Category: Digital Impact Awards Africa

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.

WAKEFIELD, Mass., USA – May 6, 2020 – The Mojaloop Foundation today announced its formation as a charitable nonprofit organization to extend financial inclusion efforts initiated by the Mojaloop open source software project. To achieve its mission, the Mojaloop Foundation will operate with an open governance model and legal framework dedicated to advancing and maintaining the Mojaloop free, open source software and development community as public goods in service of financial inclusion globally. Coil, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, ModusBox, Omidyar Network, and The Rockefeller Foundation have joined the organization as the initial Sponsor members. More information about Mojaloop is available on GitHub and at https://mojaloop.io/.

Despite mobile money services emerging in nearly 100 countries, 1.7 billion people still lack access to digital financial services, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex. A lack of interoperability between digital financial services and payment platforms is a large part of the problem. It can be costly and complex to build interoperable systems that are inclusive to all. Mojaloop serves as a blueprint for how to simplify and reduce the cost of payment interoperability so that banks and other providers can develop tools that meet the needs of emerging markets and the unbanked. Increasing access to digital financial services and tools are critical to accelerating the rate at which the financially excluded move into the formal financial system and hold on to the gains they have made, especially in developing economies. If widely adopted, interoperable digital financial services could provide more of the population with access to important financial tools, while adding $3.7 trillion to emerging countries’ GDP by 2025, according to McKinsey Global Institute.

“More affordable, accessible digital financial services are still needed to close the financial inclusion gap,” said Paula Hunter, executive director, the Mojaloop Foundation. “With the launch of the Mojaloop Foundation, our initial Sponsor members will serve as active contributors to achieving our financial inclusion mission. Mojaloop open source software, its collaboration community and convenings will continue to serve as a path forward for organizations creating interoperable payments platforms to connect all digital financial providers and customers within an economy. We encourage organizations interested in our mission of financial inclusion to join the Mojaloop Foundation.”

Named after the Swahili word for “one,” Mojaloop is a reference model for payment interoperability between services and providers. This interconnectedness, within an economy, can reduce barriers to customer access and potential transaction volume, as well as increase opportunities for low-income individuals to access services that are traditionally out of reach.

The open source software was first established in 2017 to support its financial inclusion work. With the launch of the Mojaloop Foundation, the work initiated by the Mojaloop project will continue to serve banks, digital financial service providers, governmental offices, NGOs, regulators, technology companies and other entities in emerging economies where financial inclusion efforts can most benefit underserved communities.

“Our vision of universal financial inclusion is a world where everyone, everywhere, can access and use the digital financial services they need to build economic security and resilience,” said Kosta Peric, the newly-appointed chairman of the Mojaloop Foundation and deputy director of the Financial Services for the Poor program at the Gates Foundation. “The work of the Mojaloop open source project will thrive with the talent, innovation and leadership from this dynamic group of member organizations, in service of our shared mission to benefit underserved and low-income communities.”

Mojaloop Foundation Welcomes Board of Directors, Officers, Technical Governing Board.

The Mojaloop Foundation’s newly-appointed Board of Directors, Officers, and Technical Governing Board provide the strategic vision, funding, and technical guidance to ensure the long-term health and growth of the Mojaloop open source software and development community. Comprised of appointees from each of the organization’s Sponsor members, each member of the Board of Directors has one equal vote, and a fiduciary duty to support the mission of the organization.

The 2020-2021 Mojaloop Foundation Board of Directors include Miller Abel, Deputy Director and Principal Technologist, Gates Foundation; Adama Diallo, Head of Partnerships for Next Billion Users Africa, Google; David Wexler, CEO, ModusBox; Adrian Hope-Bailie, Head of Services and Interledger, Coil; CV Madhukar, Managing Director, Beneficial Technology, Omidyar Network; and Kevin O’Neil, Director of Data and Technology, The Rockefeller Foundation.

The Mojaloop Foundation Board of Directors elected the following Officers and Technical Governing Board (TGB) for the 2020-2021 term to oversee the organization’s work: Kosta Peric, Chairman; Paula Hunter, Secretary; and Robert Ron, CFO of ModusBox, will serve as Treasurer.

