HiPipo Money

Advancement in Technology has come with several innovations. Today, you can almost do everything with the help of technology. Among the new things that people are doing digitally is investment. Instead of investing in tangible things (buying land, home assets, or domestic animals), technology enables one to invest in intangible yet profitable ventures. Even though this comes with its unique challenges, when done right and with the right people, it yields results.

In Uganda, among the players that are offering digital investment opportunities is Cyanase, a platform founded by students of Makerere University.

According to Mark Obini, the Cyanase Chief Marketing Officer, the platform’s ultimate goal is to use financial technology to make investment accessible to everyone including the underdeveloped markets.

“At Cyanase, we have three major products. We have the web platform, API, and fund managers’ portal. Each of these platforms serves a different customer. The web platform is for daily users. It enables them to understand how the different investments work before they start investing in them. The API is a technology that a FinTech or Bank can integrate into its platform and use it to serve its customers. The fund managers’ portal is for the managers who manage the investment. We offer our customers different investment products such as unit trust, treasury bills and bonds, and real estate, among others,” Mark Obini said.

He added: “We are regulated by the Uganda sandbox that is operated by the Bank of Uganda. This regulation makes us authentic as it allows us to operate. So far, we have close to 3,000 subscribers and about 1,000 active investors.”

Obini noted that their biggest challenges so far are funding, market awareness and reach. He nonetheless noted that thanks to their participation in the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative last year, they have been able to onboard a fund manager and are also in progressive discussions with potential investors.

“Before we featured on 40 Days 40 FinTechs, the market didn’t know us that much. But after this, our awareness and interest from potential customers grew. We now seek more collaborations with like-minded people to further scale this platform and serve more people.”

Cyanase has featured on Day 17 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

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 #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs) and Microfinance Institutions are at the heart of last-mile financial institutions as these serve the unserved and underserved. However, many of these continue to depend on paper and cash-based systems that are prone to misuse, time-wasting, and thus inconvenience all the parties involved.

But technology is addressing most of these issues with innovators developing solutions that enable such institutions to transition from traditional to digital systems. Among the platforms that are leading the digitization of SACCOs and microfinance institutions is Zimba Technologies.

Zimba Technologies is a platform that builds core banking solutions and systems for financial institutions with a primary focus on SACCOs and microfinance institutions. 

“I can’t explain the origins of Zimba without telling my personal story. I come from Eastern Uganda, just outside Mbale. When I was young, my family had so many struggles. I lost both my parents by the age of seven and my uncle was responsible for providing for my siblings and myself. He was unable to access capital to expand our family farm. Fortunately, things worked out and we were adopted by American missionaries, and that is how I ended up in the USA,” explained Isaac Were, Zimba Technologies Founder and CEO, adding;

“But I never forgot those experiences as a child. So, when I came back to visit for the first time, after twelve years, I hoped to start a business but the same problem – limited access to capital – was still persistent. So, when I decided that I wanted to come back to settle in Uganda, I said I would start a business to address the problem of capital and access to finance. I knew that Saccos and microfinances play an important role for the people at the bottom of the pyramid as they enable them access to capital. But I believe that they can do better with the help of technology. That is how Zimba technologies came about.”

Mr. Were highlighted that before launching Zimba Technologies, they did comprehensive research and found the gaps in the market and thus started to design solutions to address those specific problems.

“We have developed an end-to-end solution that allows institutions to handle all their operations from managing clients and their data, loans, deposits and to keeping track of all their books. We have also developed a mobile APP specifically for the end-users. The APP allows them to have access to their financial information, view their statements, and apply for loans. We also have a blockchain-based wallet that handles all the cashless transactions. It allows both mobile money and bank transactions,” he said.

“We started building the product in 2021 and officially launched in November 2023. We currently have seventeen institutions that are using the platform. These serve over 80,000 end-users.”

Zimba Technologies has featured on Day 16 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

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 #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Construction is a time-consuming and expensive venture. A lot happens from purchasing a plot of land to having house plans drawn, approved and construction done. It becomes more stressful when you have to look for all these services, one by one.

However, this hustle and bustle is a thing of the past thanks to innovators thinking out of the box and developing platforms to mitigate this stress.  One such innovation is Kuzimba Services; an online supermarket for all construction products and services.

“We are an end-to-end management digital platform that simplifies your home building process. We provide all construction services as well as different products for building and construction. We started Kuzimba in August 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic as a digital platform to create opportunities for engineering graduates mainly my students as I was a lecturer at the Engineering department of Kyambogo University at that time,” Ephrance Eunice Namugenyi, the founder and managing director of Kuzimba Services said.

Kuzimba later participated in the 2021 HiPipo Women in FinTech Hackathon which it won. Since then, it has transformed into a one-stop center for all construction needs.

“We attended the 2020 Hackathon and didn’t win. We never gave up and came back for the second Hackathon in 2021. This time, we were able to be victorious. This victory gave us an open platform to launch and operate. The Hackathon not only improved our platform but also continues to give us free marketing,” Namugenyi noted.

She highlighted that Kuzimba has since integrated FinTech enabling customers to be able to place orders and make payments digitally on the Kuzimba platform.

“Kuzimba is a digital payment platform. When a customer logs on to our platform, they then register as clients after which they start choosing the items and services they want. Whatever product or service you pick is added to your cart and totaled up. The payments have been simplified and are now available on the platform thanks to an API we have integrated that supports mobile money and bank card payments. Customers can make a partial or full payment after which their orders are prepared and delivered,” Namugenyi explained, adding;

“We started as a partnership but at the start of this year, we registered a fully-fledged limited company. This is a great milestone for us as it shows that we are progressing and moving in the right direction. We have so far served over 5000 customers.”

