HiPipo Money

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.

It is by default that every human being requires healthcare services at some point in their lives. However, many people cannot access quality healthcare services due to affordability, accessibility, and availability issues. As such, quality healthcare continues to be a preserve of the few, yet it is a need for everyone.

Nonetheless, multifaceted efforts are being undertaken to change this and make healthcare services affordable, accessible, reliable, and equitable for everyone, especially the people at the bottom of the pyramid. And, this is where My Doctor comes in.

My Doctor is a digital healthcare services platform that is transforming the traditional healthcare system like never before. Attached to a physical health centre in Nansana Municipality, Wakiso District, My Doctor is using telemedicine to provide equitable healthcare services by ensuring that people, especially those with emergencies easily reach out to professional medical services providers either through a phone call or social media, text, audio, and video.

Dr. David Mwesigwa, the Medical in-charge of My Doctor Digital Health Care Services, noted that, although a new concept, Telemedicine is changing the way healthcare services are provided and perceived as it is timely and convenient.

“The traditional health system is not failing. It continues to work.  However, we are in a technology era and as healthcare service providers, we can’t be left behind. We must move with technology and move where the world is going. We need to continuously innovate around how best we can serve our customers. We need to close the gaps that haven’t been closed by the traditional healthcare system. We are implementing telemedicine to serve customers who may not be able to visit us physically,” Dr Mwesigwa said, adding:

“From the community we are operating in, telemedicine has been warmly welcomed. We are having more clients embracing telemedicine, even those who preferred the traditional healthcare system are now switching to telemedicine because it is convenient, time-saving, and cheaper compared to physical healthcare visits, more so for mild ailments that can be diagnosed remotely. For example, some tests like HIV can be done from the comfort of someone’s home. So, when they call, we send laboratory personnel with the necessary equipment, the test is done and results are given immediately. For those, we can’t complete from a home set-up, we collect samples, take them to the laboratory, and share the results later on. For okay results, we can send them digitally but for concerning, worrying, and disturbing results, we reach out to the client and do physical counseling before we share these results.”

Dr. Mwesigwa highlighted that My Doctor has since embedded digital payments into their telemedicine proposition thus allowing the customers a chance to receive healthcare services and conveniently pay either through mobile money, bank transactions, or cash; whichever they prefer.

He revealed that in 2023 alone, over 4,600 customers reached out to My Doctor through the telemedicine approach while in the first half of 2024, at least 4,200 people have reached out via the same telemedicine service.

“In just six months of 2024, we are almost surpassing the number of customers we served in 2023. Majority of those that call seeking these services are women. This shows the high interest and belief that clients have in telemedicine.”

My Doctor Healthcare Services has featured on Day 9 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 going to have 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.

All sectors have their unique challenges. For schools, collecting school fees is a huge problem as many parents can’t pay the school fees promptly. For those in Agriculture, mainly smallholder farmers, access to quality input is a huge pain point while for small-scale traders, access to merchant stock is almost impossible without cash.

Nonetheless, the increasing roll-out and fast adoption of financial technology solutions is addressing most of these issues with many unserved and underserved people now able to access these much-needed services and products on credit.

One of the financial technology start-ups that have come to address issues faced by farmers, parents, and small-scale traders is PesaJet.

“We are a financial technology solution targeting the underserved communities. These are communities that are unable to access loans from mainstream banking solutions. We focus on three main themes. Education where we are giving school fees to school-going children. Merchant stock for small and medium-scale businesses looking for stock. We also serve smallholder farmers who we give small Agriculture loans,” Angella Kansemiire, the PesaJet Product Manager said.

She added: “For Education, we onboard schools and [help willing parents to] pay the school fees directly to the schools. The parents then pay us back in installments. So far, we have onboarded over 50 schools and serving about 500 happy parents and pupils. Our proposition for Agriculture involves providing farmers with goods and services on credit. When we are offering the funds, we offer them through the suppliers we work with and the suppliers deliver these to the farmers. The farmers then pay back [in installments]. We have so far onboarded around 2,000 farmers and some 500 have accessed the service. Lastly, for small-scale traders, we help them get stock for their businesses. We already have five wholesalers who we have business agreements with; so, when a trader makes an order, we pay the wholesaler and the goods are delivered. The trader then pays us.”

Kansemiire noted that PesaJet services are accessible through a mobile APP downloadable on Android devices for now. She highlighted that after registration, a customer submits basic KYC (Know Your Customer) and two references after which one is able s/he is eligible to apply for between UGX 50,000 and Shs 200,000, which goes on growing depending on someone’s repayment behavior and credit history that is built automatically depending on one’s usage of the APP.

PesaJet has featured on Day 8 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 going to have 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.