Category: Digital Impact Awards Africa

Our Reporter.

Ugandans across the country could soon be able to access safe and convenient financial services if Cytrone launches its free financial inclusion product.

Established in 2016, Cytrone Limited – a payment technology company that offers a domestic, open- loop, multilateral system that facilitates electronic payments, is in final stages of product development according to its founder and chief executive officer Bob Moses Oyuru.

Dubbed PayClide, the product is a web and mobile application that provides merchant aggregation system and peer-to-peer mobile payment platform that can be accessed anytime.

Oyuru said that they are currently testing the product and that they intend to launch it sometime in July this year.

“We are already testing PayClide with the two leading telecoms and two banks already. We intend to have has many financial institutions on board as possible,” Oyuru said.

Cytrone also offers the Audio Jack Card reader product, which helps sellers to accept any Chip Card and near-field communication (NFC) payments – contactless payments that use near-field communication (NFC) technology to exchange data between readers and payment devices such as mobile phones.

Oyuru added that the merchant software would also be beefed up with features such as sending invoices, employee payments, delivery options and loans.

Motivation

According to Oyuru, he was inspired to develop the product PayClide financial inclusion product, after realizing that people were struggling to keep their cash secure given the long distances to formal financial institutions and high transfer and withdraw fees that are making it hard for people to use mobile money.

“Keeping cash secure in trickier; the high transfer and withdraw fees and long distances are also an obstacle to using mobile money. The distances involved to and from financial institutions makes it hard for people to use them,” he said.

Oyuru, however, noted that PayClide is coming to address these challenges. The PayClide App has a wallet which allows people to save money, send to friends and family or withdraw it any time, instantly, free of charge.

It should be noted that while mobile money has helped boost financial inclusion, from 57% in 2006 to 78% in 2018, a sizeable number of people are still locked out due to high transactional charges.

“We believe everyone should be able to participate and thrive in an economy. So we seek to help sellers and vendors of all sizes to start, run and grow their businesses,” Oyuru said.

Women focus

Cytrone also intends to launch a Payclide credit product for the women vendors where credit scoring based on the transaction history will be used as collateral to access credit.

“If you meet a woman’s needs, then you will surpass man’s expectations. Payclide is a product that will help women do business better,” Oyuru said.

Cytrone is one of the Financial Technology companies (FinTechs) participating in the 40-days-40-FinTechs initiatives 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.

Oyuru commended HiPipo for organising the 40-days-40 FinTechs initiative, saying that such engagements are mutually beneficial and will help them to improve.

“We are happy to engage with Mojaloop. We believe it will improve financial technology in Uganda and Africa,” he said.

The HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya commended Cytrone for developing the PayClide product, saying it is a masterpiece for financial inclusion as it will bring telecoms and banks together and allow people to pull and push money any time.

“Getting money is very hard, more so in these unprecedented times. Saving it and using it to transact should not be hard. So a product like PayClide will address this. They already have the major telecoms on board and now pitching to banks. HiPipo will gladly support them in all ways possible,” Kawooya said.

Our Reporter.

While micro, small and medium enterprises account for over 80% of businesses in Uganda and employ the largest number of the country’s working population, they still find it hard to access bank credit. This is mainly because majority are informal, fragile, lack collateral and thus considered risky.

However, in a bid to close the financing gap and enable them continue playing their rightful role in Uganda, Social Lend Africa, a Financial Technology Company (FinTech) has democratized lending to ease access to credit, using a digital platform.

Through the platform, small business owners in need of credit are linked to lenders, so as to access affordably and conveniently, according to the Social Lend Africa co-founder and chief executive officer Marvin Peter Akankwasa.

Akankwasa alludes to the existing gap in the market, between businesses that need credit and those who can give it.

“We believe everyone deserves to access quality financial services to enable them pursue a life of dignity and prosperity. So we lend small unsecured amounts of money at scale to millions of financially responsible Africans,” he says.

According to him, SMEs in Uganda need about $4.8b (Shs17.8 trillion) to be able to finance their businesses and scale operations but they cannot access the money, yet there are many unbanked people with sizable amounts of savings and income that can be loaned out.

“There is an opportunity in bringing cheap credit to both banks and the unbanked in an efficient manner; this efficiency can better be achieved by going digital,” Akankwasa says.

Social Lend Africa, which is one of the FinTechs participating in the 40-days-40-FinTechs initiative launched recently, by HiPipo, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation.

The project 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.

