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We cannot overemphasize the power of digital media. Whether your interest is in sports, fashion, politics, or business, there is something for you in the digital marketplace.

So, when Mayimuna Nalumu started her business in beddings, she utilized digital marketing to supplement her physical shop in Kinawataka. And when things got tough following the Covid-19 pandemic, she still relied on social media for possible financial remedies.

“I was checking social media [for money lenders] and I landed on Kray Microfinance. I downloaded their App and filled in my credentials. An agent was sent to me and he visited my business. They gave me my first loan which lasted four months. I have been getting other loans – for three years now,” she says.

Now, that is convenience!

‘Sincerely they have helped me grow my business and I have even expanded and started a mobile money business on top of the beddings,’ she says, only praying that the App be translated to a language she understands better – Luganda.

Kray Microfinance is a digital financial services company that started as a money lending company in 2012 before it realized that digital microfinance is the real deal.

‘We designed and developed a mobile application that enables people to access fast, convenient, and reliable credit. Someone simply needs to go to the Google Play Store and download our App” says Raymond Peter Kiwanuka, founder and managing director of Kray Microfinance.

He says that once you download the App, one of Kray’s agents will contact you and pick up preliminary know-your-customer (KYC) information and then you will be passed for receiving loans.

“For those without smartphones, we developed a USSD where you can access credit,’ Kiwanuka says

Kiwanuka adds that their motivation ten years ago was to be able to provide credit to anyone available. As they went deeper into operation, they realized that there are quite several people who need credit and microfinance services and were unable to access the services. The reasons they gave were that access to banks and lenders were limited on top of bottlenecks in terms of the collateral required and documentation.

‘We came in to solve this problem by not requiring much collateral and someone does not need to come to our offices to access credit. To access the credit, the only thing required is your national ID and yourself,’ he says.

With this convenience, at least 7,800 people have taken more than 18,000 loans over time.

“Most of the transactions are by women. They are the most vulnerable regarding access to financial services,” he says.

Kray Microfinance, regulated by the Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority, does not work alone. They have several third-party players such as MTN and Airtel who help support the real-time transaction settlement.

‘For instance, if someone wants to withdraw money, it does not take more than five minutes to get it on their mobile money accounts. If it is a deposit, it is still the same thing because the platform is up and running 24/7,” he says.

Hope against scepticism

Kiwanuka says some of the challenges faced by digital financial services providers is slow adoption, fraud, and illiteracy.

He is however optimistic that these can be handled through engagements such as the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative by HiPipo.

‘The 40 Days 40 FinTechs is a platform that every digital financial provider should join because it has created awareness in the digital space, not only in Uganda but regionally. This is a platform where you meet like-minded people. If you want to grow, you must share with people to appreciate your product,” he says.

Kray Microfinance is the 11th participant in Season Four of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative that seeks to highlight the impact of FinTechs in the lives of under-served populations.

Ran by HiPipo, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has over the past three years helped more than 100 participating FinTechs benefit from useful Financial Inclusion tools and an introduction to the industry’s emerging technologies such as Mojaloop Open Source Software, and guidance from Level One Project foundational material. The skills gained from this initiative cover Level One Project Principles, Instant and Inclusive Payment Systems (IIPS), inclusive finance, and FinTech in general.

‘This time we are showing the real impact of these FinTechs. Kray Microfinance is one of the participants touching on the issue of cheap and fast credit. Economies can grow faster if the low-income users can easily access credit,” said HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya, before sending his appreciation to the initiative’s partners including Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In many parts of rural Uganda, accessing a bank is almost impossible. Even when you chance on one, the red tape involved in accessing credit is unbelievable, especially in agricultural financing.

So, farmers usually rely on SACCOs and money lenders to survive. Most of these however come with high interest rates and they never supplement their service with any extension services.

Faced with similar challenges, Vicky Ayugi Lakot, a dealer in agricultural farm inputs in northern Uganda, would always use her phone to look for any farming techniques and market information. But about three years ago, while browsing her phone, she landed on the EzyAgric mobile application that has since changed her life.

