Tag: 40 DAYS 40 FINTECHs

PesaLink Processes Over Half a Million Transactions Monthly

40 Days 40 FinTechs Season 4 Day 42

Until recently, the primary methods of transferring money from one bank account to another were through cheques or Electronic Funds Transfers (EFTs). Unfortunately, these traditional methods are often sluggish, labor-intensive, susceptible to errors, and necessitate multiple layers of verification, rendering them less efficient.

However, through the power of technology and innovation, providers of financial services have significantly evolved, progressing towards more advanced digital money transfer services such as mobile and online banking platforms.

One such service provider is PesaLink, a Kenyan-founded real-time payments platform linking mobile and online transfers by thousands of bank and telecom customers.

According to Gituku Kirika, the CEO of PesaLink, this platform has transformed inter-bank and intra-bank transfer by ensuring efficiency, timeliness and convenience.

PesaLink empowers bank customers by offering them the convenience and flexibility to transfer funds using their banks’ mobile and online platforms, along with USSD services.

This innovative integration extends to telecommunications platforms as well, thus providing an all-encompassing solution for seamless financial transactions.

“When a client logs into PesaLink, they are required to enter the recipient’s bank account number or their mobile phone number. We are able to map it against their bank account and as soon as the consumer confirms that this is the recipient, then we complete the transaction,” he says.

“As a real-time payment platform, PesaLink ensures instantaneous transfer of funds directly into the recipient’s account, thereby enhancing the efficiency of financial transactions. This allows consumers the convenience of conducting transactions at any time, thereby satisfying the demands of a 24/7 operational model,” he adds.

Great impact
With more than six million registered users, PesaLink can ably be called a champion of real-time payments in Kenya.
According to Faisal Omar, the Chief Product Officer at PesaLink, the platform boasts of 500,000 transactions per month and about 16 million transactions since inception, with a transaction value of close to two trillion Kenya shillings between banks.

“We are now building a PesaLink wallet which will allow players to offer this as a service to their customers. This will open up many use cases such as merchant payment, point-of-sale payments, and also allow customers to do low-value transactions at cheaper cost,” he says.

“Secondly, we are looking at developing an ecosystem that allows our customers to have a unique identifier. The problem we have today is that customers need to share the account number to receive payments…now we want to facilitate building aliases so that customers can send money to an email address or phone number,” he adds.

Omar argues that idea behind this is to try and make the payment experience as frictionless as possible, regardless of which channel the customer is using.

“To enable this functionality, we need to build our own service channels. Because, we will need the facility for customers to be able to engage with us, download receipts, look at past transactions, look at their linkage with banks, so, we are building products where customers can be able to interface with us directly,” he adds.

Optimism
Meanwhile, George Murage, the Chief Technology and Operations Officer at PesaLink, notes that the past few years have seen more specialization in East African FinTech industry, which is a good sign of proper service delivery.
“About a decade ago, players were trying to do everything in the FinTech space (aggregation, switching, lending) but now what we are seeing is a lot of players that are specializing in one of these areas,” he says.

On top of this, Murage says that regulation has greatly improved with more support especially in the risk control measures.

He is also happy with the organizers of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative which is helping to promote services of FinTechs to the entire world.

“I do believe that getting the word out is very important and additionally this program highlights the fact that the FinTech space is very heterogeneous in nature. There are a lot of services at play,” he says, noting that FinTechs will soon be at the centre of business transactions in sub-Saharan Africa.

“A lot of our value chains are still cash-heavy but FinTechs are blazing the trail in digitizing these value chains which will enable them to be easier and flexible for people to transact on mobile platforms,” he says.

PesaLink are the 42nd participants in this year’s 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative ran by HiPipo in partnership with the Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner and Crosslake Technologies with generous support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

It shines a light on innovations that are changing lives for under-served communities.

HiPipo’s 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has become a household name in financial technology space of the East African region. In the last three editions, more than 100 FinTechs have been showcased, highlighting stories changing people’s lives especially in the under-served sectors.

June 19, 2023
Craft Silicon is Pioneering a Financial Inclusion Revolution in Africa

40 Days 40 FinTechs Season 4 Day 40

With an impressive 23-year legacy, Craft Silicon stands as one of the most enduring and influential FinTech companies, boasting a clientele spanning over 30 nations across Africa and Asia.

Their broad spectrum of services has demonstrated profound versatility, encompassing domains from microfinance to commercial banking, Islamic banking, digital banking platforms, anti-money laundering solutions, micro-lending, and most recently, ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ platforms.

