Chief Operations Officer and Technology Officer at OPay, Dotun Adekunle, says Nigerian consumers’ financial needs and expectations have changed significantly over the company’s eight-year journey, prompting the digital financial services provider to continually adapt its offerings.
Speaking during an interview with ARISE News on Tuesday, Adekunle said OPay’s experience over the past eight years had demonstrated the importance of understanding changing customer demands and developing solutions that address their evolving needs.
“Over the last eight years, we’ve seen that consumers have shifted their requirements, their expectations, their needs have shifted.”
Adekunle said Nigerians initially viewed digital financial services mainly as an alternative means of sending and receiving money, but that the services had gradually become an integral part of everyday life.
“Nigerians used to look at digital financial services as an alternative way of making payments or receiving money eight years ago. But as time has passed, we’ve seen that it has become an integral part of the way people live.”
He said consumers now expect more from digital financial platforms, with their behaviour, expectations and level of trust in digital financial services evolving over time.
“The expectations are very high. They expect and they demand more. So consumer behavior itself has changed, technology has changed, expectations have changed, the environment has changed, and Nigerians have come to trust digital financial services more than ever before.”
Adekunle said customers were increasingly focused on whether financial platforms could address their specific challenges rather than simply on the products or services they offered.
“They’re looking at it from their understanding of what are their real problems. How do I solve this problem? Can this app, can this service, can this website, can it solve my financial problems?”
He explained that consumers were increasingly seeking digital financial services that could help them save money, earn interest, invest, pay workers and support their families.
“They want to save money, they want to earn interest, they want to invest, they want to pay their workers, they want to support their families.”
Adekunle also identified security as an increasingly important consideration for consumers, saying customers now associate OPay not only with speed and reliability but also with security.
“We were known for speed and reliability. But that has evolved now where a lot of customers are saying, oh, they trust OPay because of the security.”
He said OPay had strengthened its security measures while investing in consumer education to help customers better understand digital financial services and use them safely.
“We had to do a lot of education, consumer education, to make them aware of that and put controls in place to make sure there was security from end to end.”
Adekunle added that the focus of digital financial services had expanded beyond providing financial access, with customers increasingly seeking tools that could support their broader financial wellbeing.
“Today, it’s about financial growth, it’s about financial health, it’s about financial prosperity.”
