JUMO’s Wewole product rescuing millions of SMEs, individuals

By Our writer

Being cash strapped has never been a good experience for anyone, neither is the hassle of moving from one financial institution to another shopping for a good loan deal.

This is, however, made easy with Jumo’s Wewole product, a micro-credit solution that provides a convenient way for mobile money subscribers to access loan facilities via the mobile money platform.

Jumo specialises in social impact financial products, which it offers in partnership with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Financial Service Providers (FSPs) to enable especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) access credit, savings and insurance products.

The Wewole product is offered in partnership with Airtel Uganda and can be accessed via USSD by dealing *185# and select option 8 for Wewole.

Under the Wewole product, customers access loans ranging from Shs 1,500 to Shs 800,000, depending on their credit scoring and need.

The loan is payable between seven and 30 days. Failure to clear the loan within the agreed period attracts a penalty and may affect one’s creditworthiness and size of the loan the next time they need it.

$3bn disbursed

Wendy Nanfo, the Country Operations Coordinator Jumo World Uganda, says the firm has disbursed over $3 billion worth of loans to over 18 million customers and SMEs in seven markets across Africa and Asia, with a 97% repayment rate yet the Cost of Risk has reduced to 4%.

Nanfo says that the company uses advanced data science and machine learning to create the fastest and leanest financial services infrastructure, using Advanced Data Engine, End-to-end banking technology and a Flexible-operating platform.

Wewole is an unbiased product as anyone above 18 years can access a loan as long as they have a mobile money registered Sim card. No further documentation, paperwork or collateral is required.

“Currently, for every three customers served by Jumo, one is a woman. This has gone up from one woman in every five customers and constitutes almost 40%of disbursements on our platform,” Nanfo notes.

She says Wewole has performed well during this period of the COVID-19 pandemic, registering an increase in disbursement, hitting the Shs 100 million loans mark.

She attributes the performance to product flexibility and meeting specific needs of the market segment and demand.

Jumo modified its portfolio strategy to suit the needs of customers in the current times, including continuing to disburse loans to repeat customers, waiving late payment fees for the lockdown periods and extending loan repayment terms and continuous customer engagement, among others.

40-Days 40 FiTechs

Jumo is among the firms participating in the on-going 40-Days 40 Fintechs initiative, organised by HiPipo in partnership with Crosslake Technologies, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation, and sponsored by the Gates Foundation.

Nanfo says the initiative has given FinTechs an opportunity to learn, discuss common challenges and how to best resolve them by sharing ideas.

“The initiative is our voice; in the inaugural edition, we talked about interoperability and FinTechs have become more open to the idea. As the demand goes up, I am sure that we will see it implemented,” she says.

While Uganda’s FinTech industry has made commendable progress, Nanfo says there is still a lot of room for growth.

“I think FinTechs need to focus more on other aspects of the business like product development, customer experience, collaborative organisational structures and how to attract investors, to ensure sustainability,” she notes, adding that there is also need for more players in other aspects of financial services ranging from innovative insurance, wealth management and even education financing.

The HiPipo Chief Executive Officer Innocent Kawooya alludes that FinTech is the launch pad on which the promise of full global financial inclusion will be fulfilled.

He adds that this edition will be Uganda’s most comprehensive foray into things like distributed ledger technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Automated Customer Relationship Management, cash management and lending platforms.

SafeBoda oiling Uganda’s journey towards full financial inclusion

By Our writer

SafeBoda, a company that started off as a ride-hailing App for Boda-Boda rides, is set to launch more products to further oil Uganda’s financial inclusion journey.

According to the company’s Vice President of Payments and Financial Services Tim Jamieson, the company will over the next 12 months continue to build its payments ecosystem, open-loop products, savings products and working capital loans, to enable more people access financial services, easily and affordably.

This as it awaits National Payments Systems (NPS) license from Bank of Uganda.