Over the past two decades, Craft Silicon has manifested an exhaustive range of capabilities, asserting its prominence in the financial technology landscape.

Dhimant Shah, Chief Executive Officer at Craft Silicon, asserts that their comprehensive and extensive experience positions them within the upper echelon of organizations instrumental in propelling financial inclusion worldwide.

“We started with our core banking solutions for microfinance which is something we excel at and are probably the number one microfinance core banking provider in the world,” he asserts.

In addition to their foundational services, Craft Silicon offers an extensive digital suite encompassing mobile banking platforms, retail and corporate internet banking solutions, along with an array of payment platforms.

This breadth of service offerings has rightfully earned them a spot amongst the top 50 fastest-expanding FinTechs in Africa.

Shah notes that it is this experience that has seen them work with more than 250 financial institutions across the world, serving about 89 million end users.

“At Craft Silicon, our reach extends beyond banks and financial institutions. We’ve recently established a division specifically to collaborate with governments, delivering essential revenue collection services. With this strategic move, we aim to broaden our impact and touch the lives of millions more through these interactions,” he says.

To put it into perspective, Craft Silicon processed about USD 7.5 billion worth of transactions in 2022.

“Our estimation at the end of this year we will be about USD13 billion worth of transactions processed by our systems,” he noted.

Thriving amid tough times
Craft Silicon is the 40th participant in this year’s 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative. Now in its impressive fourth season, this initiative, orchestrated by HiPipo, is designed to spotlight groundbreaking innovations that are instrumental in facilitating the integration of underserved populations into the digital economy. The initiative is proudly conducted in collaboration with renowned partners such as the Level One Project, the Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, and Crosslake Technologies, with generous backing from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Shah says that FinTech in Africa is laced with opportunities, especially at a time when there is emerging artificial intelligence and machine learning.
“So, how do we harness this technology for the end consumers? How can they take advantage of the platforms that we provide? We are certainly excelling in that area of artificial intelligence; some of the products benefit immensely from artificial intelligence. It is not just about providing the rules,” he says.

In the pursuit of providing fair credit to consumers, Shah notes that artificial intelligence would be very helpful because it can check many money data checkpoints simultaneously and contribute towards a fair score for the consumer.

Furthermore, with their significant presence throughout Africa, Craft Silicon operates as a leading figure within the FinTech industry. Nonetheless, despite their esteemed position, they still encounter operational challenges on occasion.

First, Shah identifies cyber security threats as a primary challenge that they have learned to mitigate by employing certified ethical hackers as well as security professionals.

“There are also regulatory challenges across the countries that we work with. The regulatory framework keeps changing and we have to keep up with it,” he says.
He however encourages African innovators to identify unique African problems and come up with specific solutions.

“We don’t have to always copy everything that the West does. How do we move with our own solutions to address the unique problems of Africans? We don’t always need to copy because there are areas where we excel in these technologies like our mobile money systems of M-Pesa,” he says.
In a similar vein, Shah applauds the organisers of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative for creating awareness among African FinTechs and end-users.

“People get to know what technologies are available, who are the people behind them, and their philosophies. This is not just a flash of knowledge that perhaps Craft Silicon is doing this but who are the people at Craft Silicon? What are their motives or philosophies? Why are they doing the things that they do?” he said.
Innocent Kawooya, CEO of HiPipo, posits that the involvement of well-established FinTechs like Craft Silicon in the industry serves as a potent catalyst for inspiring nascent startups.

“Craft Silicon has exhibited remarkable resilience and adaptability. By offering a rich insight into the sector’s evolution and sharing how they’ve continually adapted to remain pertinent, we trust that emerging FinTechs can derive inspiration. We commend Craft Silicon for their unwavering commitment to hastening financial inclusion across Africa,” Kawooya noted.

June 16, 2023
CenteTech is accelerating Centenary Bank’s digital journey as more clients switch to Digital Financial Services

40 Days 40 FinTechs Season 4 Day 38

The year 2023 is a special one for Uganda’s largest indigenous bank. Centenary Bank is celebrating 40 years of transforming the country’s banking sector.

Because of their rural development agenda, Centenary Bank transformed Uganda’s banking from an elitist perspective to targeting the ordinary person.

And when the world experienced the digital revolution over the past decade, Centenary Bank has been at the forefront of championing a shift from over-the-counter transactions to digital services such as Cente Mobile and, most recently, the partnership with Cente Tech.

