by Sanya Ademiluyi
Uzoma Dozie appears ready to bounce back in the banking and financial services sector where he, barely two years ago, took an unceremonious exit. Needless to say ,Uzoma was the last CEO of Diamond Bank Plc which was absorbed by Access Bank in a Merger and Acquisition deal late in 2018.Paschal Dozie, Uzoma’s father had been founder and majority shareholder of the bank and many commentators indeed, heaped the blame on Uzoma Dozie for not carrying the Diamond Bank torch shining brightly for the long haul.
But the younger Dozie had declared confidently last year after the Diamond bank M&A deal was consummated that he would be back! Now truly Uzoma Dozie is back on the banking turf!
He is not going the old brick and mortar way. He has launched Sparkle –a digital-based bank.
Sparkle describes itself as “ a digital ecosystem providing financial, lifestyle and business support services to Nigerians across the globe.” Sparkle has been granted a banking license by the Central Bank of Nigeria and was formally launched its services June 4, 2020.
Said Dozie at the launch: “Sparkle will be transformational for Nigerians across the globe and I am hugely excited to be launching it today. Sparkle is redefining Nigerian commerce by merging financial services with a seamless lifestyle solution. We are removing barriers using technology and data, driving inclusion at scale. In doing so, we are empowering Nigerians to fulfil their potential, democratizing access to valuable solutions for both business and personal needs.”
“We are working with global partners to unleash freedom, flexibility and transparency in Nigeria. We are helping to drive forward the growth of Nigeria’s budding entrepreneurs and individuals. Join us to make history as we enter the future of commerce and look towards this exciting phase of growth,” Dozie said.
Sparkle offers comprehensive support for individuals, including flexible payments, savings and analytics to provide greater freedom, flexibility and control over finances and lifestyle once and for all.
Sparkle is launching a mobile app – available for iOS and Android – giving customers full and free access to one account that offers multiple services and different wallets.
Customers will be provided with visibility over spending patterns, with a detailed breakdown of payments by category, Sparkle says. There are products or “tools” such as Sparkle Stash, a savings tool aimed towards specific goals.
Users will also have the ability to split payments and bills, make utilities and bill payments, as well as send and receive money in the Sparkle network and with other local banks. Customers will also have access to Indy – a 24/7 financial buddy and customer services chatbot.
Dozie has over 15 years banking experience working at Diamond Bank the last five spent as Managing Director/CEO of the bank. That should give him a good head start in navigating the new banking and financial services frontier he wants Sparkle to play in. Dozie appears to be betting big on a growing digital banking segment of the market which has become even more popular as a result of the covid19 pandemic.
Dozie says Sparkle is partnering with VISA, Microsoft and PwC Nigeria to achieve its vision of redefining Nigerian commerce. The partnerships will provide industry leading expertise in APIs, cloud computing, data science, machine learning, tax and financial advisory services for the benefit of Sparkle’s customers. The services offered by Sparkle are all licensed by the CBN.
Dozie thinks that as the impact of Covid-19 continues to be felt across Nigeria, Sparkle would be there to help accelerate the transition to more digitally enabled lifestyles for Nigerians and of course, benefit too.
Currently, 79 per cent of Nigeria’s population put at 200 million have mobile connectivity, with 39 perc ent having access to mobile broadband. The bulk of younger aged Nigerians are also “digital natives,” with social networks forming part of everyday life, says one analyst.
Whereas these young Nigerians may not pack big financial muscles, Sparkle may be ready to grow this budding market segment. Yet Dozie’s Sparkle is not the only ones that have taken notice of this potentially lucrative market segment. Most of the country’s leading banks have been jazzing up their digital banking offerings in recent years. With long standing business partnerships with global credit card powerhouses-Visa and Mastercard- most banks are deep in the digital credit/debit card system with about 70 per cent of bank customers using such payment cards.
An older player Wema has also deployed a digital bank platform called Alat, which runs at a virtual bank, to up its business while some banks such as Providus and Titan are mostly digital banks. Still, Dozie appears quite optimistic that he can find the leverage to beat his competitors.
Sparkle has recently joined Women’s World Banking, working to ensure greater financial inclusion for women, their families and communities in emerging markets, where Dozie was previously a Board member .Sparkle has also joined Open Banking Nigeria, collaborating with Nigeria’s financial services industry to transform and advocate open banking in Nigeria, and to lead the way in Africa too.
Such collaborations may well brighten Sparkle’s chances of success,yet it’s a tough battle ahead for the fledging digital bank.
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