Akankwasa applauded HiPipo, saying that the project has come at a right time, when Social Lend Africa is focusing on democratising lending and borrowing, which he said they cannot achieve unless  they revolutionise risk assessment and credit extension.

“I am happy that Mojaloop is trying to revolutionise how payments are done; with Mojaloop, I am sure that we have a tool that is going to make financial technology better. We are looking forward to working with Mojaloop Foundation, HiPipo and other partners in enhancing financial inclusion,” Akankwasa said, adding that the Mojaloop software will help them make financial technology better.

Background

Founded over four years ago, Social Lend Africa has over the years helped micro and small enterprises access affordable credit.

It screens borrowers, facilitates the transaction and services the cash advance. Borrowers can then use the cash advance for business, consolidate debt, finance purchases or cater for certain personal financing needs.

The company was established in 2015, initially lending money to small business owners and students around universities for their tuition. It initially traded Spectrum Xchange (U) Limited before rebranding to Social Lend Africa in in 2018, owing to the growth in reliance on peer-to-peer lending networks.

“We settled for Social Lend Africa because we felt it represents our aspiration to leverage our online peer-to-peer lending networks and spread them across Africa, enabling entrepreneurs and small business owners easily access instant, short-term loans through a simple loan application process, via a secure platform,” Akankwasa says.

Due to the need to leverage technology to ease the application process and also provide access to credit to more consumers, it went fully digital in May 2019 by launching the Social Lend Africa web app, which helps customers access credit any time.

Good solution

The HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya said: “I am excited to learn about Social Lend Africa. We are happy that your registered and made the shortlist for the 40-days-40-FinTechs project, a brainchild of HiPipo. HiPipo is a 15-year old company that focuses on using technology to serve and save millions of people mainly in Africa.”

Kawooya says that while offering people credit is a noble job, it is so challenging as businesses, mainly start-ups need loans yet most of them do not have collateral to access the loans.

“Many of these start-ups are by young Ugandans who do not own anything except their innovative minds and products they are developing. Most lenders can never come to their help because of lack of collateral,” he explains.

Kawooya also explains that informal lenders are also hard to deal with as they charge high interests and yet their conditions are short term.

“It is thus exciting to interact with a company like Social Lend Africa that is trying to democratise lending and borrowing. It will be nice for Social Lend Africa to develop an interoperable solution that would enable it do lending and borrowing from multiple institutions all brought together on one platform,” Kawooya explains.

Our Reporter.

Over the past few years, distinctions between financial institutions and telecom service providers have been gradually breaking, thanks to the emergence of Financial Technology Companies (FinTechs) that are providing the needed bridge.

FinTechs are transforming lives in Uganda and the entire African region for the better; facilitating payments, boosting financial inclusion and enhancing customer experience.

Among the key FinTechs that has played a great role in this space in Uganda is True African, a mobile and online Financial Services Hub that provides custom tailored software solutions to address specific business needs, payment gateways to banks, collection platforms to utility service providers and individual and corporate mobile and online wallets.

True African, a pioneer Financial Technology Company (FinTech) in region also enables individuals and business enterprises to securely and efficiently transact large volumes of payments on a single platform under one umbrella.

True African ventured into the market 18 years, with the short messaging (SMS) product, giving the firm market visibility, before venturing into mobile banking in 2002, according to the company’s founder and managing director Eric Kamau.

Products.  

As pioneers in the value added services (VAS) industry, True African has over a decade of network connectivity across the country, with a multiple channel software platform that integrates with off-the-shelf SMS and USSD gateways.

It offers a wide range of services including MasterCard QR; a payment solution that harnesses technology to allow consumers pay for goods and services using mobile phones at merchant outlets.

Mastercard QR empowers merchants to easily and securely accept digital payments through a no-cost Point-Of-Sale solution that provides a cash-like experience for merchants and a low-risk investment for the user.

“MasterCard QR is secure, smart and easy; providing a cost-effective alternative to cash payments,” Kamau says.

The other product is Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) Code Aggregation that allows high-speed interactive communication between the subscribers and applications across a GSM network.

It offers both dedicated and shared USSD codes. Under the dedicated USSD, a code is aggregated and solely used by the client while the shared USSD code is used by multiple companies or services where each company is allocated an extension off the main code.

Other products are merchant collections, bulk payments, mobile banking, software development and a VSLA Imara platform.

This has put them at the center of the electronic payments industry in the East African region.

True African is one of the FinTechs taking part 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.

Kamau commended HiPipo for the initiative, saying that interoperability discussions are timely and good for the industry.