The bank is working with Cente Tech, a Technology company started about two years ago by Centenary Group to drive the institution’s wider digital agenda.
According to Joseph Kiwanuka Balikuddembe, the executive director of Centenary Bank, since partnering with Cente Tech, there has been a tremendous change in the bank’s smart or digital journey.

“We have an estimate of about 1.3 million customers that are using our alternative channels. We have also seen a vast drop over the last two years in terms of over-the-counter transactions because we are seeing a larger volume of clients going to the digital channels using ATMs, Agent Banking, our Mobile APP, and USSD,” he says, adding;
“We are now driving the digital smart bank agenda which we intend to achieve by 2026. We believe in making our customers’ lives easier and simpler.”
Centenary Technology Services.

According to Steven Kirenga, the head of product, business development, and customer experience at Centenary Technology Services (Cente Tech), they are helping the bank to radically change customer experiences through digital interventions.

“Centenary Bank, being the largest in Uganda and second most profitable, we at Cente Tech are helping them with their technology for customers who are using Cente APP, USSD, or Cente Mobile. If you have been a customer for more than one year, you must have noticed that between February 2022 and now, there has been a big change – all because of what we are able to do,” he says.

Kirenga notes that while Centenary Bank was already running a Mobile Application for clients before this partnership, they have had to make several changes to ensure customer satisfaction.

“We undertook an audit and brought our expertise from a digital perspective and changed some of the processes that the APP does. The improved version of the APP allows you to pay for a multitude of things and has a better experience,” he says.

Balikuddembe, the Centenary Bank executive director is grateful to this partnership because it has reduced the burden at their respective physical branches as more customers continue to prefer alternative banking channels.
In the same vein, Kirenga welcomes the ongoing partnership with Centenary Bank because partnerships between Banks and Technology companies eventually work to the benefit of the final consumers.

“At Cente Tech, we believe that we can’t build everything. If there is somebody providing a service that we can use, we will approach them and build a partnership to serve the people,” he says.

40 Days 40 FinTechs
CenteTech holds the 38th spot in this year’s 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative, a program designed to spotlight transformative innovations and solutions aimed at uplifting underrepresented communities.
Kirenga says that the truth about building transformation is consistency and effort.
“HiPipo’s relentless pursuit of sustainable inclusion is exemplified in their 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative, now in its fourth season, demonstrating consistent commitment. By casting a spotlight on the industry, they deserve our commendation. Let’s align ourselves with this commendable endeavor.” he said.
Now in its impressive fourth run, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative by HiPipo has established itself as a significant force within East Africa’s financial technology landscape. Across its three previous editions, the initiative has given over 100 FinTechs a platform to showcase their transformative solutions. These stories have emphasized their impact on improving lives, particularly in sectors that have traditionally been underserved.
The 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative is run by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

June 14, 2023
MoMoPay is used by more than half a million subscribers every month

40 Days 40 FinTechs Season 4 Day 36

Since MTN Uganda launched mobile money some 14 years ago, the money transfer and financial technology landscape in Uganda was forever revolutionized.

The convenience, timeliness, and robustness that come with mobile money have seen millions of Uganda’s unbanked population use this service at least once every year. Imagine the idea of sending money from Kampala to someone in Lira and they receive it within five seconds!

However, it is MTN’s most recent innovation called MoMoPay that has received more reviews because of its transformative effect of Mobile Money from a channel of sending and receiving money to a mode of payment between sellers and buyers.

For instance, Joshua Ainomugisha, who works as a Dispenser at WellCity Pharmacy and Medical Center in Kyanja, Kampala, notes that with MoMoPay, businesses have been saved the hustle that comes with cash transactions such as looking for change. With MoMoPay, clients promptly pay the exact amounts from their mobile wallets onto the business’ wallet.

“MoMoPay has also helped us to get rid of fake notes and makes bookkeeping very easy because we are no longer talking about shortages as all payments are on our MoMo line,” he says.

Further, Julian Atugonza, a Chef at Food Shack, also in Kyanja, Kampala notes that customers are very happy with MoMoPay as it saves time for all parties involved in the transaction.

“It quickens our work because as they are paying through MoMo, we are also finalizing the dish they have ordered,” she says.

MoMoPay explained
Stephen Mutana, the Chief Strategy and Stakeholder Officer of MTN MoMo notes that most people initially understood mobile money as a cash-in and cash-out platform. They, therefore, decided to add more value to it by making it more transactional and inclusive through MoMoPay.

