Author: deejaynick20

Across Africa, one of the biggest pain points for businesses mainly micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) is access to working capital. Many of the MSMEs are locked out of the credit brackets as they lack collateral, proper business documentations and records that traditional lending institutions require before loans are approved and disbursed.

It is this financial exclusion that the founders of eShandi set out to address when they founded this FinTech company in 2019.

“We are providing financial services to historically disadvantaged income groups; providing them with access to working capital, loans, payment services, investment services as well as insurance. We are banking the unbanked and bridging the 330 billion dollars financing gap faced by small business owners across sub Saharan Africa. We started in 2019 in a small town called Kitwe. We had a very small office, a small team of five people and worked with one particular market. We partnered with the market leaders there who would provide references for women traders. We piloted with one small group and later expanded to others. We started with small loans and working capital solutions. As we evolved we understood the business pain points were not only access to credit but also others such as payments, how to transfer money and safeguarding against risks like fire and theft,” Chilufya Mutale-Mwila, eShandi Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer explained.

Mutale noted that since then, eShandi has grown in to a one stop digital platform with several customer driven solutions.

“eShandi means putting the power in your hands. We bring the bank to you. This bank is a digital wallet that allows people to transact without the need of a traditional bank account. It allows people to transfer money locally and across the SADC region thanks to integrations with partners such as Mastercard and TCIB. We are also partnering with mobile money operators to reach last mile customers in sub Saharan Africa and provide our financial services to them,” She noted. 

From transforming Zambia, eShandi has expanded its wings to Zimbabwe, South Africa and Kenya.

“We have grown from having less than 200 customers in 2019 to more than 1.5 million customers today. We started with issuing less than USD 100,000 in loans to now issuing over USD 10,000,000 in working capital to our customers. Along the way, we have faced several challenges including raising capital, getting the right teams, and regulatory issues,” Mutale said.

She commended the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative for giving innovators an unparalleled platform that allows FinTechs to create innovations that solve the pain points that customers are facing across Africa.

eShandi appeared Day 10 of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative; Zambia and Malawi edition. The roll-out of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative in Zambia and Malawi followed its success in East Africa. Over the past 5 years, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has featured over 200 FinTech stories from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. This initiative has also engaged hundreds of end-users and shared their stories with millions worldwide.

The primary objective of this initiative is to support and showcase innovative FinTech giants and start-ups from across Africa, with a focus on promoting financial inclusion and economic growth, in addition to giving start-ups access to the resources they need to develop new and innovative financial solutions that can benefit underserved populations. Such resources include but are not limited to Level One Project guidelines, Mojaloop Open Source Software and Inclusive Finance systems, etc.

The advent of mobile money in third world and developing countries has contributed massively to financial inclusion for both the underserved and unserved.

First launch in Kenya around 2007, mobile money has with in two decades spread across Africa.

In Malawi, the largest mobile money operator – Airtel Money launched in 2012 and has since grown in to a key financial inclusion enabler for the country. Its flagship financial services include local person to person transactions, bill payments, and international remittances.

“At Airtel Money, we believe that FinTech is the future and we want to go beyond the simple cash ins and cash-outs. We have added several products to drive financial inclusion. These include collateral free digital loans, Phuka digital savings in partnership with Old Mutual, Limodzi Insurance in partnership with Britam. We have also integrated our system with all the eight banks in Malawi to enhance liquidity for our agents and customers. We have improved the lives of hundreds of agents especially women; who are able to make good commission from Airtel Money and support their needs,” Virginia Jere, the Head of Marketing at Airtel Money, Malawi said.

She further explained: “The Airtel Money revolution is not based on mere stories but backed up by data. FinScope Malawi, 2023 reported that financial exclusion dropped drastically from 51 per cent in 2014 to 12 per cent. This was largely contributed by the penetration of mobile money operators which increased from 3 per cent in 2014 to 69 per cent in 2023. The National ICT survey for 2023 revealed that Airtel Money is the largest mobile money operator in Malawi contributing up to 84.9 per cent of the Mobile Money network. This means that out of 100 mobile money users in Malawi, 85 customers are using Airtel Money. This is a very significant revolution.”

Jere highlighted that this impressive performance is not without challenges; noting that high illiteracy rates, fraud and high cost of devices remain key barriers to financial inclusion.