“I picked an interest in using the EzyAgric App and I downloaded it. I have used it since then because of the many services it offers such as farming techniques, inputs, saving, and loans,” she says.

EzyAgric is an Agriculture Technology company started in 2016 to provide end-to-end agricultural solutions to both farmers and businesses operating in the agricultural landscape in Uganda.

Lakot says that on top of the market information, EzyAgric has provided both convenience and accessibility, especially for rural dwellers like herself. For instance, because most people in villages use mobile money to transact, EzyAgric has introduced a standardized withdrawal charge which is way cheaper than the charges by telecom companies.

 “We use this platform to save money and EzyAgric has subsidized transaction charges…if you are withdrawing like 10 million and above, they have subsidized it to Shs 5,000 which favors us,” she explains.

According to Mercy Angella Nantongo, the product manager at EzyAgric, the primary inspiration for this platform is to make agriculture enjoyable because it remains Uganda’s backbone.

“So, we realised that farmers and Agro SMEs were struggling to find agricultural information and cheap and easy credit…. we came up with a platform where they can access digital payments, access credit and save money at the same time,” she says.

On top of finances, farmers are offered digital advisory and extension services, farm plans, how to keep record books, and access to genuine agro-inputs.

“With Easy Credits that we launched this year with Agro SMEs, we have been offering loans of between Shs 10,000 and Shs 2m. We are further working with more than 60 suppliers of genuine agro-inputs to deliver these inputs to farmers and agro-businesses across the country. In the past year, we added more than 17,000 farmers to our platform and sold to over 300 merchants and agro SMEs,” she says.

She adds that they have delivered extension services to more than 170,000 Ugandans through partnerships with entities like Airtel.

Lakot says that with EzyAgric’s buy-now-pay-later model, Agro merchants like herself are now able to stock their shops and have access to inputs on credit such that they can pay back within seven days. This is helping them reduce the cost of stock because when farmers come to purchase from them, they have the stock in-house.

“We also have real-time credit storing especially when our customer expresses a need for credit. We have them signup on their phones and their eligibility is checked in real-time. If they qualify for credit, they also get credit scores immediately. This means that as soon as you sign up for your profile, you can access EzyAgric credit,” Nantongo says.

40 Days 40 FinTechs.

According to Nantongo, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs was their launchpad for the buy-now-pay-later product.

“We were able to test the solution and prototype it with the FinTech [incubator program by HiPipo] and roll it out to the customers who are now enjoying the product,” she says.

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

This initiative is run by HiPipo in partnership with the Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies with support generous from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Life-changing stories from more than 100 FinTechs have been highlighted by this initiative in the past three years.

When the world was invaded by Covid-19 in 2020, global economies were brought to their knees. At a personal level, many individuals were left in survival mode, barely managing to feed their families.

Education was not saved too. Learners were forced to study remotely in bits and when schools were re-opened parents were required to pay school dues in advance, regardless of the situation. Many of these parents had lost their sources of income to the pandemic.

Joseph Kibunda, a parent at JESJONNY Day and Boarding Primary School, remembers that experience as if it was yesterday.

“Covid-19 sabotaged our sources of income. It was challenging for us to take our children back to school. Every time your children are sent back home for school fees, you would look useless before them,” he recalls.

As Kibunda was hustling to find school fees for his children, he learned about Pesajet, a digital platform that offers school fees in advance for parents.

“Pesajet indeed relieved us from the immense pressure schools used to subject us to through frequent phone calls from the head teacher demanding school fees,” he says.

According to Emily Sonia Nakabuye, Pesajet is a subsidiary company of E-Moments Limited, a multi-business company that deals in FinTech, media, commerce, and events.

“Pesajet is a payments business application that looks mainly at Education and Agriculture. For Education, we help parents make payments to school easily and fast. Under the agriculture sector, we have FarmMore where farmers can get market information and get loans to buy farm inputs online,” Nakabuye, the Co-founder of PesaJet says.