“I was around when Mojaloop was being founded. We understand that some of these projects we are undertaking need to be hosted somewhere, costs must be managed and all other interoperability issues must be addressed. We are happy to engage with HiPipo and other likeminded partners on how to enhance financial inclusion,” Kamau says.

Tailor-made solutions

To support the financial inclusion journey, Kamau says that it is important to understand the special needs of the people you want to serve, so that you develop products that meet their needs.

“Having technology alone is not enough; you must understand the special needs and requirements for different people,” he notes.

Keen about delivering solutions that meet the diverse needs of their target market, Kamau says the firm is also seeking to devise ways of solving financial management problems in refugee camps.

“We cannot just digitalise people; it is a process. People need to first understand what you are doing before they accept to go digital and do digital financing,” he notes.

Kamanu explains that the firm innovated a saving solution that is currently used by several non-governmental organizations and other entities such as the Central Broadcasting Services (CBS) Powesa Sacco, helping them to manage their funds effectively.

In Eastern Uganda, True African is undertaking a project that offers women crop insurance. Under the project, True African allows members to access farm inputs from registered shops, lends them money and empowers them on agricultural commercialisation.

He says that over 50 women farmers have benefited from the pilot project and they are now planning to expand it and manage it under one application.

The HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya says the 40-days-40 FinTechs initiative seeks to celebrate and shine a light on FinTechs that are transforming millions of lives.

He commended True African, saying it has an inspiring story.

“Part of the HiPipo story was inspired by True African. The True African story and their understanding of the digital-financial inclusion sector is important in this journey. True African has been here, and done so many successful projects. These have been 18 years of developing the digital financial sector,” Kawooya said.

He added: “We are happy that True African has kept going and growing with the industry; the millions of messages you have sent, the solutions you have created have served and saved millions of people.

True African has won several accolades including Top 100 Mid-Sized Company organised by KPMG and Daily Monitor, 2009, Top ICT SMME in Africa, Africa IT Achievers, 2007 and ICT Innovation Awards, UCC 2004.

 

Our Reporter

Many small farmers in Uganda usually sell their produce at giveaway prices as middlemen often exploit them by offering low prices even when the prevailing market prices are higher.

This mainly happens because of lack of market information. However, this could soon be history, if all farmers adopt online technologies that seek to connect them to buyers.

One of such online platforms is Lusuku Online www.lusuku.ug , a fresh produce e-Market platform that gives farmers direct connection with buyers.

Lusuku, which in English means garden, seeks to empower local farmers and producers through connecting them to a vast pool of buyers they would not have accessed easily.

According to Medhi Matovu, the founder and chief executive officer Lusuku Online, digital visibility offers transparency of market prices which encourages proper planning and healthy competition that benefits both the buyers and sellers.

“Using our agile web application, we avail fresh products to customers delivered to and at their convenience at very competitive prices, for both bulk and small orders using our secure online payment option of Mobile Money or cash at delivery,”Matovu said.

He noted that majority of its clients are small-scale women farmers, given that most farmers in Uganda are women, who now concentrate on farming while Lusuku secures market for their produce.

“We told them to concentrate on the farming and we focus on getting for them market. We give them guarantee that we shall get them a ready market,” he said.

Lusuku Online is one of the FinTechs participating in the 40-days-40-FinTechs initiatives organised by HiPipo under its Include EveryOne programme, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop.

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.

Matovu applauded HiPipo for the 40-days-40-FinTechs project, saying it is in line with their effort of deepening financial inclusion.

“We have heard about interoperability with Mojaloop and we will see how it can fit our case,” Matovu said.

The HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya said that the current circumstances brought by COVID-19 require that there is one functional network to ensure efficient and uninterrupted supply.

“We need an effective marketing, distribution and payment network. A platform like Lusuku is prime because it is linking farmers to a direct market. We all wish to have fresh products delivered at home from the garden; Lusuku is doing that. But importantly, it is ensuring that farmers get good earnings from their harvests,” he said.

Kawooya said that creating a solution for farmers is noble given that Uganda is an agro-based country.

“Agriculture is our backbone; it is thus important that Lusuku works on interlinks and integrations with other platforms – cards and mobile money among others. HiPipo pledges to give Lusuku unlimited publicity,” he noted.

Our Reporter.

While financial management skills are key for the survival of any enterprise, most micro, small and medium size enterprises and savings groups lack this key aspect. This has seen many die before even celebrating their first birthdays.