She commended the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative for looking out for and telling life changing stories.

“The 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative is timely for us at Airtel Money. It will amplify our visibility and also foster collaborations with partners especially now that we are driving the FinTech platform. We remain committed to shaping the future of finance by building the most instant, secure and borderless mobile money ecosystem for every Malawian,” Jere concluded.

Airtel Money, Malawi has featured on Day 9 of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative; Zambia and Malawi edition. The roll-out of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative in Zambia and Malawi followed its success in East Africa. Over the past 5 years, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has featured over 200 FinTech stories from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. This initiative has also engaged hundreds of end-users and shared their stories with millions worldwide.

The primary objective of this initiative is to support and showcase innovative FinTech giants and start-ups from across Africa, with a focus on promoting financial inclusion and economic growth, in addition to giving start-ups access to the resources they need to develop new and innovative financial solutions that can benefit underserved populations. Such resources include but are not limited to Level One Project guidelines, Mojaloop Open Source Software and Inclusive Finance systems, etc.

Innovators across Africa continue to encounter several barriers such as high operational costs when starting up. Many can’t afford office space, data, airtime and transport and other needed logistics.

In different countries across Africa, such challenges are eased by innovation and technology centers which Innovators turn in to their ideation, incubation and launch bases. While these spaces are not entirely free, they are much cheaper and well equipped for innovators to succeed.

In Zambia, one of such places is BongoHive; an innovation and technology hub. For over 14 years, BongoHive has been working with start-ups and other organizations; helping them become sustainable and investor ready.

“Our mission is to unlock Africa’s potential by working with various entrepreneurs so that we can achieve a smart Africa. In the past 14 years, we have helped over 2,800 start-ups. These include over 1000 women founded and led start-ups. One of our main women focused programs is the Standard Chartered Women in Tech. Some 160 Zambian female founders have been funded with 20,000 USD by this program,” Tilyenji Mundungani, Marketing and Communications Lead at BongoHive, Zambia said.

She noted that in the course of their work, they have observed a glaring financial literacy gap which they are now bridging through trainings and supporting FinTech innovations.

“Some of the works we have done include the Investor Ready Hackathon in partnership with MTN Zambia. This Hackathon was able to prepare our start-ups to understand how they can become investor ready. We also had the FinTech For You Solution. This one gave our start-ups financial literacy and financial understanding lessons,” Mundungani said.

She noted that rigid policies, limited access to funding and unreachable global markets remain some of the main challenges affecting start-ups across Africa.

“We at BongoHive welcome any collaborations and partnerships that will help bring in bigger organizations that can further support our start-ups. Currently we are more bent towards supporting more women founded and led start-ups because we have noticed that women have been the least included on matters like access to funding across Africa. So, if we could work with organizations like HiPipo, COMESA Business Council and others to support women businesses, then it would be a plus for us,” Mundungani concluded.

BongoHive appeared on Day 8 of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative; Zambia and Malawi edition. Though not a FinTech, BongoHive is home to several Zambia founded and based FinTechs. The roll-out of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative in Zambia and Malawi followed its success in East Africa. Over the past 5 years, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has featured over 200 FinTech stories from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. This initiative has also engaged hundreds of end-users and shared their stories with millions worldwide. The primary objective of this initiative is to support and showcase innovative FinTech giants and start-ups from across Africa, with a focus on promoting financial inclusion and economic growth, in addition to giving start-ups access to the resources they need to develop new and innovative financial solutions that can benefit underserved populations. Such resources include but are not limited to Level One Project guidelines, Mojaloop Open Source Software and Inclusive Finance systems, etc.

Women are the most active informal cross border traders across Africa. Available reports put their numbers at between 70 to 80 per cent. Thanks to informal cross border trade, thousands of these women are able to support their families, and transform their communities.

But not without trials and harsh encounters. Some of the challenges they face are exploitation by trade agents, travel security risks, discrimination and harassment, lack of market information, forex issues, and domestic violence among others.

It is these challenges that a team of three young and vibrant female software engineers and computer scientists are fixing through a digital market place named Cross Border Connect.

“We are supporting financial inclusion among the underserved communities. Our platform onboards women led businesses and engages them on how they can trade and transact seamlessly over their mobile phones. We address issues affecting women led businesses such as sexual harassment, theft and forex problems,” Kondwani Nyirongo, a software engineer and member of the Cross Border Connect Team said.