Nakabuye, who is also still in school, says the School Advance product has received more attention because it touches the core challenge of any ordinary Ugandan. However, she emphasizes that money is disbursed to those with the ability to pay it back.

“For School Advance, one has to enter simple KYC into the application, and to get the advance, you must enter a bit of added information like National Identification Number (NIN). If you have a basic feature phone, we are developing a USSD code so that you can use it,” she says. “We also have the payments app which you can find on the Google Play Store and Apple Store.”

School administrators are happy too with this initiative that has eased their school management routine.

“Our school fees policy is that a parent must have paid at least half the fees before the child reports back. But you are all aware that the post-Covid-19 era had a negative bearing on the incomes of our people. Sometimes, you find that not all parents can meet that requirement. So, PesaJet filled that gap by providing fees advance to these parents,” says Godfrey Kigongo Bwabye, the Head Teacher of JESJONNY Day and Boarding Primary School.

“At the inception of Pesajet in our school, several parents bought into the idea and subscribed. Currently, Pesajet is supporting about 20 per cent of the parents that qualify for these advances but we would like this number to increase,” he adds.

CONFIDENCE.

Nakabuye says that their biggest challenge is a lack of trust from Ugandans. Being a new platform formed just two years ago, many people are reluctant to subscribe to PesaJet.

For parents and school administrators, the challenge is the high-interest rates. But Nakabuye pegs this challenge to lack of funding.

“It is not easy for us start-ups to get seed capital to give to parents or farmers,” she says.

She is however grateful to the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative by HiPipo which is helping start-up FinTechs to develop social and technical capital through interactions with established players.

“It has helped us with mentorship, seed capital, among others. As FinTechs, we need to know each other and ways to connect with other people that are going to use our application and help Ugandans at large,” she says.

Now in its fourth season, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative is run by HiPipo in partnership with the Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, and Crosslake Technologies with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Life-changing stories from more than 100 FinTechs have been highlighted by this initiative in the past three years.

HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya says stories like Pesajet are very gratifying given the fact that this initiative is a product of another project by HiPipo called Women in FinTech Hackathon.

“Our vision of Including Everyone is visible in PesaJet’s story. We want to empower these young innovators to come up with solutions that solve everyday problems. Their focus on school fees and agriculture touches the very core of the people at the bottom of the pyramid,” he said.

Building and construction is a tricky business, mostly because contracts in this sector are usually post-paid. This means that one has to primarily foot the bill for construction materials and wages. At the end of the day, many construction companies incur high-interest loans that conversely affect their profits.

James Andrew Mukuye was going through this predicament in his company J.A Living Spaces until he learned about Zofi Cash in November 2021 which has since saved him from workers’ salary advances.

Zofi Cash is an early wage access platform that enables employees to access their wages before payday or whenever emergencies strike and cannot wait.

Mukuye says this platform has worked miracles for his employees and now he doesn’t have to sweat about financing salary advances anymore.

“I would recommend Zofi Cash to all employers interested in the well-being of their employees and staff because it simplifies their life during the month. This improves their welfare and translates into better productivity,” he says.

According to, Joel Nabimanya, the Growth and Marketing Lead at Zofi Cash, this product, which is purely digital should be on every employer’s radar.

“The market problem that we are addressing is access to finances for people working in the corporate space. People get paid and within a week or two, their money is depleted and they are back to zero,” he says.

“Instead of running to money lenders and loan sharks who require collateral security and take days to process, we would rather have them access their wages earlier.”

On the employer’s side, they are required to sign up, enter a memorandum of understanding with Zofi Cash and provide a trading license, certificate of incorporation, and logo. At this stage, the employer can then approve/recommend an employee to get an advance and Zofi Cash will send it straight to the mobile wallet of the respective employee.

Nabimanya argues that one of the reasons why economies in the US and Europe have developed is because employees have access to their money much earlier. Some clock out and get paid on that very day while others get paid weekly, or every two weeks.