Kuzimba Services has featured on Day 15 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

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 #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Access to quality healthcare continues to be lukewarm in Uganda due to high poverty rates, limited savings, and very low insurance uptake. As a result of this, most Ugandans are always just one medical emergency and hospital admission away from financial ruin and untold disaster.

But this is changeable and one way of doing it is through creating affordable healthcare insurance products. This is the gap that Peleyta seeks to address.

Peleyta Health is a flexible, affordable, and convenient platform helping low-income earners prepare for and afford quality healthcare anywhere at all times through digital healthcare micro-savings and lending.

To get started, you download the Peleyta App or visit their website and register. Only registered members are guaranteed access to Peleyta services within the shortest time possible since their KYC and due diligence in general was earlier done during registration stage.

Registered members instantly have a savings account with Peleyta Health created; an account they keep servicing either daily, weekly, or monthly starting with as low as Shs 500. These savings attract interest at the end of the month. Savers will access their savings to clear their medical fares anytime.

“Healthcare bills should not hurt more than the sickness itself. Insurance penetration in Africa is very low under 2 per cent and in Uganda below 1 per cent. We are helping the uninsured low-income earners to prepare for and afford quality healthcare services anywhere, anytime through our digital healthcare micro-savings and lending platform. We help the uninsured save as little as UGX 500 every day dedicated to healthcare. These funds are used to offset their medical bills anywhere at our registered health facilities. In situations where the medical bills are higher than the wallet savings, we provide a microloan top-up and they are able to settle their medical bills and pay back in installments,” Douglas Smith, the Peleyta Co-Founder and COO, said.

He added: “Ever since we launched, we have had an amazing journey. So far, we have over 3,600 subscribers, and over 380 healthcare facilities we are partnering with. We are currently active in central and western Uganda. Shortly, we intend to scale to eastern Uganda.”

Peleyta has featured on Day 14 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

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 #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Accessing affordable and available credit is a big obstacle to the growth of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Many of them end up relying on loan sharks that charge exorbitant interest.

Nonetheless, innovators continue to address these obstacles with the help of Financial Technology. One way they are doing this is through making digital loans available, anytime anywhere. One such entity that is offering digital credit to last-mile customers is Kray Microfinance. Kray Microfinance is a digital financial services provider that started as a money-lending company and has since transitioned into digital microfinance for the unserved and underserved.

“We are a digital microfinance. We have a mobile APP and also accessible via USSD. Accessing our credit is straightforward. You sign up and send a request for a loan. Our officers then reach out and an assessment is done after which, our officers do a direct engagement with the customer. After this engagement, a credit score is done and a loan limit is set, after which a loan is disbursed and a customer can access the money via our digital platform. Our payments are customized to the nature of business. We have salary advance loans and repayment is monthly. We have traders that earn daily and many of these prefer a daily repayment basis. We also have those who prefer weekly payments,” says Raymond Peter Kiwanuka, founder and managing director of Kray Microfinance.

He adds: “For the twelve years we have been in business, we have given out money to over 70,000 people and currently have over 18,000 active customers on the platform. Over the years, we have disbursed over UGX 21 billion.”

According to Kiwanuka, Kray Microfinance is licensed and regulated by the Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority and also has a license from the Ministry of Trade where they are licensed as a Savings and Credit Cooperative.

“Minus our internal technical team, we also work with third-party operators like Yo Uganda who are our aggregators. We are also working with Interswitch to roll out ATM cards to further serve our customers better. We also actively work with the MNOs – MTN MoMo and Airtel Money,” he concluded.

Kray Microfinance has featured on Day 13 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

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

“We are happy to kick off Season Five of 40 Days 40 FinTechs. Last year, we focused on end-user experiences, and this year, we will focus on the innovativeness of the FinTechs. We are having candid discussions with FinTechs about their innovations and latest upgrades and what impact they envision these products and services and upgrades will have on their customers,” Innocent Kawooya, the HiPipo Chief Executive Officer noted.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Nutritionists have repeatedly advised that if we all minded what we eat, we would not need to visit healthcare facilities as regularly as we do. Unfortunately, most people eat to get satisfied and feel good without caring about the nutritional contents of the food they consume. In many cases, these unhealthy diets have led to life challenges such as a high prevalence of non-communicable diseases among people of all ages.

This is what the founders of Lyfex Africa seek to address.

Lyfex Africa is a digital platform dedicated to empowering individuals and families across Africa to achieve optimal nutrition health and wellness through comprehensive nutrition therapy and NutriFinTrancy services.

According to Nadia Malker Nanteza, the Team Lead at Lyfex Africa, through their latest proposition called LA-NutriFin, they are offering a comprehensive nutrition solution powered by FinTech to improve user convenience.

“When you visit our website, you will see different nutrition solutions we offer. You choose and order the package you need and then proceed to pay via mobile money or a bank card. Our team will confirm the booking and the [experts will contact you for a session]; which can be a physical session or a tele-nutrition session,” Nadia said.

Nadia says that because of the daily hustles people go through, they are reluctant to mind the quality and quantity of foods they consume. Eventually, people start minding their nutrition after being diagnosed with a certain disease that requires them to avoid some food.

Therefore, LA-NutriFin provides convenience because all the resources can be obtained digitally. She notes that they work with a wide range of professionals to offer consultation and sensitization about proper nutritional behavior and solutions for people of all ages.

Lyfex Africa has featured on Day 12 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

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

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.