However, Computing Palace Technologies, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) firm that specializes in software development, thinks many of these enterprises would be saved if they adopt financial management skills by simply investing in management systems.

Computing Palace Technologies deals in a range of ICT oriented services including software development, development of financial products, websites design and hosting services, ICT consultancy, internship training, and customized ICT training. The firm is out to help enterprises embrace better management systems for their own survival, according to the firm’s chief executive officer Felix Balintumye.

The firm has over the years developed different management systems including Sacco management, School management, Hospital management, and Church management systems, to among others register members/clients and help them keep in touch and to monitor revenue or donations that the different organisations receive.

Computing Palace Technologies is among the participants in the 40-days-40-FinTechs initiative that has been organised by HiPipo under its Include EveryOne programme, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop.

Balintumye said the firm competed for a slot in the project so that they can be empowered on how to integrate mobile payments in the different systems they have and the web platforms developed for their clients, who need financial payment solutions.

He said one of their latest products is an e-commerce platform, which they want to integrate using the Mojaloop software. He added that they also plan to innovate more solutions using the Mojaloop software to support women’s saving groups and saccos.

“The beauty of Mojaloop is the interoperability that we want to see which can be accessed via mobile phones, especially for women.

“In the interest of improving our services, we believe that Mojaloop is the right tool for us to scale up. The main challenge has always been interoperability of data. The fact that Mojaloop is actually Open Source makes it even more suitable for us,” he said.

Balintumye also said that while Finance minister Matia Kasaija announced that he would provide Shs94b credit through Saccos and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) to support micro and small-scale enterprises that have cash-flow challenges resulting from COVID-19, most of the saccos and MFIs do not have financial management skills and thus, will require their services.

The 40-days-40-FinTechs 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 chief executive officer Innocent Kawooya said they would ensure that they equip all the participating FinTechs with the needed skills and information to understand how Mojaloop works and connect them with experts in the sector to ensure that they understand financial technology in depth.

“Part of our experienced people in Application Program Interfaces (APIs) will guide you and help you to integrate with Mobile Network Operators and banks but importantly because you have work in progress, one of the things that we will do to help is to think together, discuss and understand the solution and be able to share our advise to guide you,” he said.

Kawooya, a certified programmer, with over 15 years’ experience added that besides shinning a light on prime stories that are transforming millions of lives using FinTech, the project also seeks to ensure that it empowers organisations like Computing Palace Technology, which are sensitive and knowledgeable about systems and software development, to be able to think of another important avenue of development that can change things.

Our Reporter.

While Uganda started efforts to boost a cashless economy over a decade ago, majority of Ugandans still prefer cash.

Available statistics indicate that about 99 per cent of the economy is cash-based and only 1 per cent is cashless.

However, over the years, several Financial Technology Companies (FinTechs) have heavily invested in helping Ugandans shift from a cash to a cashless economy.

Among them is Beyonic, one of the leading fintech integrators in Africa that aims to eliminate dependency on cash by helping businesses quickly set up and manage digital payments.

The software company entered the Uganda market at the end of 2005 but started operations at the beginning of 2006.

Seeking to answer the question of accountability for organizations and donor bodies, the software company thought of ways of further supporting companies better manage their finances – income and expenditures by setting up a mobile payments platform in 2012 thus unlocking clean, safe, transparent cashless management of project and enterprise budgets.

“There are challenges for use of cash by organizations. Beyonic came to help institutions reduce the use of cash in all their systems. We are here to support and promote a cashless efficient economy,” Ian Mubiru, the Beyonic Country Director said.

He added: “As the fintech space matured, the contrast between the simplicity promised by a digital ecosystem and the cost, complexity, and risk of cash payments became increasingly stark. Payments are hard; especially in emerging markets, and particularly in the last mile. Thus, Beyonic set out to make them easy.”

According to Mubiru, Beyonic is helping free its clients from non-core roles so as to focus on making their businesses and communities thrive.

Its solutions include access, data house and pricing services.

Under Beyonic access, it enables instructions to access over 26 telecoms from across nine countries in Africa. This means that once one connects to the Beyonic platform, they will have access to over 26 networks in the nine countries including Uganda, Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, among others, from a single sign-on.

In 2018, Beyonic processed close to 10 million mobile money transactions across its system.

Beyonic was also selected as the Instant Payment Notification (IPN) Hub successor entity, effective May 1, 2020, and it is responsible for all ongoing operational aspects of the IPN Hub including future growth.

The IPN Hub was developed by the GSMA in partnership with the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and MasterCard Foundation, to provide a single point of integration between mobile money networks and PAYG service providers in Sub-Saharan Africa, accelerating reliable access to utility services at the last mile.