“This helps a lot for money to circulate in the economy. We came to break that 30-day pay cycle and bridge the gap between the paycheck and how often you can access it in the month,” he adds.

Nabimanya says that this service has received quick adoption because it touches the core of every employee. In the first year of operation, Zofi Cash transacted and processed more than Shs 1bn in advance loans. “This year, we have reached a billion shillings in a space of five months. We are growing at a rate of 24.6 per cent every single quarter,” he says.

The company has so far served more than 20,000 employees.

“Our clientele ranges from multi-national manufacturers like Regal Paints to marketing agencies like Zeus – The Agency and now beginning to partner with companies like Safe Boda and Rocket Health, among others. We also serve several startups and personal businesses,” he says.

40 Days 40 FinTechs

Nabimanya notes that one of the key challenges Financial Technology companies face in Uganda is adoption, brought about by limited saturation of smartphones and internet connectivity especially among people at the bottom of the pyramid.

He is however happy with the 40 Days 40 FinTechs program that is bringing together all players in the FinTech landscape in East Africa as well as empowering startups.

“When Zofi Cash knows that another startup is doing something that helps it grow, there will be space for collaboration. Startups can now generate more revenue from different sources. While building that synergy, you will be able to end the problems faced in the FinTech industry,” he says.

Zofi Cash is the 8^th participant in Season Four of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative that seeks to highlight the impact stories of emerging FinTechs in the East African region.

According to HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya, the East African region has very many start-up FinTechs that are changing the lives of under-served communities.

“We want to show and tell these stories that are changing communities and economies. Convenient financial literacy and independence on the part of end-users is one of the ways we can realise an inclusive society,” he said.

The 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative is run by HiPipo in partnership with the Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Life-changing stories from more than 100 FinTechs have been highlighted by this initiative in the past three years.

Market access is one of the biggest challenges for businesses in Uganda, especially in the informal sector. Many highly depend on word-of-mouth references because they lack resources for proper marketing.

Some fail to breakeven and close shop while others stagnate at a small-scale level. It is estimated that Uganda has more than 2.5 million formal and informal businesses suffering with limited market as well as physical visibility.

Of these, 1.8 million informal businesses are run by women, youths and refugees. The majority of these cannot afford good premises and/or online visibility.

Back in 2020, Osman Salim Mwebaze, a founder of KLA Garden Spices that is available on the Merchandise Uganda platform found himself in this state of affairs. He would wake up every morning, open his premises in Kawempe-Lugoba and pray to God for customers for his products including spices for tea and food like chicken masala, pilawo masala, Tangawizi, and black pepper, among others.

Business was dim. Profits were hard to come by. Hope was lost – until he was told about Merchandise Uganda, an online marketplace.

“About three years ago, a colleague told me about Merchandise Uganda where we could advertise our products using the phone,” he says.

“Ever since I joined this platform, business has changed. Previously, it would be hard to find market but now I also get an opportunity to interact with other producers or manufacturers and buyers,” he adds.

What is Merchandise Uganda?

Merchandise Uganda is a free online marketplace where sellers and buyers meet and transact. When you have a business or products to sell, you just visit the Merchandise Uganda platform and open a shop. A seller/trader is required to provide some KYC in form of trader name or business name, location, contact details, good photos of products and videos of how the products work (if need be).

When someone wants a product, they go to the website or download the Merchandise Uganda App and search for the product they want. Then people with such a product will be listed and the client can contact them directly.

They also have partnerships with delivery companies. All suppliers are assigned to these logistics companies. So, when the client makes an order, the delivery company is notified to pick up the product and deliver it

According to Suzan Awori, the Business Administrator at Merchandise Uganda, since they opened shop in 2019, they have on-boarded more than 1,300 clients and created more than 100 direct and indirect jobs in 2021 alone.

“We have also trained more than 10,000 businesses on how to use digital marketing tools as well as women in local markets,” she says.