SafeBoda, which is based in Nigeria but headquartered in Uganda, started off providing ride-hailing services before expanding its service offerings to food and shop, buying airtime and payments, among others.

Jamieson says a pilot for working capital loans will soon be launched to extend credit to the firm’s merchant partners to grow their businesses.

Under this product, he says, priority will be given to female-run enterprises as a way of boosting the inclusion for women, who are the majority of the financially excluded people in the market.

Jamieson alludes that the firm’s major goal is to provide a cheap ecosystem that allows its customers to send money across networks for free and drastically reduce the cost of withdrawing these funds.

“If you want to send UShs5,000 across networks, it can cost you over UShs1,000 to do so or UShs2,000 if you are sending to two to three different networks; we think there is more that needs to be done here.

Mobile money ecosystems form such a large part of the back bone of Uganda and Africa as whole, so there should be continuous improvements in how this is delivered,” Jamieson explains.

He alludes that while cash is still a predominant method of payment in Uganda and across the African continent; the COVID-19 pandemic is steadily drawing people towards cashless transactions, which presents a great opportunity for Financial Technology Companies (FinTechs) to grow.

Jamieson, however, says that there is need to work together as an industry to share knowledge, technology and regulatory stack and working with regulators to solve existing problems.

“We have a huge unbanked and underserved population; we have a high cost of time and money to access financial services and at the same time we have this amazing fast growing ecosystem of FinTechs that is coming through locally. We need to bring them together so that we solve these problems as together,” he explains.

He commends the Bank of Uganda for the NPS, which he says has provided a stringent regulatory framework that will give customers confidence that they can transact with electronic money service providers, including FinTechs, in a safe and secure way.

The created confidence, he notes, will help drive industry growth, adding that Uganda’s FinTech industry offers huge opportunities for partnerships.

“I think we are entering a very exciting time as more companies start being funded. And as we work together, we will have a strong FinTech industry that fills the gap left by commercial banks,” Jamieson notes.

40-Days 40-FinTechs

SafeBoda is participating in the ongoing 40-Days 40-FinTechs initiative, season two organised by HiPipo in partnership with Crosslake Technologies, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation, and sponsored by the Gates Foundation.

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

Jamieson applauded HiPipo for the 40-Days 40-FinTechs initiative, saying that it has given them an opportunity to share with the world the solutions they are working on and also hear what others are doing to solve existing financial inclusion market challenges.

The HiPipo Chief Executive Officer Innocent Kawooya alluded that FinTech in Africa offers attractive opportunities, adding that investors are rightfully picking interest in the various startups that are offering a plethora of services, ranging from payments and lending, remittances, cross-border transfers and neobanks, among others.

He adds that the 40-Days 40 FinTechs initiative seeks to give exposure to the best emerging and transformative innovators of Africa.

Finablr; creating a hustle-free access to your preferred loan deal.

Our writer.

The era of moving around from one lender to another shopping for the best loan deal could have come to an end, thanks to a solution by Enabling Finance Limited that links borrowers to professional money lenders.

Dubbed Finablr, the product by the credit finance company seeks to create a platform to serve people who were previously underserved by the traditional finance sector, conveniently, affordably and safely, according to the founder and Chief Executive Officer Luke Yyeyo.

 “We know that majority of Ugandans are unable to qualify for the tier I – commercial bank loans maybe because the security is inadequate but mostly because they don’t have the other requirements like audited cash flow records. But with Finablr, because we are operating in the tier IV sector, they are able to access credit as long as the collateral one has been qualified against is worth it,” Yyeyo says.

Additionally, Yyeyo says, the firm also imparts basic financial management skills to its clients such as cash flow management, budgeting and financial reconciliation, among others, to help them do business better.

To access the loan, one only needs to download the Finablr App, set up an account and submit a loan request, which is then relayed to all the lenders registered on the system.

One only goes to Enabling Finance offices after receiving an offer that suits them, with terms acceptable to them.

