HiPipo Money

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.

Over 20 women-led and women-dominated teams took part in the 2021 HiPipo Women in FinTech Hackathon. Among these teams was one named Belle Beauty. At the end of the Hackathon, this team came out with a minimum viable product (MVP) of a platform that would connect beauticians with customers.

But that was just an MVP! Alice Sharon Namugerwa, the founder of Belle Beauty, knew that she had to put a team together to transform this MVP into a functional product that would contribute to Uganda’s economy through connecting beauticians to an already market. Indeed, from 2021 to December 2023, Belle Beauty was redeveloped, made market-ready, and officially launched in January 2024.

Originally conceptualized as a digital platform that connects customers to beauticians like makeup artists, hairdressers, and many others, Belle Beauty has since grown to offer beauty services, sell beauty products, and also do event ticketing.

“In simple words, Belle Beauty is a digital platform that connects its users to beauty and lifestyle solutions. Belle Beauty was conceived as a viable idea four years ago in the HiPipo Women in FinTech Hackathon, the class of 2021. We did the feasibility about two years ago and have since gone on to launch. At first, we were only doing services, then added products and now we have added event ticketing services. Belle Beauty is accessible as an APP downloadable on Google Play and Apple store and also accessible through the website,” Ashley Ainomugisha, the Belle Beauty Publicity Relations Officer said.

She added: “When one downloads the Belle Beauty APP and registers, they can start to place their orders; be it products or services or tickets. At the end of the order, a customer checks out and then the order is received by the service provider. At the checkout point, the customer can then complete the transaction by making a digital payment either through mobile money or a bank transaction. Our services and products are pre-ordered and pre-paid. As Belle Beauty, we ensure that after the payment is made, the service provider completes the service, after which we remit the payment.”

She noted that, so far, Belle Beauty is serving more than 2,000 unique customers and has over 100 listed service providers, product manufacturers, distributors and sellers.

Belle Beauty has featured on Day 11 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.

“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.

Paying and collection of rent is a huge hustle. While most tenants are willing to pay rent, they are unable to pay it timely due to multiple financial pressures and hard economic times. Delayed rent payments in turn affect landlords as they are unable to appropriately earn from their investments.

To cure this, innovators are using technology to manage rent payment and collection, making it predictable and transparent for both tenants and landlords.

One solution that was developed to mitigate these challenges is RentBeta; a platform created specifically to reduce the stress and burden that comes with paying and collecting rent.

“Our overall goal is to ensure that whether you are a tenant or a landlord, you never miss a rent payment. We created a mobile platform that allows tenants to pay their rent in micro instalments. We created this platform after realizing that the majority of people who struggle with paying rent consistently are those who don’t have a standard monthly income. We thus created something that would serve these people so that they can pay daily, weekly or bi-weekly,” Brian Tweheyo, the RentBeta Founder and CEO said.

He added: “If you are a tenant whose landlord has already signed up with RentBeta, then you don’t need to create a schedule because your landlord would have already created it. Those whose landlords are not on RentBeta create their schedule. After this, we break it down for you and for instance, if your monthly rent is UGX 600,000, then the schedule will indicate that you will pay UGX 20,000 per day until the full payment is done.”

Mr Tweheyo noted that this model guarantees that rent money is safe as it is a form of target saving that can only be used for paying rent, and not anything else.

“On the side of the landlords, we guarantee predictability of rent payments. We agree with a landlord, pay them upfront, and then collect the money from the tenants through a convenient payment schedule.”

He highlighted that currently, most of their payments are digital, through mobile money but with plans to add bank cards and direct transfers.

RentBeta has featured on Day 10 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.

“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.