International Journal of Multidisciplinary and Current Educational Research (IJMCER) ISSN: 2581-7027 ||Volume|| 4 ||Issue|| 1 ||Pages 210-218 ||2022|| | Volume 4 | Issue 1 | www.ijmcer.com | 210 | FinTech and Financial Inclusionin West Africa: Nigeria’s SMEs Market. Arotile Omolabake Damilola School of Accounting &Finance, Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ABSTRACT: Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs or SMEs) are most of West Africa’s greatest employers, the backbone of economic activity within the region with the potential to accelerate economic growth but handicapped with access to capital. This gap has been grasped by FinTech companies to provide needed capital for SMEs to grow and sustain businesses. However, there are many challenges distinct to the African region that has reduced the rates of financial inclusion within the formal and informal sectors expected to be accelerated by FinTech companies. The Nigerian SME market has been attractive for foreign investments over the years and still poses the great potential to keep the region at the top of the world. Other African countries are not exempted from this and as such, they need to explore the impact of FinTech companies on financial inclusion in both the formal and informal sectors of the biggest commercial cities in Nigeria, the challenges faced by them, and how their strategies to achieve a higher financial inclusion percentage may be deterred.With qualitative methodology, the research niched on three unicorn status FinTech companies in West Africa- Flutterwave, Interswitch, and Paystack. KEYWORDS:FinTech, Financial Inclusion, Nigeria, SMEs, West Africa. I. INTRODUCTION Globally, FinTech has modernized the provision of financial services. FinTech companies have made these services extremely competitive, pushing traditional commercial banks out of the loan market and illuminated the business of venture capitalism (some through blockchain technology, crowdfunding, etc.) that were formally high risk, especially in Africa. Amidst the lack of a centralized database, unnumbered house addresses and so much more, tracking borrowers have been semi-solved through BVN (bank verification numbers) issued to account holders through commercial banksbythe Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).This invariably means those without BVN may not have access to capital from FinTech services. In Nigeria, similar to commercial banks, FinTechservices are provided through the internet, applications, business funding, mobile phones, and other electronic devicessuch asmoney transfers, insurance, payments, and deposits 1 . Additionally, these companies have employed traditional African savings methods including the thrift plan techniques that attract little or no interest on loans 2 . The seamless and convenient nature of these services has not only made them attractive (because it eliminates the physical presence of the customer or accountholder) but has thrived in emerging economies of Africa including Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Rwanda, Kenya, Egypt, andMorocco. Although not all FinTech companies in Nigeria are venture capitalists, their dynamic delivery approach to meeting the financial needs of businesses across the country has penetrated Nigeria’s SME market and skyrocketed the financial inclusion ratessimultaneously. FinTech services in the last five years have been said to be plausibly enhanced by Artificial Intelligence (AI) 3 where efficiency boost and speed at minimal cost is the goal 4 . However, thehuman 1 Humby, K. (2020). Scaling in Africa: motives, modes and challenges of internationalization within the inclusive FinTech industry. Generic: University of Twente (student Thesis), 1-3. 2 Olatunji, T. (2020, December). Advancing the Cause of FinTech in Nigeria through Regulation. The Gravitas Review of Business & Property Law, 11(4), 19. 3 These include chatbots, software robots and automated processes. 4 MarutiTechlabs. (2021). How can Artificial Intelligence help FinTech companies? Ahmedabad, Gujarat,India. Retrieved September 22, 2021 from https://marutitech.com/how-can-artificial-intelligence-help-FinTech- companies/