Stakeholders at the 2023 FinTech Landscape Exhibition vow to prioritize inclusion of the under-served population.
Written by Ntulume Nicholas on July 11, 2023
The 2023 FinTech Landscape Exhibition concluded successfully on Thursday, July 6th, drawing the participation of more than 300 attendees, including government policymakers, tech giants, financial service providers, and over 40 FinTech companies.
The exhibition served as the pinnacle event of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative, which featured 43 companies from Uganda and Kenya between May 7th and June 23rd. The showcased solutions focused on various areas of financial inclusion, such as payments, e-commerce, savings & credit, e-insurance, digital healthcare, and e-education.
The event featured four-panel discussions that delved into key financial inclusion topics, including delivering affordable financial products to underserved groups using FinTech, introducing unbanked women and youth to the formal financial inclusion ecosystem, encouraging transactional account usage through intuitive mobile apps and USSD-based innovations, and modernizing lending models to improve affordable and timely credit.
In addition, there was an open public discussion on leveraging FinTech to provide banking services to the unbanked population and exploring banking opportunities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The 2023 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative and the FinTech Landscape Exhibition were organized by HiPipo in collaboration with the Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Ideation Corner, Cyberplc Academy, and Crosslake Technologies, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Innocent Kawooya, the CEO of HiPipo, expressed satisfaction with the impact of the annual event on Uganda and Africa’s financial inclusion revolution. He highlighted the progress made, citing the recent announcement by the Bank of Uganda about the bidding process for the provision of a Bank of Uganda National Payments Switch (BNPS), an issue that has been consistently raised during the past editions of the FinTech Landscape Exhibition.
Joyce Nabbosa Ssebugwawo, the State Minister for ICT, who served as the chief guest at the exhibition, recognized HiPipo’s contribution to Uganda’s digital and financial inclusion journey. She emphasized the importance of accessible and affordable Internet for digital payments and outlined efforts by the Ministry of ICT to collaborate with government agencies, donors, private investors, and innovators to improve Internet accessibility nationwide.
James Beronda, the Head of Technical Services at Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), highlighted ongoing collaborations with telecoms and partners like the World Bank to address network and connectivity challenges that hinder the widespread adoption and usage of digital solutions, particularly in rural areas.
Hon. David Karubanga, HiPipo patron and member of parliament for Kigorobya county, commended this year’s participants for their contributions to enhancing financial inclusion. He reiterated HiPipo’s commitment to driving Uganda and Africa’s complete digitization.
The exhibition provided a valuable platform for networking, knowledge sharing, and showcasing innovative solutions that are advancing financial inclusion and shaping the future of the digital economy in Uganda and beyond.