She added: “Cross Border Connect addresses these issues by being a one stop digital application. Sellers upload their products on the platform and buyers log on to this platform to access these products and make preferences. After viewing and choosing the product, a buyer negotiates with the seller, makes a digital payment after which the product is delivered. The platform works as the ‘middleman’ that connects the buyers with the sellers.”

She noted that one of the challenges they face is trust deficit as digital platforms and payments are not yet fully accepted by women traders and customers generally.

“People are not very familiar with these applications and cashless payments. Because they are new, most people don’t trust them. We are addressing this through digital and financial literacy trainings among our target communities.”  

Nyirongo appealed for mentorship, financial support and networking opportunities from the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative to further develop and scale their solution across the COMESA Region.

Cross Border Connect featured on Day 7 of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative; Zambia and Malawi edition. The roll-out of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative in Zambia and Malawi followed its success in East Africa. Over the past 5 years, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has featured over 200 FinTech stories from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. This initiative has also engaged hundreds of end-users and shared their stories with millions worldwide.

The primary objective of this initiative is to support and showcase innovative FinTech giants and start-ups from across Africa, with a focus on promoting financial inclusion and economic growth, in addition to giving start-ups access to the resources they need to develop new and innovative financial solutions that can benefit underserved populations. Such resources include but are not limited to Level One Project guidelines, Mojaloop Open Source Software and Inclusive Finance systems, etc.

At the heart of Informal Cross Border Trade across Africa, are Women. According to the African Development Bank, at-least 70% of Africa’s informal cross-border traders are women.

These women often face challenges which are not typically encountered by their male counterparts. Such challenges include exploitation by trade agents, travel security risks, discrimination and harassment, lack of market information, forex issues, and domestic violence among others.

It is these challenges that that the COMESA Federation of Women in Business (COMFWB)-Malawi Chapter is curing through a digital one stop platform that enables informal cross border traders trade from anywhere, anytime.

“In our detailed research, we found out that informal women traders continue to struggle with accessing cross border markets. Because we want our women to trade profitably across borders, we have developed a digital platform to support them. This e-commerce platform will have both sellers and buyers so that when a seller uploads their product, the buyer can access it and then get in touch with the seller. The platform will be a one stop center that will unable the seller and buyer to complete the transaction. That is to say; the buyer will select the product, pay digitally through the platform after which the seller will deliver the product,” Yamikani Kutengule, the Digital Team Leader for COMFWB – Malawi Chapter said.

She noted that this platform will also contribute to Africa’s cashless economy drive as the women traders will be encouraged to trade electronically and accept digital payments.

“We are launching this platform, starting with Malawi and Zambia Cross Border Traders. But in future, we intend to open up this platform for the entire COMESA region,” she said.  

Kutengule thanked HiPipo and COMESA Business Council for ‘bringing the 40 Days 40 FinTechs to Malawi and Zambia’ and used the same opportunity to appeal for support.

“The kind of support we need includes technical support, financial support and capacity building. As earlier noted, we are not building this platform for us. We would like for the women to embrace it and use it to trade across borders. As such, we are open to any collaboration moves us closer to actualizing this dream,” Kutengule concluded.

COMESA Federation of Women in Business (COMFWB)-Malawi Chapter featured on Day 6 of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative; Zambia and Malawi edition. The roll-out of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative in Zambia and Malawi followed its success in East Africa. Over the past 5 years, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has featured over 200 FinTech stories from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. This initiative has also engaged hundreds of end-users and shared their stories with millions worldwide. The primary objective of this initiative is to support and showcase innovative FinTech giants and start-ups from across Africa, with a focus on promoting financial inclusion and economic growth, in addition to giving start-ups access to the resources they need to develop new and innovative financial solutions that can benefit underserved populations. Such resources include but are not limited to Level One Project guidelines, Mojaloop Open Source Software and Inclusive Finance systems, etc.

The search for money is a never-ending puzzle. On a daily, people are looking for money for all sorts of reasons; personal use, business, health, education and many others. Because money is a scarce resource yet it is continuously needed, many opt for credit services.