Following the successful piloting and scaling of the IPN Hub, the GSMA elected to transition it to an entity that would continue to scale it sustainability and after a rigorous selection process, it was awarded to Beyonic.

The Data House solution on the other hand is used to store data that can be used for planning purposes by their different clients.

Mubiru said that a lot of data is out there but it is not well organised, thus Beyonic helps companies store and make sense of such data.

Under the pricing services, Mubiru said: “Payments and pricing continues to change over time. At the beginning of our journey, we were just supporting organizations but with time we found out that there was need to support fintechs and other players.”

“We had already developed a lot of application program interfaces (APIs) so we decided to open them up for anyone that needed to use them. We made sure that our APIs integration is as short as possible,” he said.

While others take three months to integrate, Mubiru said they ensured that theirs takes less than a month.

He said their APIs are being used by multiple partners including fintechs, e-commerce players, among others.

While they currently operate in nine countries, Mubiru said the plan is to cover over 20 countries by 2023.

Majority of its clients are women, mostly in agriculture. It is also working with a number of Saccos that offer loans to farmers.

Beyonic is among the firms taking part in the 40-days-40-FinTech initiative, organised by HiPipo under its Include EveryOne programme, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop.

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

The initiative will see the participating 40 FinTechs acquire interoperable development skills to improve access to financial services, using the Mojaloop open source software.

Mubiru applauded HiPipo for the 40-days-40-fintechs initiative, saying the discussion of interoperability with Mojaloop is timely, as the market needs as much solutions as possible.

The HiPipo CEO – Innocent Kawooya said that Beyonic has played a great financial inclusion role in the markets where it operates.

“We are glad that the Beyonic products and services are impacting thousands of people at the last mile. It fits well in the 40-days- 40-fintechs initiative because theirs is a prime story that is transforming the financial sector,” Kawooya said.

He added: “Going forward, as stakeholders we must collaborate and together develop products and services that serve our people. Alone, we may fail, but as a group, we shall overcome all road blocks and collectively serve our people.”

In addition to the 40-days-40-fintechs initiative, HiPipo is also organizing a Fintechs Landscape Exhibition in mid July 2020.

Our Reporter.

Alpteq ICT Solutions is a Financial Technology Company (FinTech) with a mission to become a leader in providing homemade solutions that mostly target the underserved population.

Founded in 2018, the FinTech offers a wide range of ICT solutions to women, schools and people in the informal sector, using innovative products.

It has over the last one year innovated three major products that can be easily used by the public. These are Easelend, POS UG and School Novas.

Easelend is a Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization (Sacco) software that is meant to help Saccos automate their day-to-day operations and finance management. Given that most Saccos operate informally, they find it difficult to manage daily operations and the software thus helps them to track members’ deposits, gives all Sacco members a credit score and helps them manage saccos expenses, thus ensuring transparency.

“Most saccos are women dominated. They need support to grow because when you empower a woman, you have empowered a full nation. Easelend is the software that all these Saccos need,” The Alpteq ICT solutions Team Leader Fred Musisi says.

The POS UG product on the other hand helps small businesses easily do book keeping. It targets the sector that most people do not wish go to.

“We found out that informal traders in downtown have booking keeping and expenses management challenges and that is why developed this solution,” Musisi notes.

POS UG, tracks expenses, sales and incomes of the business and helps the business to know its financial health position at every moment.

About 100 shops in downtown Kampala are already using this product since its launch at the end of 2019. Those using it are already giving positive feedback.

Musisi nonetheless notes that while the Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on their rollout, they are on course.

POS UG is in the process of getting a financial management module that will enable its users to save and borrow from the POS community members.

Good for Teachers, Parents and Students.  

Alpteq ICT solutions’ third product is School Novas, a product that helps schools manage their operations easily yet also allowing pupils to revise at their convenience.

“Just like other businesses, schools also have challenges of managing finances. Remember many teachers are ladies so they are badly hit by this mismanagement,” Musisi says.

He notes that due to high demand, they are introducing an e-learning module in the School Novas product to enable students easily revise on their own at home at a subsidized cost to be done via mobile money or payments cards.

Musisi applauded HiPipo for organising the 40-days-40 FinTechs initiative, saying that the project has given them a chance to learn, share ideas and also come to speed with latest technologies.

“We are excited about the future of FinTechs and tech lovers in Uganda,” he says.