A borrower can access loans ranging from Shs 100,000 to Shs 20 million, while repeat clients can access up to Shs 50 million. The borrower is also assured to get their money as soon as the loan is approved.

“We give out money that day. Even in the event that the lender is wiring cash using a system that requires two or three working days, our agreement with our lenders is that Enabling Finance releases the money to the borrower as long as a critical stage in the lending process has been passed, and we wait for reimbursement from the lender,” Yyeyo says.

Unlike the traditional finance service system that requires experience, he says that with Finablr, even one without any lending experience can sign up unto the system and start lending as the Enabling Finance team manages the entire process on their behalf.

“We manage the entire process from pre-qualification of borrowers, linking lenders to the borrowers and the repayments systems all the way to the recovery system. So even if you don’t have any experience, or have as little as Shs 100,000; we have products that can enable you start off as a lender,” Yyeyo notes.

40-Days 40 FinTechs initiative

Enabling Finance Limited is among the firms participating in the ongoing 40-Days  40-FinTechs initiative organized by HiPipo in partnership with Crosslake Technologies, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation, and sponsored by the Gates Foundation.

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

Yyeyo expressed gratitude to HiPipo for organising the project, saying it has marketed their innovations and given them an opportunity to reach out to people who are interested in their solutions.

The HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya notes that this edition of 40-Days 40 FinTechs will be Uganda’s most comprehensive foray into things like distributed ledger technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Automated Customer Relationship Management, cash management and lending platforms.

He adds that FinTech in Africa offers attractive opportunities and that investors are rightfully picking interest in the various startups that are offering a plethora of services, ranging from payments and lending, remittances, cross-border transfers and neobanks, among others. Enabling finance can be accessed on www.enablingfinancelimited.com

EverLend Uganda’s non-collateral digital credit services model salvaging farmers, SMEs

By our writer

While every business needs credit at one point to support enterprise growth, most Uganda Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and farmers have always been deprived of this.

This is mainly because they lack collateral and financial records that most lending institutions require before giving out a loan.

To bridge this gap, however, EverLend Uganda, a Financial Technology Company (FinTech), has innovated a non-collateral credit services model that is expected to salvage the initially excluded category of borrowers, starting with farmers and small businesses in Ibanda district, western Uganda.

Established in 2020, the FinTech offers a range of digital credit services, ranging from SME loans to agricultural loans and farm-inputs on credit.

According to the company’s Chief Executive Officer Danson Nahabwe, the innovation sought to fill a market gap, where despite being in need of some form of credit to inject in their enterprises, small businesses and farmers were often excluded.

“We do not require security to get access to credit services. We do this because we want to ensure that we are financially inclusive. For us, anyone qualifies for a loan,” he says.

For one to access a loan, they simply have to download the EverLend App on their mobile phones or signup on their website – www.everlendug.com and answer a few questions.

Basing on the given answers, the system determines one’s loan limit.

Nahabwe, however, notes, that if one wants to exceed the given loan limits, they can request to have the loan amount increased and they will get back within 30 minutes to ask for more information to assess if one qualifies for the amount they are asking for.

If one can complete the entire process online, the money is be disbursed there and then.

In addition to providing credit, EverLend also extends market information to its clients, in addition to giving them record management systems to help them improve business management processes.

While the solution is still being piloted in only one district of Ibanda in western Uganda, the number of customers who have used the service within this short period of time is testimony to the credit-drought that small businesses and farmers were facing.

According to Nahabwe, they have since served over 100 clients to date, with 90% of the clients being women.

Nahabwe explains that they intend to scale-up the solution to the entire country in future and to other East African countries, starting with Rwanda.

40-Days 40-FinTechs

EverLend Uganda is among the firms participating in this year’s edition of the 40-Days 40-FinTechs initiative, organised by HiPipo in partnership with Crosslake Technologies, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation, and sponsored by the Gates Foundation.