Unfortunately, traditional credit services are hard to access owing to several bureaucratic tendencies such as so much paperwork, long wait time, unfair interest rates and need for tangible collateral security.

But, with the aid of Technology, Innovators are rewriting this story. A valid example is Malawian FinTech start-up Credit Line Limited. 

“We are a FinTech company that has developed a system that allows instant access to loans, buy now and pay later, insurance and investment. We partner with lenders and employers to enable employees access credit in a simple, quick and efficient manner. We have both a mobile APP and USSD platform accessed by all employees of the partnered lenders and employers,” Deborah Mijoso, Co-Founder Credit Line, Malawi explained.

She added: “Our instant loans are servicing the unbanked, and low-income earners. We are providing a solution that wasn’t there in Malawi thus allowing the unserved a chance to get credit from financial institutions without collateral. For as long as one is employed, that is enough security. You just have to log on to our platform and access credit from multiple lenders. For buy now, pay later; we are enabling people buy assets on credit and pay later. We have listed partners and merchants. The customer only needs to visit a store of our listed partners, get the product they want on credit, take it home and pay for it periodically until payment is complete.”

Mijoso noted that even though Credit Line was launched in 2024, a lot of progress has been made. This includes major partnerships with three lenders, two big employers, Centenary Bank – for the instant disbursement and collections, and TransUnion Credit Reference Bureau – for credit worthiness checks.

Nonetheless, she noted that this line of business is faced with several challenges such as Financial Literacy gaps, Limited Technology Adoption and Poor Infrastructure.

“Even amidst these challenges, we are very optimistic that with the coming of initiatives such as 40 Days 40 FinTechs, the industry will improve. We are optimistic that with this initiative, we are going to improve our product, find more partners across the continent and expand our market.”

Credit Line featured on Day 5 of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative; Zambia and Malawi edition. The roll-out of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative in Zambia and Malawi followed its success in East Africa. Over the past 5 years, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has featured over 200 FinTech stories from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. This initiative has also engaged hundreds of end-users and shared their stories with millions worldwide. The primary objective of this initiative is to support and showcase innovative FinTech giants and start-ups from across Africa, with a focus on promoting financial inclusion and economic growth, in addition to giving start-ups access to the resources they need to develop new and innovative financial solutions that can benefit underserved populations. Such resources include but are not limited to Level One Project guidelines, Mojaloop Open Source Software and Inclusive Finance systems, etc.

Motor Insurance is one of the most common types of Insurance as all roadworthy vehicles must purchase and periodically renew it. While there are different motor insurance types, the most common are third-party and comprehensive.

Traditionally, one had to visit an insurance company or broker to pay for their premium, have their sticker printed and later displayed on the car.

But innovators are using technology to change this for the better. In Zambia, a platform that allows car owners and drivers to purchase insurance digitally is fast-growing.

“We started CarVer almost three years ago. This is after we realized that most people that purchase motor insurance had to line up at Insurance Companies and Post Offices just to purchase insurance,” Musonda Chitobolo, the Chief Operations Officer of CarVer explained.

He noted that it is from this background that together with likeminded innovators, developed a digital broker platform that allows car owners and drivers to purchase insurance anywhere, anytime.

“We decided to develop something that is convenient for the end-users at the convenience of their homes or offices, they are able to purchase insurance, get cover for their vehicles and also road tax. Our APP is available on mobile, web and USSD. CarVer is not just exclusively for the Zambia market. Even drivers from across COMESA that are coming in to Zambia can also purchase Insurance using this APP. Once you download the APP, onboarding is very simple. You enter the vehicle registration number, indicate your Insurance preference; company, type and period. The system will then tabulate how much you have to pay for your premium.

Chitobolo noted that CarVer has integrated different payment platforms thus allowing multiple digital payments options.

“Once the tabulation is done and amount to be paid is known, the system will ask you how you want to pay. We have integrated Mobile Money, Cards like VISA and few other digital payment aggregators. This allows the user to make a digital payment on the system. Once the payment is received, a confirmation will be sent after which the cover note will be sent to the customer by email and SMS. The customer can then print out their Insurance cover anywhere anytime and display it on their car. Essentially, all this process is completed within two minutes thus serving time for both customers and insurance companies.

He highlighted that as of March 2025, CarVer had already twelve Insurance companies on the platform, and onboarded over 200,000 vehicles.