“We noticed that people were sending money to pay each other. So, we did some research and found that there was room for businesses to accept digital money. We then launched MTN MoMoPay,” he says.

“There are various ways of paying via MoMoPay. You can input a merchant code into your mobile phone and pay or the shopkeeper puts your number in their device and you receive a prompt to enter your pin and the money is removed. You can also pay using the MTN MoMo APP where you press MoMoPay and scan a QR code before inputting the money billed by the shopkeeper,” he explains.

He however warns customers about rampant online fraud.
“We have seen an increase in online fraud – usually where people use all sorts of social engineering. I want to emphasize that; never share your pin with anyone. Not any bank or MTN MoMo or any other FinTech will ever ask you for that,” he says.

Meanwhile, Adams Kibet, the acting Chief Commercial Officer for MTN MoMo Uganda notes that the convenience that comes with MoMoPay has seen the uptake numbers rise within a few years.

“There are approximately 540,000 customers using MoMoPay on a monthly basis. We have about 275,000 active merchants monthly. We do an average of UGX 140 billion in a month – in terms of the value of transactions through MoMoPay,” he says.

Kibet says that now the focus is on trying to bring more informal merchants such as market vendors, and Boda Boda riders, among others, into the fold.
“Our main focus is to ensure that the money remains within the eco-system. We are driving informal merchants – in that when they collect money from a consumer, they should not cash out the money. We want to drive that cashless ecosystem where we ensure that every informal merchant is mapped to a formal merchant,” he says.

Kibet however acknowledges that the majority of Ugandans are still stuck in the cash economy.
“The biggest elephant in the room is the cash. But with MoMoPay, we have other value proposition advantages that we give to our merchants. We try to train them to understand how risky it is to handle cash and how faster it is for a business person to accept the cashless economy,” he says.

40 Days 40 FinTechs
MTN is the 36th participant in Season Four of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative organised by HiPipo to highlight innovative solutions changing lives for people at the bottom of the pyramid.

“I got to know 40 Days 40 FinTechs around 2020 and you gave us much hope. What I loved about it is that you are a platform for young FinTechs to come and showcase what it is that they are innovating,” Mutana said.

“This is also a platform of reassurance. You bring various stakeholders together to share ideas and experiences. We all need encouragement to know that what we are thinking about is not just an idea in isolation but something that is useful to customers and the economy,” he says.
Mutana also appreciates the initiative for selling the Ugandan brand across the region and beyond.

“We are in one of the best regions in FinTech innovation. Our neighbor Kenya is a world leader and we are very close to Kenya. So, East Africa is seen as a basket or home of FinTech innovation. The 40 days 40 FinTechs initiative helps us to elevate the great work that is going on, the skills that are available in Uganda, and most importantly, the life-changing and impactful contributions by youth, women, and men in our society,” he says.

In the meantime, HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya observes that the emergence of groundbreaking innovations from prominent brands like MTN MoMo serves as a promising indication for FinTech startups to explore existing opportunities and devise specialized solutions.

“MoMoPay represents a product nested within another product, highlighting the numerous challenges that can be addressed by FinTech companies when they critically examine society,” Kawooya noted.
Mutana thus called for more frequent engagements that should even involve institutions of learning.
“I know students come to the 40 Days 40 FinTechs event but nothing makes me happier than seeing young minds engage with technology with all the benefits that we can get from it,” he said.

40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative is run by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies with generous support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

June 12, 2023
Ticteq’s online tickets are helping event organisers cut costs

#40Days40FinTechs Season 4 Day 35

When Doreen Nanfuka started an events management, company called Fuuka Star a few years ago, her most immediate challenge was about the cost of ticketing.

This is on top of the hustle of printing tickets and incorporating security features to avoid fraudsters.

Then she soon learned about Ticteq, an online events solution that among other things sells online tickets for events. Since then, she decided to incorporate digital tickets into her events.

“Trust me Ticteq has helped us in saving money because we don’t have to use paper to print. It is also automated. We use their dashboards to withdraw our money through mobile money or send directly to our bank accounts,” she says.

With Ticteq, they just need a scanner that validates a QR code of tickets at event entrances.

“I encourage all event managers to sign up for Ticteq as signing up is free. There are no contracts needed yet they provide us with all information we need, and access to their tools to help us manage our businesses,” she says.

What is Ticteq?
Ticteq is a system that helps fans purchase tickets online starting from Sports, Theatre shows, Music concerts, Cinemas, Comedy shows, Festivals, and Award ceremonies, among others.