Nahabwe commended HiPipo for the initiative, saying that it will create for them visibility, help them learn from the world’s best players and adopt best financial inclusion best practices.

Additionally, he notes, they will be helped to scale their non-collateral credit services model.

The HiPipo Chief Executive Officer Innocent Kawooya notes that the 40-Days 40-FinTech project seeks to boost the African FinTech ecosystem to enable innovators enjoy sustainable profitability to help them design and deploy affordable and inclusive financial services for the poor.

He alludes that FinTech in Africa offers attractive opportunities and that investors are rightfully picking interest in the various startups that are offering a plethora of services, ranging from payments and lending, remittances, cross-border transfers and neobanks, among others.

“Each of these services solves unique sets of challenges that is why we have this initiative because we want to contribute towards solving the unique challenges that the everyday person faces.”

UG-Mart virtualizes cash to ensure easy, safer international trade payments

By Our writer

Travelling with loads of cash abroad to import goods has always been a big challenge for Ugandan businessmen who could at times get robbed, among the many risks associated with carrying hard cash.

As it is said that there is no challenge too hard to find a solution for, UG-Mart, a Financial Technology Company (FinTech), has come to salvage traders by virtualizing cash to make it safe for traders to travel abroad and pay for goods without having to worry about anything.

The firm that provides Business-to-Business, Business-to-Peer and Peer-to-Peer solutions, partnered with mobile money service providers and UBA Bank to provide a virtual e-wallet that allows one to deposit money and be able to transact from anywhere in the world.

“We have virtualized the cash so that it is safe; now we can move it from physical cash onto mobile money and from mobile money onto safer payment options like the prepaid card which we are doing with UBA Bank and only carry a card so that they travel light,” Patrick Kizito, the UG-Mart Chief Executive Officer said.

Kizito noted that the card is safe, given its two-factor authentication features. This means that even if it dropped along the way, the owner will not lose their money.

The card also eliminates other risks such as counterfeit, exchange rate risks and paying insurance.

As a FinTech that strives to boost financial inclusion in the country, UG-Mart targets vulnerable groups such as women, Persons with Disabilities and people in areas with no internet connectivity and financial services providers, using easy Know-Your-Customer (KYC) requirements.

Kizito explains that there are many people at the bottom of the pyramid who are still financially excluded, partly because they are intimidated by the lengthy processes such as paper work involved in accessing financial services.

UG-Mart has, however, simplified the process, as anyone with a national Identity Card and phone number that can be verified through the existing platforms, can access financial services, according to Kizito.

“There are over 1,000 Saccos in Uganda that operate beyond a stretch of a kilometer; it is very expensive for someone with a small business deep in the village who wants to save their money to pay Shs 5,000 on a Boda-Boda to take it to a Sacco. We have thus enabled them to get that money onto the mobile phone and send it to the Sacco,” he noted.

40-Days 40 FinTechs

Ugmart is among the companies participating in the ongoing second edition of the 40-Days-40-FinTechs initiative, organised by HiPipo under its Include EveryOne programme, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation.

Kizito said this is a great initiative that has supported the FinTech industry operate better, safer and has also been able to keep up with the latest technologies through  interactions with all industry players.

“The initiative has greatly supported FinTechs like ourselves in that as much as we strive to give solutions, we may not have the entire technology we need in order to sustain such huge projects,” he noted.

The HiPipo Chief Executive Officer Innocent Kawooya said that FinTech in Africa offers attractive opportunities, adding that investors are rightfully picking interest in the various startups that are offering a plethora of services, ranging from payments and lending, remittances and cross-border transfers.

“Each of these services solves unique sets of challenges. For example; with cross-border payments comes the opportunity to erase the outrageous rates and bureaucratic bottlenecks that stymie transactions and thus trade among African countries,” Kawooya said.

According to Kawooya, the 40-Days 40 FinTechs initiative seeks to give exposure to the best emerging and transformative innovators of Africa.

