What do you think about the Interswitch Payment Certification Program?

[spokentwice]

Boss @Uduak, we are not on the same page on this, however, @PapaOlabode got my context here.
I knew about SkillBase long before now. But I can also tell you that monetizing the programme is shortsighted.

Global brands like Google spend a lot teaching and certifying people in Analytics for free…Even our own @aniediudo is carrying the Google IO gospel for “FREE”

They are not dumb…They are building an army for their ecosystem. This is the same thing that Interswitch should get right.

@PapaOlabode is prophetically right about Interswitch walking it’s way to a Yahoo-like demise if it doesn’t learn to disrupt itself.

Don’t forget that interswitch’s current model is partly responsible for the high cost of online payment in Nigeria. I mean the structure it runs along with the banks, NIBBS etc

Another prophecy that I will make to join boss @papaolabode’s, is that a new order of payment will evolve (think bitcoin, stellar etc) that will completely reduce the cost of transaction (big boss @asemota’s long-time desire). This approach will be so radically different from what Interswitch is used to that it will lose it dominance.
(That is the future that I don’t want to happen to Nigeria’s first yet-to-be listed unicorn if they get their acts right)

I totally second everything @techscorpion said.

@techscorpion

To the substantive matter at hand, I think what @PapaOlabode is trying to pass across is that Interswitch, a billion dollar unicorn is leaving long term money on the table by focusing on a short term profits because:

The stated target market for this certification (sans the ambiguously named “bank executives”) have very little disposable income so the short term upside is questionable.
Practices similar to this is why their growth to a unicorn has taken the best part of 14 years when similar Western companies have become unicorns in 3 - 5 years. See Stripe - a $5bln five year old startup.
This sort of thing pushes developers away and courts competition and ultimately disruption, or being forced to buy the smaller upstart that blindsided you.

I don’t know the cost of the certification program but I daresay it is a rounding error in the grand scheme of things.

I just thought I should delete my own comment since you clicked the “publish” button before me…and you made a load of sense

Now that @Uduak asked… [quote=“Uduak, post:5, topic:7550”]
Are you about to tell us about a better program by Voguepay?
[/quote]

Watch out