Alpteq is one of the firms taking part in the 40-days-40-FinTech initiative, organised by HiPipo under its Include EveryOne programme, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop. The firm featured on day 3 of the project.

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

The initiative 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 says: “I am happy to see developers such as Alpteq thinking widely and boldly.”

“The 40-days-40-FinTechs initiative was designed to tell the prime financial inclusion stories of Uganda and Africa. One of those stories is that of Alpteq team. Their three main products target a huge base – schools, informal traders, retail, wholesale shops and Saccos. Many of these are dominated by women. It is nice to see more companies targeting women,” Kawooya notes.

He notes that as an open source software, Mojaloop will help Alpteq create an interoperable payment solution that would see all its three products communicating to each other.

“Mojaloop will help you break all the barriers and create one ecosystem that will benefit everyone. As HiPipo, we are ready to help Alpteq improve its products and massively roll them out. Like we always say, an economy that includes everyone, benefits everyone.”

Our Reporter.

Ugandans may soon be able to access electricity on credit if Mallan Company Limited, a local Financial Technology company (FinTech) successfully launches its Yassako product soon.

The micro credit product that will enable people to top up their utility bills is being developed in partnership with Airtel, which will give them access to data for credit scoring of customers and also access to a mechanism for collections.

This was revealed by Malcolm Kastiro, the founder and chief executive officer, Mallan Company Limited during the second day of the 40-days-40-FinTechs initiative that is organized by HiPipo under its Include EveryOne programme, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop.

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.

Kastiro also noted that the Information and Communications Technology solutions company that specializes in value added services and advanced credit services in the mobile payments space, is also working on a payment gateway using the Mojaloop software that will innovate as many services as possible, with various options and features that users enjoy.

Additionally, he said that the FinTech is considering creating an ecosystem that enables its clients to invest their money using the platform , make payments or send money outside the country, on top of the current sending money from one mobile money account to another or from a mobile money account to a bank and vice versa.

About Mallan

Mallan Company Limited was co-founded by Kastiro together with his young brother Allan. Both were pursuing their childhood dream of taking over the world.

It specialises in added value and advanced credit services with emphasis in the mobile payment space.

It offers a range of products including bulk payments, mainly for Small and Mid-sized Enterprises (SMEs)  that desire to pay their employees, staff or casual labourers but who do not have the ‘Know Your Customer’ requirements to open bank Accounts. They help them do bulky payments through mobile money.

Kastiro applauded HiPipo for the initiative, saying it has given them publicity by showcasing their products.

Additionally, he said that HiPipo’s collaboration and partnership with Mojaloop is helping them further understand and appreciate the role of payments in financial inclusion.

“HiPipo is giving us that platform that we need to get the products out there; they are giving us the platform that we need to acquire customers, and to get the necessary stakeholders on board  in terms of regulation and partnerships,” Kastiro said.

Innovative brains

The HiPipo CEO, Innocent Kawooya applauded Mallan for the innovative brains, saying that it has an amazing story and many forward thinking people.

“One of the things that I would credit Mallan team for is that they have got an amazing and very organised team that is ready to go to the market and make a difference,” Kawooya said.

He added: “As we speak about transforming millions of lives using financial technology, one of the most important aspects of transformation is understanding and appreciating the benefits technology can do for our people and our lives.”

He also commended Mallan for building amazing interoperable solutions that will serve people at the bottom of the pyramid.

“Mallan has products that work with Saccos, which are amazing; it is trying to break the traditional ways of saving money in boxes and locking it with a padlock. That is very important for us to have as a service and as a thought for an organisation like them that is in financial technology,” he noted.

He added that Mallan is already embracing the use of Mojaloop, an amazing standard that is globally accepted and which works with the Global System for Mobile Communications Association Application Program Interface specifications.

“We are sure when they are developing a solution off Mojaloop, it will be interoperable, convenient, reliable and very secure because they have all those standards in the solution they are developing,” Kawooya explained.

As an ecosystem advocate, Kawooya pledged that HiPipo will support all the FinTechs that they are engaging by ensuring that they advocate for simpler regulation with the regulators and partners such as Mobile Money Operators and banks to enable them integrate much easier. He also pledged to help them on publicity so as to enable the public know the kind of products they offer.

Going forward, Mallan intends to play a great role in driving financial inclusion in Uganda, right from access to the right financial products to financial literacy and how people can interact with the different technologies available to appreciate systems and the processes.

Financial inclusion in Uganda is estimated at 78%, with formal financial inclusion estimated at 58%, according to the 2018 FinScope survey.