And traders are counting dividends. Mwebaze, for instance, says that since joining this platform, his weekly client traffic has jumped from five (5) to more than 20.

“There have been more orders coming in and it’s a tremendous platform,” he says. Mwebaze retained his physical shop along with his online shop.

He however advises the operators of this platform to improve the online payment system.

“There needs to be a mechanism where a client clicks on the product and payment is done promptly. Here, the supplier will be sorted and needs to make the product available for the client,” he says.

Awori says this is part of the plan, but it starts with building trust.

“Currently, we don’t handle digital payment but we have it in our future plan. We also encourage clients to do online payments as it saves time and is more secure. But, the main challenge here remains the trust between the buyers and sellers as many people are not comfortable to pay for something that has not reached their doorstep.”

Nonetheless, Mwebaze calls on Ugandan traders from all sectors to use such platforms to expand their market reach.

40 Days 40 FinTechs

Merchandise Uganda are participating in the 40 Days 40 FinTechs for the third time and Awori is aware of this initiative’s impact to their business growth.

“In 2022, we participated in the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative organized by HiPipo where we were awarded. We also on boarded more than 800 clients in that year,” she says.

According to HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya, Merchandise Uganda is one of the success stories that have shown the world the importance of online marketing.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, we all realised that you can get all supplies by the press of a button. Platforms such as Merchandise Uganda are an example of a marketplace on your phone,” he said.

Kawooya noted that Season Four of 40 Days 40 FinTechs intends to highlight these achievements by innovative minds across the East African region geared towards serving the people at the bottom of the pyramid.

This initiative is run by HiPipo in partnership with the Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, and Crosslake Technologies with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Life-changing stories from more than 100 FinTechs have been highlighted by this initiative in the past three years.

Most developing countries such as Uganda face a problem of lack of, limited and expensive energy resources. And when it comes to domestic usage of electricity for instance, there is a lot of waste. It is very common to find a home with lights-on during the day or all appliances connected even when there is no need to.

It is this wastage that prompted 24-year-old Diana Najjuma and a team of young graduates to start Teslon, a smart home automation system that helps homeowners regulate how much electricity is used at home as well as monitor their business security using a smartphone.

“Our startup has three main products. The first one is the Smart Socket – It allows the user to control any appliance they have in their home using a click on their smartphone. They can also schedule when they want that appliance to work. For instance, if you have a fridge and it consumes a lot of power, you can set the different times when you want it to operate,” says Najjuma, a graduate of Software Engineering from Makerere University.

They have also created smart extensions where someone can control multiple devices using their smartphone.

“Then we have the Smart Light Unit – We looked at the existing smart lights that are being provided by companies like Apple and Amazon and we realized that the systems are not favourable in an African setting. With smart light, they automatically switch themselves on and off using sensors,” she says.

Najjuma says that their solution goes from home to people’s workstations.

“We looked at the people in urban settings, those renting shops in arcades, and other small businesses. These people work on a daily and in cases where one works alone and they need to step out of their shop, they ask their neighbours to keep an eye on their merchandise. We thought about providing them with on-site affordable security,” she explains.

“We created a simple security system that they put at the edge of the door – usually their doors are pull-ups while locking them – if a client approaches your shop or an intruder, the system will send an alert on your phone wherever you are.”

Teslon has also incorporated a donation arm to its operations to help the young company raise funds for creating Energy Saving products.

40 Days 40 FinTechs.

Teslon is the sixth participant in Season Four of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative organised by HiPipo to shine a light on emerging Financial Technology companies in East Africa.

Najjuma indeed owes her company’s innovation to HiPipo noting that she got her inspiration from participating in the Women in FinTech Hackathon, also organised by HiPipo.

“The Hackathon taught us to come up with solutions that Include Everyone and I think that if we could adapt to solutions like Teslon, we can help save on power and bills for many low-income earners as well as satisfy one of the two United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of access to clean and affordable energy for people all over Africa and the development of sustainable cities,” she says.