According to George Katuramu, a Ticteq director, Ticteq is a subsidiary of Xopa Limited that allows Events Organizers worldwide to register an account and start transacting with a personalized dashboard to enable them to monitor their event performance.

“They then start creating the events and attach them to the tickets they want. When they create these tickets, the links are generated automatically and they start sharing them with their users,” he says.

Katuramu says that for the time they have been operating, Ticteq has managed to sell more than 200,000 tickets with a transaction value worth more than Shs 400m.

Besides ticketing, Katuramu notes that they also offer crowd-funding services for noble causes such as education services, healthcare services, etc.

“Crowd-funding uses the power of social media and the internet to enable people to raise money, assist others in overcoming adversity, and achieve aspirational goals. You can do anything from funding your own surgery to helping a student realize his or her dream of attending college – and so much more,” he says.

Ignorance
Katuramu however notes that the first challenge that the FinTech industry is facing is ignorance.

“Many people don’t know the digital world. People think that things that are done digitally are associated with fraud,” he says.

Even Nanfuka agrees
“The challenge with Ticteq is that people don’t know that these platforms exist. Even when you buy tickets online for some people, they prefer to use the old way of printed tickets which is costly,” she says.

Another challenge is the high percentage cut by payment gateways.

“The percentage is a little bit high because we get a percentage for each ticket we sell to the customers. So, the gateways can charge you like a 3 percent per ticket sale yet you also need to take a percentage like 2 or 3 percent. This becomes a little bit high and people end up finding it costly to buy tickets online. If the gateways could reduce the percentage of the charges, I believe more people will start buying online tickets,” he says.

Ticteq is the 35th participant in 40 Days 40 FinTechs season 4 organized by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies with generous support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Katuramu says the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has solved the issue of exposure and ignorance.

“This is something that has been missing in the FinTech industry, especially in marketing. For example, if someone has a good product, the initiative gets known to the public. This has been a hustle for us but when we come for the 40 days 40 FinTech, the public knows how our products work,” he says.

Now in its fourth season, HiPipo’s 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has become a household name in the financial technology space of the East African region. In the last three editions, more than 100 FinTechs have been showcased, highlighting stories changing people’s lives, especially in the under-served sectors.

June 11, 2023
Izere is using FinTech to democratize and transform Education

#40Days40FinTechs Season 4 Day 34

Deborah Mulungi had gone shopping in a local supermarket when she met a fine lady wearing a T-shirt with the inscription – Izere Education.

Curious, Mulungi stopped this lady and asked her what Izere Education stood for.
“She told me about many things but I had never heard about Early Childhood Development. She told me that they work as a social enterprise aimed at transforming education in under-served communities to realize quality 21st-century learning outcomes for all,” she recalls.

But the most amazing part of this Edu-Tech platform was that parents were being empowered to save money using their phones and later pay school fees for their children.

“I got interested. I enrolled my sibling in this program and it has been of great impact. If they talk about nurturing children, especially helping them to develop 21st-century skills, it is remarkable,” Mulungi says.

“They give children the ability to be creative, innovative, and confident,” she says.
“The good thing is that you can enroll your child and pay in installments. You may not prioritize it, but if you see what your child goes through, you need to invest in it. If you are appreciative of personal development, then you can be willing to sacrifice what you can to ensure that your child grows up as a responsible person in this competitive world.”

Edu-Tech
Shamim Nirere, the Team Lead at Izere Education, notes that most times, these quality learning opportunities are missed by the have-nots because of the extra money one is supposed to pay for an extra enrichment class.

So, they decided to come up with a mobile solution under the Edu–Tech platform targeting parents struggling with school fees in public institutions, which are expected to be cheap.

“We have set up an Edu–Tech platform powered by FinTech solutions and reaching schools to extend our solution, communities to set up innovation spaces for young people, parents to enroll their children in our online academy and pay online, and trainers to get their money electronically,” she says.

“We are now getting to the ground in communities to get parents to save some money on their mobile money wallets for school fees.”
And Mulungi emphasizes that every parent should give this service consideration because it offers much more than ordinary routine classroom education.

“A parent who thinks that a child’s destiny is determined by academics, I don’t think that is right. Google can give us the academic answers that we need but in the 21st century, we need competitive skills to survive,” she says.
Strong strides.
Started in 2016, Izere has evolved to offer solutions that drive communities to the vision of quality 21st-century learning outcomes.

