Category: Women In FinTech

We are excited to share with you the Women In FinTech Magazine—January 2023 edition. A magazine that is solely dedicated to Women In FinTech.

These women have set an example for other women to follow. The Women In FinTech magazine increases the visibility of female leaders in the field and strengthens their connections to other participants. It also encourages more women to pursue careers as innovators, entrepreneurs, and executives in financial services.

It is a compilation of interviews, opinions—and many more elements. This includes an impressive list of 100 #WomenInFinTech. The list recognizes women leaders in FinTech who are solving sticky gaps and creating solutions within previously excluded, untapped or underrepresented markets.

We express our gratitude to Cyberplc Academy, INFITX, Crosslake Technologies, Mojaloop Foundation, #LevelOneProject and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for their generous support.

We also appreciate the efforts of the team that worked hard to produce this magazine.

We believe you will share it widely too.

Tap Here to Read/Download the Women In FinTech Magazine January 2023 Edition #LevelOneProject.

Our Reporter.

After an intense and knowledge-packed week, the 2022 Women in FinTech Hackathon, culminated in to the Women in FinTech Summit on the 16th of September.

The Women in FinTech Summit was characterized by colour and pomp as the top six teams were announced and rewarded. Even so, all the 20 Teams got their fair share of the collective USD 10,000 reward prizes.   

While presiding over the Summit, Owek. Hon. Joyce Nabbosa Ssebugwawo, the Minister of State for ICT noted that the Women in FinTech Hackathon is a noble idea that uplifts women and also fosters overall country development.

“We are happy that HiPipo and partners are exploring women’s formal and informal income-generating opportunities that add value to women’s lives and livelihoods using digital solutions. I thank HiPipo for applying a gender lens across all its projects and driving stakeholder influence to advance women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment. To my daughters that have completed this program, I applaud you and thank you for your commitment. Please use this knowledge to uplift even more women,” Nabbosa said.

The Hackathon had a total of 20 women-led and women-dominated teams. Team Elevation was declared the overall winner and took home a cash prize of UGX 4,000,000 thanks to its product named Kutayarisha; which is a web-based platform that provides maternity services and products to pregnant women in Urban-rural communities with need to have timely and reliable access to maternity care.

 Academic Personal Assistant (APA), Oliwa Events, and Go Green came second, third, and four respectively while both Lands Resource and Insure Wallet tied at the fifth spot.

Prof. Maggie Kigozi, who was the Hackathon Chief Mentor advised the young developers to use the opportunity presented to them to transform and improve the lives of their communities.

“At an individual level, I am always ready and willing to help people attain success. If there is one advise I would give all of you today, it is pull up your sister. Please pull up your sister. Do not go alone because there is no much point. You will not go very far if you go alone,” Kigozi said. 

The Women in FinTech Hackathon and Summit were organized by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, ModusBox, CyberPLC Academy, and Crosslake Technologies and generously supported by Gates Foundation. The Summit had several thematic panel discussions and speeches.

“Leadership is the ability to see the grey areas and hear the unspoken words. When I talk about this I am asking you to check yourself and ask yourself that as a woman who wants to serve my nation, where do I want to play? Do I want a leadership role, a regulators’ role, innovator’s role, an investor’s role, or a consumer’s role?”, Princess Shamirah Kimbugwe, Pivot Payments Limited the founder and managing director said in her keynote address, adding;

“There is no question as to if a woman is a worthy player in the FinTech industry. There is just a question of where the woman should play in the value chain. There are a lot of opportunities for Women in FinTech. As a woman player, you have a whole list of opportunities that you can tap in to.”

On her part, Damali Ssali, the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) chief of programmes and project officer noted that as a way of curbing high transactional costs in the financial technology industry, PSFU is working with partners, particularly HiPipo and Gates Foundation to implement the Pearl of Africa Instant and Inclusive Payment Switch.

Our Reporter.

Day three of the ongoing Women in FinTech Hackathon was action-packed, with participants working on their products’ MVP phase one.

In products’ development, MVP stands for a minimum viable product. According to ProductPlan, a minimum viable product (MVP) is a product with enough features to attract early-adopter customers and validate a product idea early in the product development cycle. The MVP is a critical milestone in the product development eco-system.

Minus the MVP, the participants were also introduced to Mojaloop Open Source Software.

According to Sam Kummary, one of the developers of Mojaloop, this software was designed to provide a reference model for payment interoperability. It can be used to overcome barriers that have slowed the spread of digital financial services.

