Ife Ogunfuwa

Interswitch Group, a Pan-African integrated digital payments and commerce company, in collaboration with Microsoft, has unveiled an innovative blockchain-based supply chain financing service.

According to the firms, the solution known as Interswitch Blockchain Service (Supply Chain Finance Module), brings together entrepreneurs, major financial institutions and corporate organisations, all on a single platform to provide end-to-end visibility that ensures fast and seamless trade financing in supply chain operations.

Speaking during the unveiling in Lagos, the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Interswitch, Mr Mitchell Elegbe, explained that the service would afford small to middle-sized businesses the opportunity to access more funding in a shorter time from participating banks as well as increase sales from participating corporations.

Elegbe added that while the application of blockchain was usually associated with cryptocurrency, the InterswitchBlockchain service did not deploy the use of cryptocurrency in its application, pointing out that the transactions enquired and verifications would be handled by authorised officials from participating entities, without the incentives of a cryptocurrency.

He said, “Interswitch, in collaboration with Microsoft, has built a platform that will allow anyone to build blockchain-based solutions easily and more cost-effectively. It is truly blockchain for everyone with lower costs and shorter time.

“In our 15 years of operation, we have experienced the bottlenecks associated with the existing corporate-based financing infrastructure in Nigeria. This is why we are happy to partner with Microsoft, by leveraging the advanced technology of the Microsoft Azure Blockchain, to prove the possibility of building a distributed ledger that is practical, viable and has the propensity to solve some of Nigeria’s most difficult financial and logistic problems.”

The Principal Programme Manager, Microsoft Azure Blockchain at Microsoft Corporation, Mr Michael Glaros, on his part, said Microsoft was delighted to pioneer the deployment of the innovative technology, which, he said still in its infancy stage in Nigeria.

Glaros said, “We are excited about this partnership with Interswitch. This will be the first enterprise-grade blockchain service in Nigeria, and one of only a handful of production blockchain applications in use by banks and corporations globally.”

The blockchain technology is still in its infancy in Nigeria and we are happy to pioneer its deployment in partnership with Interswitch, an innovative and forward-thinking company which has evolved its business around financial technology.”

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