TGB representatives for the 2020-2021 term include Miller Abel; Adrian Hope-Bailie; JJ Geewax, Software Engineer, Google; and Warren Carew, Vice President, ModusBox. Overseen by the Board of Directors, the TGB will oversee the organization’s work, including participation in software decisions and authorization of code maintainers, consistent with the Mojaloop Foundation’s charitable and educational purpose.

HiPipo Foundation is a Mojaloop Community Partner.

Supporting Quotes from Mojaloop Foundation Initial Sponsor Members

“The Mojaloop Foundation has brought together a diverse group of organizations and corporations that are champions of the essential role of interoperability in accelerating financial inclusion. This alliance will help make critical progress on the development of digital payment systems to support inclusive economies. We welcome additional organizations to join us in this important work,” said Mojaloop Foundation founding Sponsor member Miller Abel, deputy director and principal technologist for the Financial Services for the Poor program at the Gates Foundation.

“The inherent challenge with deploying payment systems is that it is a complex concept and isn’t as simple as ‘buy this technology and install it.’ There are regulatory components; operational components; training and enablement; financial inclusion principles, among other challenges. What’s great about the formation of the Mojaloop Foundation is that we’ve brought together a team of diverse experts in all of those various components. The collaboration between these experts and the development community is really what’s going to drive the success of our financial inclusion mission,” said Mojaloop Foundation founding Sponsor member David Wexler, CEO, ModusBox.

“At Google, we believe that financial institutions, governments and technology companies need to work together if we want to empower people to be financially capable. In joining other Sponsor members in building the Mojaloop Foundation, we are providing ways for all of us to work together to advance financial inclusion that will transform lives — that means seeing that people understand digital money, have access to it and manage it with confidence, and use it to make their lives better. That, to us, is what it means to make technology open, accessible and helpful for everyone,” said Mojaloop Foundation founding Sponsor member Adama Diallo, head of partnerships for Google’s Next Billion Users Initiative in Africa.

“More and more businesses want their payment systems to be inclusive to all but need a blueprint for overcoming the cost and complexity of payment interoperability. Mojaloop open source software provides that reference model, empowering organizations to create real-time, interoperable, inclusive payment systems based on financial inclusion principles. With the formation of the Mojaloop Foundation, Coil is excited to join our fellow founding Sponsor members to uphold the financial inclusion mission set by the Mojaloop open source project,” said Mojaloop Foundation founding Sponsor member Adrian Hope-Bailie, head of Services and Interledger, Coil.

“With the support of its dedicated community of developers, Mojaloop is designed upfront with the privacy, security, and other critical safeguards to truly enable safe, trustworthy, and inclusive financial services. And the Mojaloop Foundation brings together the leaders needed to provide that direction, funding, and legal framework to ensure its open source software always remains a free, public good,” said Mojaloop Foundation founding Sponsor member CV Madhukar, managing director of Beneficial Technology at Omidyar Network.

“It’s more important than ever to increase access to high-quality digital financial services that are affordable for people of any income level. Because Mojaloop is open and accessible, it’s not only bringing transformative impact to families and communities, but serves as a model for how to build digital public goods that work for everyone,” said Mojaloop Foundation founding Sponsor member Kevin O’Neil, director of Data and Technology, The Rockefeller Foundation.

About the Mojaloop Foundation

The Mojaloop Foundation’s mission is to increase financial inclusion by empowering organizations creating interoperable payment systems to enable digital financial services for all. To achieve its mission, Mojaloop Foundation operates as a charitable nonprofit, maintaining its free, open source software, Mojaloop, and community as public goods in service of financial inclusion. Merchants, banks, providers, government offices and other entities looking to build inclusive payments platforms can use Mojaloop—whole, adapted, or as a real-time payments reference model. The Mojaloop Foundation is in the process of applying for its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. For more information about the Mojaloop Foundation, visit https://mojaloop.io/.