In his presentation, Kummary took the teams through how developers and innovators can freely use the Mojaloop core code, join the community, and build inclusive, real-time payment systems to help support economies. He shared in-depth insights on the Mojaloop scheme, hub and platform and the roles that each play.

“Mojaloop can be used to create interoperable payment solutions in areas such as person-to-person transfers, payroll, and other bulk payments, account management and fraud monitoring,” Kummary said.

On his part, Innocent Kawooya, the HiPipo CEO noted that innovators can use Mojaloop to develop secure and interoperable payment systems that are acceptable globally.

“Payments Schemes around the world are in the process of implementing or considering implementation, of Mojaloop-based interoperable payments systems. Women in FinTech Innovators can use Mojaloop open-source software to support financial services companies, government regulators, and others taking on the challenges of interoperability and financial inclusion,” Kawooya said.

Still on Day 3, the teams were mentored on Product Management. This session was delivered by Mercy Angela Nantongo, the EzyAgric Product Manager.

Nantongo noted that Product Management is a continuous process that ensures that both the product owners and customers get the best results possible.

“Product Management is important as it is the first interaction with customers before any issues arise. It plays a key role in product marketing at initiation, before you build, while building the product, and after you complete the product. Product Management ensures that you are on top of the market trends. It ensures that your customers get the best quality of your product,” Nantongo said.

Organized by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, ModusBox, CyberPLC Academy, and Crosslake Technologies and generously supported by Gates Foundation, the 2022 Women in FinTech Hackathon has brought together 20 women-led teams this year. The week-long Women in FinTech Hackathon will culminate into the Women in FinTech summit on Friday 16^th September at Mestil Hotel, Kampala; where the best performing teams and individuals from across East Africa will be announced and receive their share of the USD 10,000 collective prize money. The best teams will also automatically qualify for the Women in FinTech Incubator program that will run until January 2023.

Our Reporter.

Day Two of the 2022 Women in FinTech Hackathon concluded with Teams completing their Solution and Prototype designs.

According to Boston Technology, a Solution Design is the first step towards the eventual physical deployment of any solution. It is a visual blueprint for what needs to be built out. On the other hand, a prototype design is an early sample or a visual model of a product created to test a concept or process.

With these two tasks completed, the teams are all optimistic that they will be able to each deliver a minimum viable product – MVP at the end of the hackathon.

According to the HiPipo CEO, Innocent Kawooya, the Women in Fintech Hackathon doesn’t only address the gender diversity challenge in the technology industry but also empowers women with the right skills and tools to think, design, innovate and transform societies.

“Seeing the teams getting down to serious work is a great deal for us because it shows how far we have come; from having a dream, putting it on paper as an idea and now executing it. The same process is what all innovators must go through to actualize their products,” Kawooya said, adding;

“The facilitators and mentors in this hackathon are equipping participants with the required technology skills and also introducing them to real life realities that they must overcome if they are to succeed.”

Now in its third edition, the Women in FinTech Hackathon is part of HiPipo’s commitment towards empowering women with the required digital and financial inclusion skills so that they can go out there; innovate, prosper, earn and develop their families and communities.  This year’s edition has gathered 20 Women-led teams of between two to four members each.

It is presented by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop, ModusBox, CyberPLC Academy and Crosslake Technologies and generously supported by Gates Foundation.

Minus the ‘FinTech’ technical work that the hackathon is about, the participants were on day two mentored by Cynthia Mpanga, a renowned public relations practitioner and corporate affairs manager at Standard Chartered Bank, Uganda. Her mentorship was focused on personal branding, public relations, and communication.

The week-long #WomeninFinTech Hackathon will culminate into the Women in FinTech summit on Friday 16^th September at Mestil Hotel, Kampala; where the best performing teams and individuals from across East Africa will be announced and receive their share of the USD 10,000 collective prize money. The best teams will also automatically qualify for the Women in FinTech Incubator program that will run until January 2023.

Kampala, Uganda: When you empower one woman, you have in fact supported an entire family. This is no longer an optimistic opinion but a statement of fact.

This is why HiPipo is keen to empower women with the required digital and financial inclusion skills so that they can go out there; innovate, prosper, earn and develop their families and communities. 

In both 2020 and 2021, HiPipo deliberately and in full adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols implemented the Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit, and Incubator. The cardinal purpose of these inter-twined initiatives was, and still is, to champion women’s financial inclusion through active participation in the initiation, development, and rolling out of financial technology products that are well tailored to serve women and everyone. And indeed, the HiPipo Women In FinTech initiative is exceptionally supporting efforts toward closing the Gender Gap in Access to Technology, Skills, and Usage of Digital Financial Services.

