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.
The platform, which will debut in Lagos during GITEX Nigeria Week 2027, will bring together governments, regulators, banks, institutional investors, fintech companies, technology firms and digital-asset innovators.
According to GITEX Nigeria, the initiative comes at a critical point in the evolution of global finance, with emerging technologies reshaping how money, assets and financial services operate.
It said money was increasingly becoming programmable, while real-world assets were being tokenised and agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) was beginning to transform financial services and decision-making.
It added that stablecoins and digital assets were challenging traditional financial rails, while AI, digital identity, cybersecurity and interoperable payment infrastructure were becoming fundamental components of economic infrastructure.
The organisers said Africa had an opportunity not only to adopt the next generation of financial technology but also to help define its development.
It described Lagos as a strategic location for the initiative, citing Nigeria’s position as Africa’s largest fintech ecosystem and Lagos’ role in producing major fintech companies and attracting capital, entrepreneurial talent and technology-driven businesses.
In partnership with the Lagos State Government, MINT Africa by GITEX will leverage GITEX’s global technology, investor and government network to connect Africa’s financial ambitions with international capital and innovation.
The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, said the arrival of GITEX in Nigeria had further established Lagos as a major commercial anchor.
“When GITEX came to Nigeria, Lagos became a commercial anchor. That was not a courtesy extended to us; it was a commercial judgement.
“Exhibitions follow markets, and markets follow scale, capital and momentum – all of which converge here,” Hamzat said.
He said Lagos was a consequential destination whose developments could influence Africa’s digital transformation trajectory.
“The next chapter of African finance will not simply arrive; it will be built here, together,” he added.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, Tunbosun Alake, said Africa had significant financial innovation but needed more platforms that could convert innovation into investment and business deals.
“Africa doesn’t have a shortage of financial innovation. It has a shortage of the conversations that turn innovation into signed deals,” Alake said.
He said the future of finance platform was designed to help bridge that gap.
The organisers said Africa’s digital payments economy was projected to reach 1.5 trillion dollars by 2030, while reforms in capital markets, domestic resource mobilisation and public-private partnerships could unlock as much as 1.43 trillion dollars in financing annually, according to the African Development Bank.
In Nigeria, adult account ownership rose from 45.3 per cent in 2021 to 63.3 per cent in 2024, while only 9.1 per cent of adults borrowed through formal financial channels.
MINT Africa by GITEX will explore ways of turning the gap into economic opportunities through technology, regulatory innovation and expanded access to capital.
Its agenda will cover tokenisation and real-world assets, agentic AI and intelligent banking, stablecoins and digital currencies, next-generation payments, digital identity, cybersecurity and trust.
Other areas include financial infrastructure, cross-border interoperability, regulatory innovation, capital markets and investment in Africa’s fintech economy.
Dr Nurudeen Abubakar Zauro, Technical Adviser to the President on Economic and Financial Inclusion, said achieving Nigeria’s target of a one-trillion-dollar economy would require greater investment, financial sector deepening and formalisation of the informal sector.
He said economic inclusion must also be strengthened to bring more people into the formal financial system and provide Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with financing needed to expand.
Special Adviser on Technology, Broadband and Innovation to the Lagos State Governor, Engr. Ganiyu Oseni, said infrastructure, regulation and investor confidence would be critical to determining the success of Africa’s emerging financial economy.
“Infrastructure is policy. You cannot simply regulate an economy into existence,” Oseni said.
He identified connectivity, power, digital identity and talent as the key infrastructure requirements for a digital economy.
Oseni also urged global investors to consider Lagos as a destination for long-term investment and operational presence.
He said Africa’s financial future would increasingly be tokenised, programmable and cross-border, adding that Lagos was positioned to play a central role in that transformation.
Dr Armstrong Ume Takang, Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), said the evolution of digital assets and tokenised investments also raised questions about Nigerian participation and ownership.
He asked whether Nigerians would continue to allow others to benefit from the value created by the country’s assets or become active participants in the emerging digital-asset ecosystem.
Tahiru Al Hassan, Head of Oversight and Compliance, Virtual Assets Department, Bank of Ghana, stressed the need for greater regulatory coordination across Africa.
He said coordinated regulation would help address the cross-border nature of digital assets, reduce fragmentation and create trusted and interoperable ecosystems.
The organisers said embedding MINT Africa by GITEX within GITEX Nigeria Week was necessary because the future of finance could no longer be separated from the future of technology.
GITEX said AI was increasingly becoming financial infrastructure, while tokenisation was connecting technology with capital markets and digital identity was linking citizens with financial and other services.
It said regulation was also converging with innovation, while investment would determine which African markets moved from experimentation to large-scale adoption.
Trixie LohMirmand, CEO of GITEX, said Nigeria’s scale, talent and ambition made Lagos a suitable location for the new platform.
“Nigeria leads Africa’s fintech revolution. Its scale, talent and ambition make Lagos the deserving metropolis for MINT Africa by GITEX,” she said.
LohMirmand said the initiative would go beyond fintech to address developments in agentic AI, tokenised assets, programmable money and increasingly borderless financial markets.
She said MINT Africa by GITEX would bring together the technology, regulation, infrastructure and global capital required to transform Africa’s financial innovation into a new financial economy.
For more information and updates on GITEX Nigeria, visit www.gitexnigeria.ng.
