Deji Oguntonade is the managing director of 3Line Card Management Company Ltd, a company set up to bridge the gap in service delivery. Oguntonade reputed for his strength in innovation, human capital development and a never say die attitude has nearly 20 years work experience in the ICT sector. He spoke to hilary okeke.

3line Card Management and e-Payment
3Line Card Management Company is coming to the Nigeria e-payment scene at the right time. We believe what this economy needs now is a company that focuses on delivering more value to the existing payment card users in the country. 3line is poised to deliver specialized value adding business solutions that make electronic payment easy, simple and affordable by the vast retail market especially the unbanked and underbanked. We have identified needs and gaps and we have positioned to remedy such. We are not just another technology company but strictly a payment solutions company. We have also acquired installed capacity to support these solutions and manage the entire life cycle of cards right from design to production, personalization, etc.
Deadline on Issuance of Chip and Pin Card
There are lots of factors to be considered for a successful migration from magnetic stripe cards to the so called chip and pin cards. Chief among this is the upgrade of the current infrastructure, especially channels such as ATMs and PoS to make them compatible for this new card technology. This is a capital intensive investment for banks and other technology service providers in e-payment. Also, the cost of the cards themselves far surpass that of the cards currently in use, hence replacing these cards will also generate issues like who ought to bear the cost – customer or bank? Another question to ask is if chip and pin is really needed in all and every situation. By and large, the greater security offered on the chip and pin platform will eventually drive the market in the direction of compliance. What we envisage is a gradual, rather than sudden compliance.
EMV Chip and Pin Card and Fraudsters
Because of the additional security requirements implemented on the EMV compliant cards, the nefarious activities of fraudsters will be reduced to a very great extent. Also, the cost involved in attempting to break the security is prohibitive enough to make such activities no longer unprofitable as against the case as we know it today. Yes, EMV will reduce card-based frauds.
Interoperability among Switching Companies
I think the absence of proper regulatory framework for this sector is responsible for this phenomenon. Unless something is done to reverse this trend, the growth of the Nigerian e-payment sector will remain rudimentary and at best stunted. We cannot compete in a global world and major global players in electronic payments will not be able to participate adequately in an economy of several disjointed switches. There is a need to streamline and regulate where necessary. The onus still lies very much with government agencies to chart the direction for compliance in the switching business. 3Line has positioned to take advantage of existing technology without necessarily acting as another technology provider. Nigerian users need more values for their card usage and that is what we are willing to deliver.
Freedom Card
The Freedom Card brand is at the core of 3line value proposition and offering. It is the flagship for 3line products. Freedom Card brand’s essence is borne out of a strong philosophy that for every human being, choice is the most desirable form of Freedom – choice of location, achievement, lifestyle, convenience, security, etc. People are simply desirous to live truly free.
The brand has therefore, positioned itself as an enabler for achieving this aspiration of the innate desire for Freedom. Freedom Card brand’s posture therefore resonates this attribute inside out; from our work culture to our various product offerings. We see ourselves as Freedom ‘fighters’ whose ambition is to bring exciting lifestyle experience to Nigerians through innovative and cutting-edge products that truly enable them achieve more, do more, believe more in themselves, especially those excluded from access to financial services and products. Freedom Card believes that there are limitless possibilities and that by being non-conformist, we can question the status quo and discover hitherto unconceivable solutions to make everyday life more fun-filled, colourful, exciting and vibrant. It is in line with the above brand essence that our products and services seek to address every aspect of daily lives of Nigerians with a view to enabling them live truly free using the e-payment platform, while forging deep connection with the Nigerian culture.
Freedom Card is our flagship brand. It is the umbrella name for a bouquet of card based products such as the prepaid card products and the chip and pin cards. An example of application of the prepaid card is in the Freedom Gift Card, which was launched into the Nigerian market last December. This was received with a lot of enthusiasm as it offers the public an alternative and more convenient means of sharing gifts. There are several other products in the Freedom Card suite that will be released over time.
High Downtime at ATMs
It is no longer news that the state of infrastructure in Nigeria is very deplorable. It needs to be understood that for ATMs to work, several infrastructure providers are involved in the value chain right from telecoms to power, IT and even physical security. Once there is a breakdown at one of these points, the chain is broken. You will agree with me that it is not an easy task to control this entire infrastructure without occasional hitches given the state of the entire Nigerian society and other socio-economic factors. For instance, alternative power is supplied per ATM location; separate telecoms is deployed to ensure that ATMs are up and running. To reduce these breakdowns, efforts must be made in appropriate quarters to improve each of the ancillary infrastructures.
e-Commerce Solution
It is something that we would love to do, although it has not fully taken off. The learning curve may be very steep but we are willing to take it in strides and believe that it will catch on with time. The developed economies that we refer to as examples today also took a while to get where they are today. The cultural and social transformation needed to bring about similar change in Nigeria may take some time but the change is inevitable. Much improvement has been seen in the last decade and the trend is still continuing. We would embark on necessary consumer enlightenment programmes; create enough values to give the consumer a need to adopt eCommerce as against other traditional means of conducting transactions. We plan to develop our solutions around the lifestyle of consumers as against forcing them to adopt a standard. So, we are still building up capacity and most likely by the end of the year, we would start having some inputs into eCommerce.
e-Data and e-Identity
Aside from ePayment, the next logical thing that Nigeria will latch on to is convergence of many activities and services that are available in silos today. For instance, health data, vehicle data, insurance details, even bio-data can very well be carried on cards. The adoption of the chip and pin era will further make this possible and achievable. We intend to make carrying such sensitive personal data very portable, secure and presentable in a uniform format to facilitate verification. 3Line is in a position to deliver this as part of its value proposition.
Auto-Reg Scheme
Well, the major achievement is having vehicle details registered electronically and accessible from a central location. Data have been recorded, saved, made available to those that should have access to these data – LASTMA officials, Federal Road Safety agents, Police or Vehicle Insurance company. Now, those records can be accessed easily since they have been compiled and kept in a databank.