment.
Speaking on the launch, Lagos State Deputy Governor, H.E. Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, said the arrival of GITEX in Nigeria had reinforced Lagos’ position as a major commercial and technology hub.
“Lagos is a consequential destination and what happens here helps shape Africa’s digital transformation trajectory. The next chapter of African finance will not simply arrive; it will be built here, together.”
The platform is being developed in partnership with the Lagos State Government and will leverage GITEX’s international network of technology companies, investors and governments to connect African financial markets with global capital and innovation.
Closing Africa’s financial gaps
MINT AFRICA will focus on how emerging technologies and regulatory reforms can expand access to capital, modernise financial infrastructure and enable more consumers and businesses to participate in the digital economy.
GITEX cited projections that Africa’s digital payments economy could reach US$1.5 trillion by 2030. The African Development Bank has also estimated that reforms involving deeper capital markets, stronger domestic resource mobilisation and public-private partnerships could unlock up to US$1.43 trillion in financing annually.
Despite the growth of digital finance, significant gaps remain across the continent.
In Nigeria, adult account ownership rose from 45.3 per cent in 2021 to 63.3 per cent in 2024, but only 9.1 per cent of adults borrowed through formal financial channels, highlighting the continuing challenge of access to formal credit.
Dr Nurudeen Abubakar Zauro, Technical Adviser to the President on Economic and Financial Inclusion, said deeper financial inclusion would be critical to Nigeria’s ambition of building a US$1 trillion economy.
He said the country would need to deepen its financial sector, formalise the informal economy and provide small and medium-sized businesses with the financing required to scale.
Focus on AI, tokenisation and digital assets
MINT AFRICA’s agenda will cover a broad range of emerging financial technologies and infrastructure, including tokenisation and real-world assets, agentic AI and intelligent banking, stablecoins and digital currencies, next-generation payments, digital identity, cybersecurity, cross-border interoperability, regulatory innovation, capital markets and investment in Africa’s fintech sector.
Lagos State Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, Tunbosun Alake, said the continent needed to move beyond conversations about financial innovation towards transactions and investment.
“Africa doesn’t have a shortage of financial innovation,” Alake said. “It has a shortage of the conversations that turn innovation into signed deals.”
He described the new platform as an effort to bridge that gap by connecting innovation with capital and commercial opportunities.
Infrastructure and regulation seen as critical
GITEX officials and participating policymakers also stressed that technology alone will not determine the success of Africa’s emerging financial economy.
Engr. Ganiyu Oseni, Special Adviser on Technology, Broadband and Innovation to the Lagos State Governor, said infrastructure, connectivity, power, digital identity and talent would be critical to the growth of the digital economy.
“Lagos has spent seven years building all four,” he said.
Oseni also called on international investors to increase their operational presence in Lagos, arguing that the city has the potential to become a major settlement point for Africa’s increasingly digital and cross-border financial system.
The expansion of digital assets, meanwhile, is raising questions about ownership and participation.
Dr Armstrong Ume Takang, CEO of Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), said the country must ensure that Nigerians participate in the value created by the tokenisation of assets rather than allowing the benefits to accrue primarily to foreign investors.
Regulatory coordination will also be a major issue as digital assets operate across national borders.
Tahiru Al Hassan, Head of Oversight and Compliance at the Virtual Assets Department of the Bank of Ghana, said stronger regulatory coordination among African countries would be necessary to prevent fragmentation and create trusted, interoperable digital-asset ecosystems.
Lagos positioned as Africa’s financial innovation hub
MINT AFRICA will form part of GITEX NIGERIA week in 2027, reflecting the organisers’ view that the future of finance is increasingly inseparable from developments in technology.
GITEX CEO Trixie LohMirmand said Nigeria’s market size, technology talent and fintech ecosystem made Lagos a natural location for the new platform.
“Nigeria leads Africa’s fintech revolution,” she said, adding that the opportunity extended beyond fintech to include artificial intelligence, tokenisation, programmable money and increasingly borderless financial markets.
According to LohMirmand, Africa has an opportunity to play an active role in shaping these changes rather than simply adopting technologies developed elsewhere.
The launch of MINT AFRICA comes as governments, financial institutions and technology companies across the continent seek to modernise payment systems, broaden financial inclusion and attract investment into emerging digital economies.
By bringing policymakers, financial institutions, technology companies and investors together in Lagos, GITEX said it hopes to turn Africa’s growing financial-technology innovation into investment, infrastructure and scalable economic opportunities.