Nirere says that when the world was met with the Covid-19 pandemic, they got a boost in numbers and 2020 was their best year because most people realized that they can do much with technology like studying, paying online, making orders, etc.
“We have so far reached close to 5,000 young people and hope to reach 20,000 by the end of 2023. This is because we are running community programs and reaching a wide range of young people in 10 districts in Uganda online,” she says.
She adds that they are currently working with different aggregators and payment gateways such as SchoolPay and Flutterwave.

“But in the near future, we shall design and roll out our own wallet that will make payments much easier for the users of our solutions – content creators, teachers, parents, and students.
Nirere nonetheless says that the biggest challenge is the inability of some parents to understand their service of holistic education.

“The journey of enrolling young people on our platform is not an easy one. First of all, some schools provide mainstream education with traditional subjects. So, parents often ask if we are a school and not many understand what we do,” she says.

“But Covid-19 was a time for people to understand that there’s so much learning that can be done online. They later realized that there’s a new set of skills that our people need,” she says.
She also appreciated the organizers of the annual 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative for shining a light on players in the FinTech space.

“This is helpful because most times, people build in silos yet whatever they are working on is already out there. It has also made it a lot easier to see people do things differently and share ideas. It has also helped to demystify FinTech,” she says.

Izere Education is the 34th participant in this year’s 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative organised by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies with generous support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Now in the fourth season, HiPipo’s 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has become a household name in the financial technology space of the East African region. In the last three editions, more than 100 FinTechs have been showcased, highlighting stories changing people’s lives, especially in the under-served sectors.

June 10, 2023
#40Days40FinTechs: Trade-Lance is using technology to leave a lasting mark in people’s lives

While the COVID-19 crisis has taught people the importance of digital technologies in all aspects of life, its importance has been greatly felt in the financial space.

An increasing number of transactions are progressively going online as social distancing and the lockdown proved that it isonly technology that can be harnessed to keep things moving, irrespective of the situation at hand.

This has played out well for Financial Technology Companies (FinTechs), which are aggressively innovating to bridge the gap.

Among them is Trade-Lance, a firm that provides integration and aggregation services to telecoms, financial institutions and utility companies, among others.

Established about 15 years ago, the financial technology company, offers a range from Value Added service solutions including project management, business audits, business analysis, systems architecture, systems development, systems integration, data centre design and management, and ICT training.

Trade-Lance is also does mobile money aggregation with MTN, Airtel, Africell and have integrations with various banks and utility companies in Uganda, according to Ewolu Nelson Mandela, the firm’s Sales and Marketing Analyst.

The firm harnesses technology to offer a range of products including micro loan support, touch pay, M-ticketing, online betting solutions, M-rent, Katale, remittances across networks, airtime to all networks, SharaPay and merchant solutions, among others.

Under micro loan support, the firm offers support for Moneylenders, donors and Saccos. The product also offers SMEs the provision to pay out loans to their customers as a well a medium for collecting premiums.

The Touch Pay product on the other hand offers a fast and secure way of paying fees, thus eliminating the need to queue in banks and sending pocket money to children at school, using mobile money. The solution also provides a closed loop student wallet system that enables parents send money to students while at school, which can be spent in areas parents are certain of.

The M-ticketing solution allows one to sell event tickets using mobile money, via a USSD code, thereby eliminating paper tickets and offering a convenient and secure way of managing events.

Trade-Lance’s Online Betting Solution enables its clients to send bets to their favourite betting companies directly from their mobile phone while the M-rent solution is used by property owners to manage their properties, collect rent and pay service providers.

This, according to Ewolu, enables one to monitor their properties’ cash flow and to plan maintenance schedules with service providers as well as paying their dues at your own convenience.

On the other hand, Katale is an online market place that offers online presence for retailers and wholesalers. It also offers international remittances in partnership with PostBank among other products.

Regional links

The firm also operates in South Sudan, where it delivered the Unified Mobile Money platform and provided a broker to the Unified mobile money platform. All third party integrations in the country use its platform. It also has presence in Ethiopia.

Trade-Lace is among the firms participating in the 40-days-40-FinTechs initiative organised by HiPipo, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation.

The initiative seeks to enable FinTechs to innovate solutions that facilitate cross-network financial transactions at minimal risks to enhance access to financial services.

Running for 40 days, the project will see the participating 40 FinTechs acquire interoperable development skills to improve access to financial services, using the Mojaloop open source software.

The HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya applauded Trade-Lance for thinking interoperability despite the existing limitations that come with connecting and integrating with the different players.

He noted that interoperability even between telecoms in Uganda is still very expensive.