One of the Teslon clients George William Tinka, a medical doctor, says he has used their Smart Lights product and it has been miraculous.

“They have helped me a lot. For instance, in case I have left home and forgot to turn off my lights, its sensors will turn the lights off to save me any bills. Even when I am back from work, I don’t have to struggle around the house looking for the switches as the lights will turn on automatically,” he says.

He, however, urges them to come up with a Mobile Application to make their product more convenient.

“My suggestion to the developers of the app is that they should integrate more digital payments into their system. This will make it much easier for users to make payments and donations,” he adds.

But Najjuma tags these challenges to lack of seed capital.

“It is quite hard with the current economy to afford the necessary resources in terms of equipment, and operation costs, engineers are moving up and down and don’t have data and airtime, among others. There’s a lot to do with spending on everything that you are doing. This is a big issue on our side,” she says

She, however, appreciates the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative for the opportunity to showcase their innovations

“It is going to empower my startup in terms of showcasing us out there. They are putting for us a platform in terms of finances, mentorship, and marketing. This is a huge hope for the development of our startup,” she says.

The 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative is organised in partnership with the Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, and Crosslake Technologies with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

A quick scan through the daily newspapers will show you how many people are losing their businesses to financial services providers for failure to service a loan. Financial services providers usually don’t care if you made a profit or a loss on the money they gave you; they just want their money back plus the interest accrued. If you fail, they advertise and sell the collateral.

It is this unfortunate reality that partly inspired Kakande Farid Gava and four others to start Zukuka Traders Limited, a digital saving and loan product based on the Islamic banking system.

“We have two fundamentals in Islam that drive finances; Profit and Loss Sharing – this is mainly for businesses… We share the profit and loss as long as the loss is not bound to the clients. We consider the loss as natural. The second principle is interest-free loans. At Zukuka, we give loans without expecting any interest. If you take Shs 500,000, we expect the same amount on return,” Kakande, the Zukuka Chief Executive Officer, says.

On the technology side, Zukuka came to solve the problem of manual processes within Saccos because everything is digitized. Members can join using their Zukuka Mobile App, Website, and social media handles.

In the two years of operation, Zukuka has attracted more than 800 clients saving daily, weekly or monthly depending on their earnings.

“We try our best to reach about 75 million monthly in savings. For credit facilities, we give an average of 10 members monthly and expect a payback of 65 per cent in loans,” he says.

He adds that the Zukuka Mobile App allows users to track transactions in real-time. Clients can also carry out deposits on their Zukuka accounts via mobile money.

Meanwhile, Kawooya Hassan, one of the Zukuka members says it is the principle of zero interest that has impressed him most.

“I joined Zukuka Finance two years ago but I am very happy with it because of the reliable and efficient service. Our savings are safe and when you need a loan, it comes with no interest. We just have to share profits, if any,” he says, noting that even countries like Uganda are struggling to finance national budgets because of the high interest they have to pay to their creditors.

40 Days 40 FinTechs

Zukuka Finance is a fully registered Sacco under the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives and regulated by the Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority.

However, Kakande says people’s uptake of digital innovations is still a stumbling block in Uganda.

“People are illiterate about these technologies. We are trying our best to carry out training for our members. People also think technology involves a lot of fraud. For us, when a customer wants to withdraw money, we always request for a [secret] code to avoid fraud and embezzlement of funds,” he says.

He further appreciates initiatives such as 40 Days 40 FinTechs that are shining a light on emerging players in the FinTech space which is one way of building confidence among end-users.

“This initiative has helped giant companies to interact with SMEs. This has helped to build a relationship in business which eventually leads to economic growth,” he says.

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

“This season we are happy to show the impact stories of these innovations. The likes of Zukuka are facilitating financial inclusion because we believe that in order to create realistic change, the cost of credit should be reduced significantly. And that is what Zukuka has done through their implementation of Shariah-compliant finance principles,” noted Innocent Kawooya, the CEO of HiPipo.      

