The Unofficial Payments and Fintech Guide to Detty December™️
No AMEX and Apple Pay, no problem, we've got you covered.
Happy 3rd anniversary of ChatGPT.
Depending on who you ask, Generative AI has changed everything, or changed nothing.
Since then:
The Magnificent 7(Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Tesla, Nvidia) have grown from $7 trillion to $21 trillion in stock value, with Nvidia leading the charge, rising from $420 billion to over $4.4 trillion in market cap(as at today), becoming the first ever 5 trillion dollar company in the world.
Bitcoin smashed through $100K, hitting an ATH of $126K
Donald Trump returned, legalised PvP on chain crime, and gave us the Genius Act
And over a million tech and knowledge jobs and counting have disappeared from the US labour market
Happy Birthday, ChatGPT. The world will always remember you🎂
December in urban Nigeria has become a hyper-commercialised spectacle filled with events, concerts, pop-ups, and an electric nightlife.
While partygoers and social curators spend time trying to come up with various tips and curations of how to make the best of Detty December, all these activities need to be paid for – and unfortunately, the AMEX cards and Apple Pay are not accepted here.
POS terminals will probably throw up dispense errors, and you want to avoid the embarrassment of being stranded at the expensive restaurant where you have been charged twice for a card payment that failed on the receiving end.
So the good folks at Fintech is Easy commissioned market research for Diaspora on how to prepare for this event, depending on your flavour and appetite.
You’re Welcome
Banking
The primary and fastest way to pay in Nigeria is the Bank transfer. Nigeria, being a low-trust society, also means that those transfers have to be confirmed by the receiver as quickly as possible. You need a proper bank account to confidently move around during the holidays. (Digital or Traditional, take your pick)
While word on the street is that you are better off having and paying from specific banks, insider opinions confirm this as false. What is true, however, is that you are better off making your payments to receivers who bank with Opay and Moniepoint, as they deliver the fastest confirmations, and you’ll be on your merry way.
PS: Goes without saying that you need a BVN and NIN to operate a fully functional bank account
Cards
Americans mostly love paying with cards, and most establishments have POS terminals to accept payments across the various accepted card schemes in the country - Mastercard, Visa, Verve, Afrigo. Some larger establishments will accept your foreign-denominated Master and Visa cards for a fee charged by the payment networks, and they will work on every ATM.
If you do not want to play this roulette, you are better off visiting your traditional or digital bank for their Naira-denominated Mastercard, Visa, Verve, Afrigo offerings.
Recommendations: If you still have digital subscriptions billed in Naira or in the Nigerian rate, this is the best time to visit your traditional banks to renew your Naira MasterCard, and get a dollar-denominated card from banks that are serious about their dollar card business, such as GTBank and Stanbic.
This period is traditionally also when a new set of Japa class preparers to leave the country. Naira and USD cards from traditional banks will save your life in your new country. Better go get them now.
Finally, if you want the premium hassle-free card payment experience, the folks at Timon have a product where you can create and fund a preloaded travel card from anywhere in the world, and you can pick it up at the airport. Visit this link to order and fund your card, then pick it up at the airport when you land.
The kicker for this? No BVN is required. Non-Nigerians and Nigerians alike all get to pay locally, skipping the expensive interchange fees of using their foreign cards, while still maintaining their seamless global banking experience. A topic we’ve written about previously here.
Payments
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between Payments and Banking in Nigeria. Cue all the tweets from people dunking on the Nigerian banking system about how Nigerians think banking is all about instant payments - Lol.
Anyway, diaspora folks know the difference between Banking and Payments more than most. Suppose you want to maintain that experience and the differentiated money movement processes you enjoy by using Cashapp/Zelle, Wise/Revolut, Ideal, Multibanco, Paypal, or Blik in your resident countries.
In that case, you’re better off using platforms like Zap (by Paystack), Pocket (by Piggyvest), Grey, and Paga to move money around seamlessly and pay like a local, depending on your flavour.
Grey is also particularly valuable if other African countries are on your itinerary, offering multi-currency wallets across the continent.
Cash
Despite the advancements in digital payments, lots of Nigerian transactions in urban and rural areas are still primarily cash-based.
NIBSS and the Big banks are probably going to have elongated periods of service disruption on the 24th and 31st.
The CBN is fighting a war on Cash; therefore, there is also an artificial cash scarcity plaguing the nation.
All these do not matter to your local Suya plug, Akara/Ewa Agoyin seller, and police checkpoint operatives who need cash and not a transfer between 3 and 7 am. So remember to make out time to go to your local bank, BDC, or POS Agents to stack up on cash and Mint notes as early as possible.
Carry enough cash for mobility, car parks, street vendors, and backup scenarios. Do not depend on POS terminals and remember to spray money responsibly.
Remittance
Diasporans probably know more about remittance platforms than I. However, during the festive season, these companies innovate on offerings to attract more users in this vertical that has the least loyal of users.
Lemfi can apparently create a Paga wallet for you to allow you to spend like a local in the same app. Wise allows you to schedule your remittances, Monieworld is an outlet for creating a local Moniepoint account, and Send by Flutterwave has December deals and discounts available to users.
Loans
Most people who come here for events and tourism usually go over their preplanned budgets for multiple reasons. This is what leads to the chargeback complaints that businesses face in January.
The Nigerian ecosystem has spent the last 11 months trying to reduce this risk heading into this festive season, so when your cash flow is tight, do not attempt to commit fraud.
Go to folks like Carbon, Fairmoney and Kuda to request a loan while you wait for your next remittance to drop.
Events
We get it, you came here for events and parties. The folks at Partvest and Tix have you covered on all things Detty December.
They handle payments online, allow you to resell the tickets, process refunds, and also verify QR codes at gates. Download or screenshot your tickets on your device to get ahead of network congestion.
While you are it, go visit the Eat Drink Festival and the GTCO Food and Drink festivals on my recommendation
Food and Groceries
Download Chowdeck, Glovo, Mano, and Go Lemon for your food and grocery needs. It’s not quite the Uber Eats you are used to, but hey, it works.
Mobility
Uber, Bolt, LagRide, and Indrive operate at scale in December. Card-linked payments get rejected frequently as drivers prefer cash or transfer.
Expect high surge pricing and extended wait times during peak hours and major events.
Crypto
Not to forget my Crypto brothers and sisters in arms who always want me to applaud them for trying to invent fire from the wheel.
Onboard and UseAzza offer practical crypto-to-fiat bridges for crypto maxis.
I prefer the UseAzza flow built on WhatsApp, and these are useful for people who do not have BVNs or are foreigners.
There you have it. These are our personal recommendations on how to successfully navigate your December activities with less stress than the average person, as far as payments are concerned.
With solutions for Nigerians and non-Nigerians who cannot get over that BVN/NIN choke point.
Get an active local account, remember to get a Nigerian USD card on your way out, get your cash buffers, enjoy your stay, stay safe and try to donate to causes dear to you during the festive season
Merry Christmas.
PS: If there were any specific recommendations I missed, please let us know in the comments
We will be doing our year-in-review article. Let us know if there are any key events you want to see.