UG-Mart can be accessed on www.ugmart.ug

Payclide improves merchant aggregation, eases pushing in-pulling out money

By Our writer

Despite the increasing use of mobile money services across the country, most Ugandans, especially those in rural areas, still find it hard to access these services due to long distances to trading centres where these services are always located.

This is in addition to the high transaction fees.

In bid to solve this challenge, however, Cytrone Limited has introduced a Payclide; a solution which has made access to financial services safe and more convenient. Cytrone is a payment technology company that offers a domestic, open-loop multilateral system that facilitates electronic payments.

According to Bob Moses Oyuru, the firm’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Payclide’s beauty lies in their web and mobile Application that provides a merchant aggregation system and peer-to-peer mobile payment platform that can be accessed anytime, anywhere.

Oyuru notes that Payclide comes with a wallet which allows people to save money, send to friends and family or withdraw it any time, pay utility bills and access banking services.

The firm has partnered with mobile telecommunication companies and banks such as MTN and Airtel, KCB bank and integrated with Interswitch for bank settlements, according to Oyuru.

Payclide also allows merchants to accept payments from mobile money and cards and also settle the received money into the bank without necessarily having to travel to the bank.

According to Oyuru, transferring money using Payclide is currently free of charge while a small percentage is charged to settle funds into the bank.

Oyuru explains that people have been 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 is 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.

40-Days 40 FinTechs

Payclide is among the firms participating in the ongoing second edition of the 40-days-40-FinTechs initiative, organised by HiPipo, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation and supported by the Gates Foundation.

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

Oyuru applauded HiPipo for the 40-days-40 FinTechs initiative, saying it has created visibility for Uganda’s nascent FinTech industry.

“Most start-up companies do not get the audience that they expect to get but this initiative has given us that visibility,” he noted.

He added that they were also introduced to financial inclusion best practices such as Pricing Transparency and use of Tiered Know-Your-Customer (KYC), in addition to latest technologies such as Mojaloop which he says has not only benefited Payclide but the economy at large.

“Telecoms initially required agents to have certain kinds of documentation like trading licenses, bank accounts and certificates of registration, to have the agency business, which most of them, especially those who are individual users couldn’t provide.”

“With the Tiered KYC, we now have several agents because the number of necessitated documents was reduced to either a national identity card or a trading license. This has given, especially the women a boost in their financial health.”

The HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya notes that this edition of 40-Days 40 FinTechs is Uganda’s most comprehensive foray into things like distributed ledger technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Automated Customer Relationship Management, cash management and lending platforms.

He, however, adds that a connecting thread will be how FinTechs urgently need interoperability and how open source frameworks such as Mojaloop, are here to help, including guiding on how emerging frameworks such as LevelOneProject principles can be used to engender sustainable financial inclusion impact.

Payclide can be accessed on www.payclide.com

Jumia at the forefront of Uganda’s shift to e-commerce

By Our writer

Electronic commerce is increasingly gaining momentum in Uganda and across Africa, having been ‘oiled’ by the 2020 outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic that forced most businesses, irrespective of size to shift online.

One company that has been at the forefront of Africa’s growing e-commerce business is Jumia, one of the continent’s biggest platforms that have integrated logistics and digital payment services.

According to Timothy Mugume, the Jumia Food Uganda Country Lead, the firm, which connects customers across Africa to the different vendors, has enabled its customers have access to whatever goods they want, especially during the lockdown.

Jumia offers a range of services right from food deliveries to groceries, electronics and appliances and pharmaceutical products, among others to customers at affordable rates.

 “From the onset of the first lockdown last year, we put our partners – vendors and customers – at the forefront because their business continuity was paramount to us,” Mugume says.

Jumia, according to Mugume, is especially passionate about supporting women-led businesses. In partnership with organizations like the Kampala Capital City Authority and UNDP, the firm has trained women entrepreneurs in various skills including digital and business management, as well as undertaking initiatives that level the playing ground for them to compete effectively.