“For every single transaction, you are charged a minimum of 13%, which is very high for finance,” Kawooya said.

He added: “So the 40-days-40-FinTechs initiative is part of our 15- year journey of advocating for digital transformation.”

In organizing the 40-days-40-FinTechs project, Kawooya said that HiPipo wants to use the knowledge and skills acquired from its association with some of the founders of new edge technology – Microsoft, Google, Linux and Facebook – to create a leveled ground that allows everyone to play in the same playing field.

He said that working collaboratively will promote innovation and in turn boost financial inclusion.

Kawooya noted that COVID-19 has also shown people that this is the time for everyone to think digital.

He further noted that anyone who innovate around mobile in Africa is destined to succeed, given that Africa is an economy, which people refer to as a mobile first continent.

“It has been proved that all those who innovate around the mobile easily get to capture the market and easily get to grow and to sustainably serve and transform lives,” Kawooya said.

Kawooya said that HiPipo seeks to ensure that the world, starting from Africa, achieves full digital transformation, given the enormous opportunities that come with digital exposure.

July 14, 2020
FileTax is helping businesses file taxes with ease

While some people and businesses in Uganda would be willing to pay taxes, the cumbersome procedures make it difficult for many to comply.

This explains why the Uganda Revenue Authority, the body charged with collecting taxes on behalf of the government, is still failing to increase the country’s taxable base, despite there being a big number of people and businesses that qualify to pay taxes.

However, one technology company, FileTax, has set out to simplify and revolutionize tax payment in Uganda by helpingindividuals and businesses comply with their tax obligations so that they can support economic development.

Malcolm Kastiro, the FileTax founder said that the firm helps simplify tax payment through technology and offers advisory and training services on how to file their taxes better.

Katsiro said he was motivated to start the company after realizing that there is a big mandate to get as many people as possible to participate in financial services.

He noted that once a poor family is empowered on how to use money, they be inspired to scale and thus start a small business and as it grows, they have to be educated about tax matters so as to enable them comply with the taxman.

“As FileTax, we are trying to show people that as much as you are spending and keeping track of your expenses, you also need to remember that there is an obligation to government to pay taxes

Katsiro said that emphasis is put on women, given that they are the backbone of any society, know how to spend money, are always good at budgets and several are trying to start businessesbut lack the necessary skills for them to manage certain aspects of their businesses, including taxes.

He noted that they are coming up with a simple way of empowering women to be able to keep abreast with the kind of taxes they need to pay and when to pay them.

Kastiro also announced that women in business have also been given an offer, where their businesses will pay UShs150,000 for a package that will enable them file taxes better, down from UShs200,000.

They will also benefit from advisory and training services on how to file their taxes better.

Technology key

FileTax is among the firms participating in the 40-days-40-FinTechs project, organised by HiPipo and in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation.

The initiative seeks to enable companies to innovate solutions that facilitate cross-network financial transactions at minimal risks to enhance access to financial services.

Running for 40 days, the project has seen the participating 40 FinTechs acquire interoperable development skills to improve access to financial services, using the Mojaloop open source software.

The HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya applauded FileTax for the innovation, saying that filing tax has never been simple, even for some big firms.

He noted that it is important that taxation becomes an important point of discussion saying that when money becomes digital, it will become easy to visualize and also make it easy for the government to monitor.

“With digital money, authorities will know the money generated by a business, payments made and the amount of tax an entity is required to pay as tax.

“With this, we will have no burden as innovators and proprietors of different businesses and the government will be able to have better service provision such as good schools, health facilitiesand road infrastructure among other,” he said.

Kawooya added that technology has played a major role in the growth of the economy as a number of tech firms are tax compliant.

“What a good way to end the first 40-days-40-FinTechs other than with an entity that speaks to regulation in terms of making sure that people pay taxes. If we want service provision, then we must all pay taxes,” Kawooya said.

July 14, 2020
#40days40Fintechs: Yapheh is offering salon services at a click of a button

If there is anything that the corona virus crisis has taught business people in Uganda and world over, it is the power of technology in providing goods and services.

With the lockdowns that cut across nations as countries implemented measures to curb the spread of the dreaded virus, the only businesses that managed to generate revenue are only those that adopted technology-supported channels to deliver goods and services.

Among them is Yapheh, a startup that offers salon and spa related services to customers including hair, nails, skins, massage or any other beauty service.

Launched recently, the person who needs the services only has to click a button and choose the service they want where they want to have it from – whether at their home, workplace or a salon.