The impact of these initiatives is out for all to see. More than 100 women have been trained and equipped with the latest FinTech skills, and at least 10 products have been initiated and taken to the market by Women in FinTech participants, in addition to individual participants and teams getting seed capital from both the project and external contributors to further pursue their ideas.

This success is thanks to HiPipo’s thoughtful Women Inclusion efforts and the commitment of its partners: Level One Project, Mojaloop, ModusBox, and Crosslake Technologies. Even so, all this may have remained a good paper concept or a somewhat deferred dream had it not been for the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

This story is set to continue this year with the Women in Fintech Hackathon and Summit finale slated to run from 10th to 16th September 2022 while the Incubator program will run from late October to the end of January 2023. This year’s edition will be bigger and better with the entry of CyberPLC Academy as a strategic implementation partner.

The 2022 Women in FinTech Hackathon seeks to close the Gender Gap in Access to Technology, Skills, and Usage of Digital Financial Services. It will provide women innovators and students an opportunity to use digital financial technology to explore business concepts. The hackathon will introduce participants to useful tools and offer an introduction to technologies such as Mojaloop Open-Source Software, and guidance from Level One Project foundational material. The skills gained from this initiative will cover Level One Project Principles, Instant and Inclusive Payment Systems (IIPS), Inclusive Finance, and FinTech in general.

“Our ultimate objective is to help achieve a leveled playing field by guiding the African continent into fully maximizing its digital dividend and potential, with the entire populace equitably participating in the use, leverage, dissemination, innovation, adoption, and adaptation of secure digital financial services to improve their lives and livelihoods,” Innocent Kawooya, the HiPipo CEO noted.

On-boarding East Africa participants.

The 2022 edition will kick off with a virtual East African round that will have participants from across the region taken through daily training and assessment for 5 days (29^th August to 2^nd September), with the top team from each country automatically qualifying for the grand finale to be held in Kampala.

Interested participants from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan will register for the virtual round between 17^th and 26^th August while Ugandan participants will submit their entries from 20^th to 29^th August.

The hackathon is open to women-led teams of 2 to 4 members, with each team having at least 67 percent female composition.

“We are excited about this year’s edition. The past two editions have been highly impactful with different participants being able to take their innovations to the market while others are in the process. The third edition is going to be bigger and better as we welcome East African participants. We are indebted to our partners, and supporters and commit that we shall not stop because financial inclusion is a right for everyone,” Kawooya noted.

The Women in FinTech Hackathon will culminate in the Women in FinTech summit where the best performing teams and individuals from across East Africa will be announced and receive their share of the USD 10,000 collective prize money. This will be in addition to automatically qualifying for the Women in FinTech Incubator program that will run until January 2023.

So ladies; there you have it. Get ready to register, prepare to develop, learn and shine. More details will be shared in due course.

In case of any queries, reach out via socialweb@HiPipo.com

Our Reporters.

At the start of July 2016, news broke that two Tech giants had come together and devised an African Transport solution. The Tech Giants were Craft Silicon and Safaricom. The Transport solution was Little Cab; a ride-hailing APP that was launched in Kenya to directly compete with the likes of Uber, and Taxify – that has since rebranded to Bolt.

According to Kamal Budhabhatti, the Little Founder and CEO, they introduced this APP to cushion African drivers from/against the several challenges they faced with foreign ride-hailing companies.

“Couple of years back, when ride-hailing Apps from the West were dominating the market, the driver’s interests were not being addressed. Every driver had an issue with how these platforms were operating. We felt that there was a need to come and address the challenges that these drivers were facing. That is how Little was formed,” Kamal said, adding;

“Today, the drivers’ community is really supporting Little because we listen to them and design products that are a win-win for both the drivers and riders. We have rolled out products specifically designed for women entrepreneurs. For example, on Little, we have a special product for women drivers.”

Six years later, Little has grown into a reliable ride-hailing platform with over 100,000 registered drivers and serving close to one million clients in Kenya alone. It has also since expanded to other countries like Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia and is now headed to West Africa.

Motivated by this success, Little has now evolved into a super APP that addresses a variety of day-to-day needs. Its latest APP version offers competitive and quality services in logistics, payments, money transfers, transport, entertainment, and e-commerce.

“What we have realized over the years is that the mobile phone capacity of an African consumer is always a challenge. The customer can’t have one APP for rides, one for deliveries, one for payments and one for entertainment. So, we thought about bringing all these services together under one App, with great customer experience,” Kamal explained.

