Visa and Microsoft Drive Agentic AI Innovation to Boost Nigeria’s Fintech Talent
In a bold move to strengthen AI adoption in Nigeria’s financial services sector, Visa and Microsoft have joined forces to empower local fintech talent through the Microsoft AI Skills Week Hackathon. Held in Lagos from May 26 to 30, 2025, the program brought together over 70 developers and 150 tech leaders, including CIOs, CTOs, and digital transformation executives, for a five-day learning and innovation event.
Building AI Capabilities in Nigeria’s Financial Services Industry
The initiative is part of a broader commitment by Visa and Microsoft to foster digital innovation, improve KYC compliance, and drive fintech growth through agentic AI and generative technologies like Microsoft Copilot, Azure OpenAI, and Semantic Kernel.
The program included:
- Self-paced AI learning
- Live technical sessions
- Interactive workshops
- A five-hour agentic AI hackathon focused on real-world fintech challenges
Workshops were led by experts from Visa, TeKnowledge, and GitHub, providing participants with hands-on experience in building secure and scalable AI-driven fintech applications.
Hackathon Highlights: From Compliance to Cutting-edge AI
During the hackathon, teams were tasked with building AI-powered solutions to address critical issues in Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance—a key regulatory requirement in financial services. Solutions leveraged Microsoft’s AI infrastructure and tools to improve efficiency, accuracy, and trust in onboarding processes.
A panel of fintech and AI experts evaluated each solution based on innovation, scalability, and impact. Winning teams earned mentorship opportunities, with potential support for productisation and market deployment.
Leadership Perspectives on Fintech Empowerment and Inclusion
Andrew Uaboi, vice president and cluster head for Visa West Africa, emphasised Visa’s mission to nurture the next wave of fintech leaders:
“We are driven to support the next generation of fintech leaders in Nigeria and are proud to partner with Microsoft to catalyse technologies that are secure, inclusive, and built for scale.”
Jean Yenga, Senior Manager of Fintech & Digital Partnerships for Visa West & Central Africa, added:
“By empowering local talent to harness generative AI and agentic systems, we aim to advance compliance innovation and reshape challenges into competitive advantages tailored for African markets.”
On Microsoft’s end, Ola Williams, Managing Director for Microsoft Nigeria and Ghana, shared:
“Through initiatives like AI Skills Week, we’re committed to equipping developers, leaders, and innovators with the tools to lead digital finance transformation. Together with Visa, we aim to drive financial inclusion and compliance excellence in Nigeria’s fintech space.”
Impact and Vision for Nigeria’s Digital Finance Future
This collaboration between Visa and Microsoft marks a significant step in building an agile, inclusive, and innovation-driven fintech ecosystem in Nigeria, a country already recognised as a hub for digital finance on the continent.
The AI Skills Week Hackathon represents:
- A pipeline for scalable fintech innovation
- A commitment to talent development in AI and compliance
- A model for public-private collaboration in digital transformation
As Visa and Microsoft continue to invest in Nigeria’s fintech future, initiatives like this will be instrumental in unlocking the $1 billion+ potential of Africa’s digital economy.