40-Days 40 FinTechs

Jumia Food is among the firms participating in the ongoing second edition of the 40-Days 40-FinTechs initiative, organized by HiPipo in partnership with Crosslake Technologies, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation, and sponsored by the Gates Foundation.

Mugume commended HiPipo for the initiative, saying that it has helped highlight tech innovations in the country and also created a platform to showcase leading innovations in Uganda and across the continent.

“FinTech and innovation is what we need to pull Uganda out of the challenges of slow economic growth. A platform like this provided by HiPipo highlighting the different ideas does not only stand as a beacon to bring hope to the economy but also highlights this information and shares it with interested parties, which is good for the ecosystem,” Mugume says.

The HiPipo Chief Executive Officer Innocent Kawooya notes that FinTech in Africa offers attractive opportunities, adding that investors are rightfully picking interest in various startups offering a plethora of services, ranging from payments and lending, remittances and cross-border transfers, among others.

“Each of these services solves unique sets of challenges. For example; with cross-border payments comes the opportunity to erase the outrageous rates and bureaucratic bottlenecks that stymie transactions and thus trade among African countries,” Kawooya says.

He adds that the 40-Days 40-FinTechs initiative seeks to boost the African FinTech ecosystem to enable innovators enjoy sustainable profitability to help them design and deploy affordable and inclusive financial services for the poor.

Having participated in the 2020 initiative, Mugume says Jumia picked key financial inclusion lessons which it has since implemented, including continuous adherence to its transparency policy, especially on the privacy and business practices.

Additionally, it ensures that vendors are settled in time as per the agreed timelines, in addition to ensuring that the right documentation in form of Know-Your-Customer (KYC) are obtained from the vendor to ensure smooth business transactions between them.

“It is important that we follow best practices like Level One Project Principles because most of these businesses do not have a lot of capital and we are cognizant of this; that is why we have flexible payment terms depending on the agreements signed,” Mugume explains.

He urges all market players to respect the same-day settlement principle, given that the ecosystem is heavily reliant on cash flows.

“This is a cash flow business and we must play our role as well; we make it easy for the customers to pay through our various payment channels; we should also settle with our vendors in a timely manner.”

Flutterwave is passionate about helping businesses improve their customers’ experiences

By Our writer

Offering the best services to customers is always at the heart of every business that wants to grow and live beyond its founders.

To realize this, businesses have to invest in offering the best customer experiences which in turn breeds customer loyalty.

And that is where Flutterwave comes in – a technology company that set out to simplify payments to enable businesses within Uganda and globally trade without worrying about how to get paid.

The firm, which currently operates in over 33 countries, serves over 10,000 merchants in Uganda, including 3,000 businesses, according to Nielsimms Sangho, the Flutterwave Uganda Country Lead.

They operate in partnership with companies such as Paypal, MasterCard and AliPay, among others.

“We are doing this to change the way businesses transact with their customers both in Uganda and in other parts of the world,” Sangho says.

In addition to providing a payments gateway, Flutterwave has also built a number of other products such as the Flutterwave Stores which provides a platform for businesses to sign up, upload and sell their products free of charge, without having to build a website.

This, according to Sangho, seeks to enable them serve the merchants better.

Women’s grant

In a bid to support the growth of women-owned businesses, Sangho says Flutterwave runs a women’s day grant, an annual competition that runs throughout March, where between five and 10 businesses from across the markets where the firm operates are given grants of between $5,000 and $10,000. This, he explains, is to help these women build strong businesses that can compete favourably in the men-led market.

Flutterwave, which initially set out to build a payments gateway for micro and small businesses, is among the companies participating in the ongoing second edition of the 40-Days 40-FinTechs initiative.

The #40Days40FinTechs initiative is organised by HiPipo in partnership with Crosslake Technologies, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation, and sponsored by the Gates Foundation.