Vicent Nemeyimana, the founder said that he was motivated to start such a platform after realizing that people were tired of the long queues in salons, waiting to be worked on while others were walking long distances to get to their favorite salon, which was inconveniencing.

Additionally, some people, especially women, lacked salon time because of their busy schedules while others spa business owners were faced with shortage of clients. Salons also have poor data collection regarding clients, poor digital presence, overcrowded space and working on pressure.

Putting the services online provides salon owners with data that can be used for customer retention purposes and also enables salon owners to effectively plan, depending on the number of clients they have to attend to.

“With our solution, people no longer have to wait for long hours on benches, walk long distances to their favorite salon or suffering difficulties of finding salon time in case they are busy. You can now order all you need whether hair, nails, skin or massage services at a click of a button from wherever you are and the nearest salon will come to you,” Nemeyimana said.

He said there are thousands of salons and spa businesses, with the biggest percentage being in Kampala and most owners and users have access to smart phones and internet.

Being a multivendor, the startup has since had 20 different salons registered on its website in 20 locations in Kampala and 10 customers have already been served. Booking and payment is done online.

Yapheh is among the firms participating in the ongoing inaugural 40-days-40-FinTechs project organized by HiPipo, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation.

The initiative seeks to enable FinTechs to innovate solutions that facilitate cross-network financial transactions at minimal risks to enhance access to financial services.

Running for 40 days, the project has seen the participating 40 FinTechs acquire interoperable development skills to improve access to financial services, using the Mojaloop open source software.

The HiPipo CEO thanked Yapheh for coming up with a digital platform to address people’s beauty needs noting that the salon business has thousands of clients that are potential Yapheh clients.

He pledged that HiPipo will offer technical and advisory support to Yapheh so that they can improve their digital platform and also make their payment collections solution interoperable.

He also urged the startup to invest in systems that offer users excellent user experiences.

“No matter how much you market, if people don’t get good user experience you cannot achieve your objective. For instance, if 20 people wanted to visit your platform but found it down or they had a bad user experience, they will run away to where the experience is better,” Kawooya said.

July 14, 2020
#40days40Fintechs: Merchandise Uganda is linking sellers to buyers

Merchandise Uganda, an e-commerce platform that connects sellers to buyers is increasingly gaining prominence in Uganda, owing to its ability to connect businesses to market across the globe easily.

Established in March 2019, the platform allows merchants to open mini-showrooms through which they market their products to potential buyers by posting product photos and adverts, reviews, tips and videos.

It has a number of sectors including agriculture, construction, manufacturing, legal logistics, hotels, education and family, general merchandise and health, among others, where people post their products, depending on the category.

Among the benefits are direct link between suppliers, business and buyers, awareness creation about available products, branding, helps local businesses link up with global buyers and also enabling businesses to participate in online auctioning.

Nurudin Busingye, the Merchandise Uganda Operations Manager said the firm was established with a view of creating a level playing field for people in business, irrespective of size

“You find that some businesses are unable to afford rent in particular areas even though they would have wanted to operate from that place. With this platform, services are affordable so anyone can market their products to potential buyers,” Busingye said.

Without divulging in to details, Busingye said that in a space of one and a half years, many businesses have benefited from enhanced brand visibility, which has resulted into increased sales.

The HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya commended Merchandise Uganda saying that it is doing a fantastic work of ensuing it digitally includes different people.

He, however, urged them to pay more attention to ensuring that they offer a full online experience to their customers that is free of glitches.

“As players in this space, we have to be extremely very customer sensitive because in the end, that is what speaks to customer experience. We need good practice of cyber security that speaks to customer needs and thoughts,” he said.

He added: “We are happy to celebrate you because you are doing a good job but we will be very glad to help you walk through the journey of ensuring that you do a full integration and complete the customer journey once and for all. This will ensure that a customer can have a full experience and allow you to integrate with interoperable payment systems that will enable you to scale in any market so as to serve more customers.”

Merchandise Uganda is among the firms participating in the ongoing inaugural 40-days-40-FinTechs project organized by HiPipo and in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation.

The initiative seeks to enable FinTechs to innovate solutions that facilitate cross-network financial transactions at minimal risks to enhance access to financial services.

Running for 40 days, the project has seen the participating 40 FinTechs acquire interoperable development skills to improve access to financial services, using the Mojaloop open source software

Kawooya said the 40-days-40-FinTech initiative will be held annually so as to enable them continue shinning a light on prime stories in financial technology that are transforming millions of lives.

July 11, 2020