Even so, he noted that the main challenge facing their business is limited technology infrastructure that affects the seamless execution of their work.

CarVer featured on Day 4 of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative; Zambia and Malawi edition. The roll-out of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative in Zambia and Malawi followed its success in East Africa. Over the past 5 years, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has featured over 200 FinTech stories from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. This initiative has also engaged hundreds of end-users and shared their stories with millions worldwide. The primary objective of this initiative is to support and showcase innovative FinTech giants and start-ups from across Africa, with a focus on promoting financial inclusion and economic growth, in addition to giving start-ups access to the resources they need to develop new and innovative financial solutions that can benefit underserved populations. Such resources include but are not limited to Level One Project guidelines, Mojaloop Open Source Software and Inclusive Finance systems, etc.

Bridging Gap Solutions Limited (BGS) is a fast-growing Zambian Technology company that specializes in FinTech solutions, Secure systems integrations, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Solutions, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Solutions, and Intelligent ICT hardware and Networking solutions.

Talking FinTech, BGS describes itself as an all-round Payment and Financial service provider with services such as Bulk Payments, Disbursements and Collections.

“One of the FinTech solutions that we pride in is called Pay Boss Banking. This platform allows our customers to use three types of services. That is bulk disbursement, payment collections, and bill payments. It supports banks, micro finances, SACCOs and other lenders. Pay Boss Banking is accessible via Mobile APP, Web and USSD,” Chilekwa Banda, the Director FinTech at Bridging Gap Solutions, Zambia said, adding;

 “We have been operational for 16 years. Over these years, we have not declined but rather thrived. We have since acquired our Payment Systems Provider license from the Central Bank of Zambia. We have onboarded three big merchants that work across Zambia and currently manage more than 10,000 transactions every month.”

She noted that the key challenges facing Zambia’s Fintech Industry are Cyber Security Risks, Limited Connectivity, Poor Infrastructure and Adoption to Industry Policies. She highlighted that these combined are derailing Zambia’s Digital and Financial Inclusion journey.

She nonetheless noted that even amidst these challenges a lot of ground has been covered with several success stories that need to be told through initiatives such as 40 Days 40 FinTechs.

“This initiative is not only giving us the much-needed publicity but also giving us a chance to discuss and better understand the industry, in addition to enabling favorable competition and collaboration,” she concluded.

The roll-out of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative in Zambia and Malawi followed its success in East Africa. Over the past 5 years, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has featured over 200 FinTech stories from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. This initiative has also engaged hundreds of end-users and shared their stories with millions worldwide. The primary objective of this initiative is to support and showcase innovative FinTech giants and start-ups from across Africa, with a focus on promoting financial inclusion and economic growth, in addition to giving start-ups access to the resources they need to develop new and innovative financial solutions that can benefit underserved populations. Such resources include but are not limited to Level One Project guidelines, Mojaloop Open Source Software and Inclusive Finance systems, etc.

Located at the heart of the Great Rift Valley in Southeastern Africa, Malawi is a landlocked country with a population of about 22 million people, as of December, 2024. The country has over the years buzzed with a lot of untapped potential in sectors such as Agriculture, ICT, Trade, Transport and Tourism among others.

That said, the young people of Malawi have in the past two decades devised means to explore and put to use the available opportunities. Many of them have ventured in Technology supported fields.  Among such people is a team of four that in 2011 launched Angle Dimension; a software products and services company.

These four individuals recognized the lack of locally developed software solutions and decided that they would join forces to ‘ensure that Malawians had quality, affordable, and conveniently located software products and services at their disposal’. It is this collaboration that birthed Angle Dimension on 13^th October 2011.

Over the years, Angle Dimension has continuously improved itself growing its products and services portfolio as well as its clientele. It has since grown into a digital and financial inclusion player. In matters Financial Technology, Angle Dimension has two flagship products namely Aspect Financials 360 and Smart Identity.

 “Aspect Financials 360 is currently being used by SACCOs and Micro finance institutions to perform their day to day financial tasks. This product is divided in to two parts. That is the core banking system used by SACCOs and micro finance. We also have the internet banking that is used by the SACCO and Micro finance members.  This enables the members to check their statements, balance and also transact,” Angella Shumba, Business Analyst at Angle Dimension, Malawi explained.