Having participated in the first edition, Sangho notes that this platform is helping shine a light on the industry by creating public awareness and gradually building the needed trust for the growth of FinTech.

“As businesses in the financial space, we operate on trust; it is a trust business. People need to see you working and then they can trust you to process their money,” he says.

“And this is what the 40-Days-40-FinTechs platform has done; it has showcased us and what we are doing to the entire world. This has been a springboard for us,” he explains.

He adds: “We for instance have merchants who came to use our services after seeing during the first edition of the 40-Days 40 FinTechs. So, the initiative will help build trust in the entire ecosystem.”

While it currently does next-day settlements, Sangho says they are exploring how to it even faster, how to accept all devices and how to use USSD so as to involve all businesses that want to transact with them.

Sangho says that the existing market challenges provide an opportunity for FinTechs to innovate more to address them. 

“Inclusivity is a big problem; between 70 and 80 per cent of Ugandans are unbanked but this is an opportunity that we need to exploit,” he says.

He, however, adds that there is also need for increased public awareness about financial technology to boost usage.

Meanwhile, the HiPipo Chief Executive Officer Innocent Kawooya applauded Flutterwave for playing a great role in financial inclusion across Africa, as its products and services are impacting thousands of people at the last mile.

He further noted that FinTech in Africa offers attractive opportunities and investors are rightfully picking interest in the various startups offering a plethora of services, ranging from payments and lending, remittances and cross-border transfers, among others.

Flutterwave can be accessed on www.flutterwave.com

Trade Lance; a FinTech providing all round digital solutions to business’ challenges

By Our writer

While businesses are grappling with various challenges as they seek to thrive in today’s competitive environment, it is not easy to come across a firm that offers a range of solutions, to almost all challenges, under the same roof.

However, Trade Lance, an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) firm, has curved itself a slot in that area as it provides digital solutions to most challenges that businesses require to thrive.

The Ugandan firm offers a range of solutions from integration, aggregation, software development and utility payments, among others, to solve day-to-day challenges.

The firm’s Sales and Marketing Analyst Nelson Mandela Ewolu says the company has integrated with major telecommunications companies in Uganda including MTN, Airtel, Africel and Uganda Telecom (UTL) to facilitate smooth mobile money transactions.

It has also aggregated with MTN, Airtel, Africell and Lycamobile, in addition to offering third-party integrations to various companies such as Smile, Roketelkom, Absolute Energy, Cloud Core, Quick Tap, Bright life and Alliance Africa Insurance.

Trade Lance, which boasts of having some of the best software experts in the country, is also in the business of customized software development; it for instance develops Micro Loans Software for financial institutions. Some of its visible products include the Yetu loans software, HCH Financial Services, Hot Cash, Sukuma Loans and Yellow Sacco software.

Other software solutions it has since developed are the E-Voting Software for POA Star Search, a Counseling Registration Software for Strong Minds Uganda and Boda Boda Loans Software.

Additionally, the firm offers a bulk payments solution to mobile money registered numbers. Key among its clients on this solution are Roke Investments and Fireworks Advertising, among others.

Given the increasing cry for mobile money interoperability, Trade Lance allows sending of money across networks, making it easy for people to transact at affordable rates, irrespective of the network they are using.

Their other solutions include utility payments, Client Relation Management Solution, M-Ticket Solution, School Fees Payments and Katale Online Shopping. Trade Lance is also very famous for its *252# financial inclusion USSD and website.

As a firm that participated in the 2020 40-Days 40 FinTechs initiative, Ewolu says among the key takeaways was implementing financial inclusion best practices.

The firm has since implemented some of best practices such as the Low Cost User devices and Pricing Transparency practices.

Ewolu, however, notes that they are not yet able to settle payments on the same way as their partners such as Airtel money are not implementing it as well, for now.