Zukuka Finance is participant number five in the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative, season four organized by HiPipo in partnership with the Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner and Crosslake Technologies and generously supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

One of the biggest business challenges is accountability. For instance, it is almost impossible for any organization to determine how much airtime or fuel was used by field staff in a given month. This is because the field staff usually pay out of pocket and claim the money later without proper proof.

But this is a problem that Xente, a financial technology company, is determined to end through their Visa Cards and automated online transactions.

Through a partnership with Visa, Xente is among the first FinTechs to issue both virtual and physical visa cards in Uganda. On top of this, Xente helps businesses, companies and organizations to automate company finances by providing a platform where companies are able to log on and open an account where they can make bank transfers, mobile money, airtime, and data to their teams or beneficiaries and staff.

Between 2017 and 2023, more than 1,000 businesses such as NSSF and Jumia have benefitted from these services to ease their business transactions.

‘They are able to save time and money while ensuring proper accountability,” says Lyn Tukei, the Head of Public Relations and Marketing at Xente.

‘For instance, if you have to send money to more than 1,000 people, you don’t need to walk to that mobile money agent anymore. All you need is to get onto our platform and send money to as many people as you want across various networks. This comes in handy across businesses that use a lot of time and money while making these transfers,’ she notes.

Tukei says automation helps businesses to approve every payment, track every transaction in real-time, manage money across teams, branches, and/or countries, and sync data with their accounting platforms. 

How does one get Xente?

“It is very easy, just like any other bank account. It integrates what the banks and telecoms do. All you need is to log on to the Xente website and you will be able to create an account. If you are already registered, you just simply log in and see the various features that you are able to use. If you are new, they will ask for simple KYCs like the certificate of incorporation to make sure that you are a registered business. It becomes easy for you to start sending out bulk SMS, data, mobile money, airtime, and bank transfers, and issue virtual and physical visa cards. All you need is an Excel sheet of all the targeted beneficiaries. You can automate all your payments in real-time.’

40 Days 40 FinTechs

Xente is the fourth participant in Season Four 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative that seeks to highlight the impact of FinTechs in the lives of under-served populations.

‘The 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has been helpful in elevating FinTech space in Uganda. There’s not so much awareness being done about FinTechs like in rural areas but this platform has amplified the message to the people,” Tukei says.

HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya says the past three years have seen more than 100 participating FinTechs benefit from useful tools and an introduction to the industry’s emerging technologies such as Mojaloop Open Source Software, and guidance from Level One Project foundational material.

The skills gained from this initiative cover Level One Project Principles, Instant and Inclusive Payment Systems (IIPS), inclusive finance and FinTech in general.

‘Now we want to show the real impact of these FinTechs. If you hear that Xente is serving 1000 businesses, then we can comfortably say we are on the right track,” he said, sending his appreciation to the initiative’s partners including Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner and Crosslake Technologies.

BOU Compliant.

Xente is a Bank of Uganda licensed Payments Systems Operator (PSO) in Uganda. They also have a license of Issuer of Payment Instrument, which means that Xente is licensed to issue any payment instrument such as the Xente Visa Card.

Tukei calls upon other FinTechs to get out of briefcase management and obtain formal licensing.

‘I implore all businesses especially if you are dealing in payment instruments, it comes in handy to have a compliance license in order to be trusted by stakeholders, investors, and other partners,” she says.

She further talks up the increased FinTech uptake in Uganda, calling on developers to come up with user-centric solutions targeting people at the bottom of the pyramid.

Sometime in 2016, Jean Anthony Onyait was on a study trip to Tirinyi where he met a special woman that would change the story of his life.

This woman was called Akello. She was a village hero! A hero because she was in police custody for failure to pay a loan received from a microfinance institution on behalf of members of her village farmers’ group.

She was the leader of a group of smallholder farmers. They needed money to buy farm inputs but all had no collateral. Akello had inherited some property from her late husband and she decided to use it as collateral to borrow money and give it to group members with the hope that they would use the money responsibly and manage to repay the loan.