She added: “Another FinTech product we have worked on is Smart Identity. This is currently being used by Banks and Insurance Companies. It helps with Know Your Customers (KYC) procedures as well as customers verification and authentication.”

She revealed Aspect Financials 360 was as of March 2025 being used by 10 SACCOs in Malawi with each SACCO having up to 30,000 users while the Smart Identity system was being used by at-least 5 banks and insurance operators. 

“Our FinTech innovations have enabled real time transactions, made transactions digital and largely paperless. Customers are able to serve time and money as they are able to transact digitally on their mobile devices with out needing to visit the financial institutions.”

Shumba nonetheless noted that one of the main challenges faced by FinTechs in Malawi is limited skilled and technically competent engineers.

“Yes, many people have degrees but the application of what they learnt in school on to the market is very minimal. People can have those awesome degrees but when they come for practical interviews, they fail them. As such, we hold bootcamps to close this gap. We believe that the 40 Days 40 FinTechs can further support the Malawi FinTech ecosystem through capacity building and seed funding.”

The roll-out of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative in Zambia and Malawi followed its success in East Africa. Over the past 5 years, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has featured over 200 FinTech stories from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. This initiative has also engaged hundreds of end-users and shared their stories with millions worldwide.

The primary objective of this initiative is to support and showcase innovative FinTech giants and startups from across Africa, with a focus on promoting financial inclusion and economic growth, in addition to giving start-ups access to the resources they need to develop new and innovative financial solutions that can benefit underserved populations. Such resources include but are not limited to Level One Project guidelines, Mojaloop Open Source Software and Inclusive Finance systems, etc.

Well as thousands of people across Africa are actively involved in Informal Cross Border Trade, this line of business continues to face multiple challenges, which mainly affect women and youth as they are the majority. Such challenges include but to limited to forex issues, restricted access to formal financial services, low levels of digital and financial literacy, consumer protection challenges, underrepresentation in financial leadership, discriminatory cultural practices, limited financial products tailored to their needs, high transaction costs, and intricate account opening procedures.

In a move to address these bottlenecks, COMESA Business Council (CBC) and partners are developing a financial technology enabled Digital Retail Payments Platform.

According to Dr. Jonathan Pinifolo, Chief Operating Officer of the Digital Financial Inclusion (DFI) Program at COMESA Business Council, the regional digital retail payments platform is aimed at supporting micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) in addition to enhancing digital financial inclusion across the COMESA region and Africa at large.

“For the DFI program, we are coming up with a regional retail payment platform that will connect commercial banks and non-banks like for instance; mobile network operators, FinTechs as well as Microfinance institutions (MFIs). We want to make sure that traders through out COMESA are able to send money from one country to another country without any challenges. We shall also connect an e-commerce platform where traders can check market information, and sell products because at the moment, there are also challenges to do with market information,” Dr Pinifolo said, adding;

“The platform will bring a lot of value like for instance interoperability; it will interconnect with other payment systems. Secondly, our traders will be able to transact using local currencies. The platform will also ease access to finance and market information. During COVID-19, people suffered as they were not able to move around to access markets. The online platform will address this.  Lastly, this platform will have a wider geographical reach and thus present a huge market for our traders.

The Digital Retail Payments Platform being spearheaded by the COMESA Business Council with support from partners was presented on the first day of 40 Days 40 FinTechs for Zambia and Malawi.

Dr Pinifolo acknowledged HiPipo for its commitment to Africa’s digital and financial inclusion journey noting that “for about two years now, our partnership with HiPipo has grown from just discussions to implementing projects that are impacting last mile users.” He thanked the Gates Foundation for supporting the programs that are being jointly implemented by HiPipo and COMESA Business Council.

The roll-out of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative in Zambia and Malawi followed its success in East Africa. Over the past 5 years, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has featured over 200 FinTech stories from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. This initiative has also engaged hundreds of end-users and shared their stories with millions worldwide.

The primary objective of this initiative is to support and showcase innovative FinTech giants and startups from across Africa, with a focus on promoting financial inclusion and economic growth, in addition to giving start-ups access to the resources they need to develop new and innovative financial solutions that can benefit underserved populations. Such resources include but are not limited to Level One Project guidelines, Mojaloop Open Source Software and Inclusive Finance systems, etc.