He added: “That is why we have now transformed Little from just a ride-hailing platform to your every day, everything App. With Little, you can now order for a ride, food, groceries, pharmaceutical products, transfer money and make payments among others.”

Kamal notes that Kenya and East Africa’s FinTech industry is very competitive and fast-growing as several innovators continue to think and develop solutions for the issues addressing their communities. He nonetheless notes that the biggest challenge to the industry is the high transaction costs.

“When you send money from one account to another, when you buy airtime, when you make a bill payment, and when you pay a merchant, the transaction costs are relatively high. We believe that this transaction cost can be reduced,” Kamal noted.

40 Days 40 FinTechs.

Little is participant number 40 in the 2022 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative organized by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop, Crosslake Tech and supported by the Gates Foundation.

Little features as part of 40 Days 40 Fintechs initiative’s financial inclusion strategy that now covers the entire East Africa. More impactful Fintechs from all over the region are set to be showcased this year.

Innocent Kawooya, the HiPipo CEO explained that players like Little are key to shaping the future of Africa.

“The only little thing about Little is the English word little. Away from that, Little is doing amazing things for drivers and riders. It has now expanded its reach to cover a wider market. I have confidence in the Little Leadership and Team so I am sure that they have carefully scaled from ride-hailing to a super App. Their programs for women and youth are amazing,” Kawooya said.

Now in its third edition, the HiPipo #40Days40FinTechs has quickly grown into one of the world’s premier showcase events for the innovations that are enabling ever more people to join the digital economy space.

Kamal appreciates the great Financial Inclusion advocacy role that HiPipo is playing through platforms like 40 Days 40 FinTechs. He advises that such platforms are key to ending the ‘silo-mindset’ among innovators and ensuring that more FinTechs succeed.

“40 Days 40 Fintechs will help the FinTechs to shine. There are a lot of talented brains out there and a lot of FinTech companies outside there that are not well represented. I think this platform is where they can come and demonstrate their innovations. I applaud you guys for the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative.” Nicknamed Kenya’s Bill Gates by the Forbes magazine, Kamal Budhabhatti is also the founder of Craft Silicon – a Kenya-based Software company that currently serves over 300 institutions and clients globally.

Our Reporter.  

The outbreak of Covid-19 has forced many businesses to migrate from the manual way of doing things to digital solutions.

Businesses that used to manage their expenses manually using cash or cheques are now using mobile money which ultimately saves time and creates easy tracking mechanisms.

According to Lyn Tukei, the Xente head of marketing and communications, Covid-19 has accelerated the global shift to automated, paperless, and cashless finance processes.

Xente is a Financial Technology company (FinTech) that helps businesses simplify finance by offering automated solutions with a goal to help African businesses get connected to the global economy.

“One of our key features is issuance of visa cards to businesses. They can be either virtual or physical cards. We are actually the first FinTech to issue visa cards in Uganda, through our partnership with Visa,” she says.

Xente also facilitates mobile money disbursements by companies. Tukei says this 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.

“If you have remote teams, instead of going to a mobile money agent, you simply log onto the Xente platform and send money in seconds. It can be mobile money, it can be airtime, it can be any bill,” she says, adding;

“We also help people make bank transfers using Xente. You can pay salaries. You are also able to collect payments from wherever. With this platform, you are able to get statements whenever you do a transaction.”

Tukei, who is enthusiastic about women inclusion in the Tech sector, is happy that the FinTech industry in Uganda is maturing steadily, as seen with more companies opening shop and regulations coming in place.

40 Days 40 FinTechs.

Xente are the 36^th participants in this year’s 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative that offers Fintechs 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.

Tukei appreciates the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative for profiling different players in the market who are providing unique solutions to various problems in society.

“The initiative has also helped in letting the world know how financial technology can turn around the country and the continent at large,” she says.

HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya says this year’s edition is cementing the achievements of the previous editions – where over 60 FinTechs have been transformed – but also building on them to leverage digital financial inclusion in East Africa and beyond.

“Xente is playing a critical role in our migration to a cashless economy. We are also happy to see that big companies like Visa are partnering with local FinTechs to simplify digital payments. This will further make our dream of Including Everyone a reality,” he said.

The #40Days40FinTechs platform is run under HiPipo’s Include Everyone program that also encompasses other initiatives such as FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit & Incubator and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit and Digital Impact Awards Africa. The platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products & Services and also share their ideas on how more of us, especially those unserved and underserved by the present financial systems, can be brought into the fold.