“Her group members failed to pay and she was arrested and the property was going to be taken. Just imagine what would happen to her children,” echoes Onyait.

On hearing this sad story, Onyait intervened. Together with the team he was with, they decided to travel back to Kampala, raise as much money as possible, and return to Tirinyi to settle Akello’s debt.

And he did not stop there. He was inspired to start Akellobanker, a digital infrastructure that can be used to enable millions of smallholders and SMEs to access important and life-saving collateral-free services such as access to farm inputs and extension services on credit.

“We gave our company that name in respect of Akello. AkelloBanker means a bank for people like Akello who want to see their production and productivity increase but they do not have the resources and information that can help them,” Onyait, the AkelloBanker Chief Executive Officer, says.

Lasting impact.

Born in Tirinyi, AkelloBanker has spread wings across Uganda, impacting more than 180,000 smallholders as well as Small and Mid-size Enterprises.

“These smallholders are farmers who are toiling every day to produce what we eat while the SMEs comprise input dealers who are in the local communities with small stalls where farmers go and access inputs,” he explains.

According to Onyait, more than 700 SMEs have been empowered and they have been able to digitize their agricultural supplies to the farmers. They are also able to access credit which they are able to use for restocking their inputs.

“Every year, we have at least five transactions done by each farmer. These are about 900,000 transactions within a given period of time. We have been able to power over 20 million dollars worth of credit which has passed through the system to facilitate the farmers,” he explains.

With this digital platform, a farmer using data-driven approaches can access a loan instantly using their mobile phones. It can be via a smartphone or any basic mobile phone.

“If they cannot access cash…they should be able to access inputs on credit…,” he says.

One of the SACCOs using AkelloBanker services is LWEDE [Lwengo Development Cooperative Society] in Lwengo district.

These are mostly involved in providing financial services to coffee and poultry farmers.

“They are powering our operations through a system called Quest and it has been very effective in financial management. Even when we get technical challenges, we reach out to them and they sort it immediately,” said Charles Asiimwe, the Lwede Sacco Manager.

Farmers are happy too.

According to Elizabeth Atugonza, she has borrowed from Lwede Sacco over 10 times using her phone and the system is very user-friendly.

Further, John Matovu Ssagala, a Lwengo-based farmer and member of LWEDE noted that the platform has offered him multiple loans that have helped him remain in business.

Onyait says they are powering Saccos in every part of the country such as Hakashinyi Sacco in Mitooma-Inshaka, Bunyaruguru Development Sacco, Achila Enterprises in Eastern Uganda, Oyam DFA in Northern Uganda, among others.

“Oyam DFA is one of the biggest farmers’ organizations which not only produces grain but we have been able to link them to Makerere University where they are able to get foundation seed on credit. We are able to facilitate all that,” he explains.

40 Days 40 FinTechs.

Onyait says that some of the challenges in driving financial inclusion in Uganda include limited infrastructure (internet and device access), illiteracy on how to use these digital services, and cyber security.

He is, however, happy that initiatives such as 40 Days 40 FinTechs are coming up to try and reduce the divide between the empowered community and the people at the bottom of the pyramid.

“The 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative is a very strong platform to bring like-minded players into one place to share ideas and devise means on how we can deepen the financial sector. Since it comes from the issue of technology or financial technology providers, we are able to learn about the past challenges that commercial banks had to go through. We have been able to learn from the telecoms. So, the efforts by the different actors definitely give us a learning platform,” he says.

Now in its fourth season, HiPipo’s 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has become a household name in the financial technology space of the East African region. In the last three editions, more than 100 FinTechs have been showcased, highlighting stories changing people’s lives, especially in the under-served sectors. This initiative is run by HiPipo in partnership with the Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

AkelloBanker is participant number three of the fourth season of this initiative. Innocent Kawooya, the HiPipo CEO noted that AkelloBanker is a clear example of both the life and time-saving abilities of Financial Technology.