40-Days 40 FinTechs

Trade Lance is participating in the ongoing second edition of the 40-Days 40 FinTechs organised by HiPipo in partnership with Crosslake Technologies, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation, and sponsored by the Gates Foundation.

The initiative, which provides a platform for FinTechs and stakeholders in the digital and financial technology space to exhibit their products and share ideas, seeks to boost the African FinTech ecosystem to enable innovators enjoy sustainable profitability to help them design and deploy affordable and inclusive financial services for the poor.

Ewolu also alludes that the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has provided a platform that brings together all players to share experiences and challenges and devise solutions. This, he notes, that enabled the industry to grow.

While he acknowledges that Uganda’s Fintech industry is growing with the number of transactions increasing, he notes that the public is still skeptical about using digital platforms.

“We still have a lot to do to instill faith. I believe in the next five years it will be booming,” he says.

The HiPipo Chief Executive Officer Innocent Kawooya alluded that FinTech is the launch pad on which the promise of full global financial inclusion will be fulfilled, noting that this edition of #40Days40FinTechs will be Uganda’s most comprehensive foray into things like distributed ledger technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Automated Customer Relationship Management, cash management and lending platforms.

 “The 40-Days 40 FinTechs LevelOneProject shall show we have the innovators to take on the challenges,” he says.

Kawooya, however, adds that a connecting thread will be how FinTechs urgently need interoperability and thus how open source frameworks such as Mojaloop and other technologies, are here to help, including guiding on how emerging frameworks such as #LevelOneProject principles can be used to engender sustainable financial inclusion impact.

Computing Palace Technologies seeks to close digital-gender gap with Her Duuka platform.

By Our writer

It is no secret that women are behind men when it comes to digital skills and are less-likely to have their businesses online compared to their male counterparts.

To close this gap, however, Computing Palace Technologies, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) firm that specializes in software development, is introducing “Her Duuka”, a web-based e-commerce platform that will enable women post and sell their products online.

According to Felix Balitumye, the Team Lead at Computing Palace Technologies, this will enable women businesses, majority of which have been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdowns, to thrive.

Balitumye says that majority of women-led micro and small businesses have since collapsed due to failure to adapt to electronic commerce because of lack of digital skills among their proprietors.

Over the past few months, the firm has been teaching businesses digital skills to enable them use digital channels to market and sell their products.

“We noticed that many businesses had not adopted so much social media and other digital platforms to do business. But after holding a session with them and showing them how their businesses can evolve, they have adopted,” says Balitumye.

“We are not only teaching these women digital skills, we are also enabling them to adapt by selling their goods online. Whoever will be allowed to create an account on this platform must have been trained.”

This, he says, will also help boost financial inclusion as the women-business owners will only receive their payments through mobile money.

While the platform will primarily be free for all the women, Balitumye says that they might consider charging a small subscription fee in future for sustainability purposes.

This is the latest of a number of innovations by Computing Palace Technologies which 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.

Over the years, the firm has developed different management systems including Sacco management, School management, Hospital management, and Church management systems, among others to enable them operate more efficiently.

40-Days 40 FinTechs

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

Balitumye commended HiPipo for the initiative, saying that it has opened for its doors to new partnerships and also broadened its perspective towards financial inclusion and interoperability, which have been integrated in its systems development.

Being a gender-centric firm, however, Balitumye says there is need to for enhanced collaboration and support to bridge the current gender gap in the industry.

The HiPipo Chief Executive Officer Innocent Kawooya alludes that the second edition of the #40Days40FinTechs will showcase the best of the multitude of solutions and products one can think of in the digital space.

“We expect examples of innovations and brands operating in this space and also use this chance to learn, at no cost, from probably the most knowledgeable pool of global FinTech experts that are all scheduled to present this year,” he said.

Kawooya adds that FinTech in Africa offers attractive opportunities and that investors are rightfully picking interest in the various startups that are offering a plethora of services, ranging from payments and lending, remittances, cross-border transfers and neobanks, among others.