HiPipo Money

For the past one week, the over 100 Innovators taking part in the 2023 Women in FinTech Hackathon have been focusing their energies and resources on developing time and lifesaving financial inclusion solutions.

With just one day to the end of this year’s Women in FinTech Hackathon, the participants are putting their best feet forward and tying up all loose ends as they ready themselves for their final submissions on Thursday 17^th August.

On Day Six, the teams dug deep into the workings of application programming interfaces (APIs).

According to IBM, an application programming interface or API is a set of defined rules that enable different applications to communicate with each other.

An API ‘acts as an intermediary layer that processes data transfers between systems, letting companies open their application data and functionality to external third-party developers, business partners, and internal departments within their companies.’

Paul Baker, the Principle Product Manager at INFITX took the teams through the workings of the Mojaloop APIs, showing them the different ways, they can integrate the Mojaloop family of APIs in their solutions.

“If your desire for Mojaloop knowledge is more technical, then try running a cut-down version of Mojaloop Locally where the API can be called and the logs of the micro-services interrogated. The Mojaloop Community supports various ways of running Mojaloop locally.”

In preparation for making their final submissions, the teams also had an in-depth pitching and presentation coaching session led by Flavia Eleanor Kasenge, the chief operating officer at EzeeMoney.

In her presentation, Kasenge defined pitching as how you describe the best version of yourself or your business; what you do, how long you have been doing it, and why you are the best at that particular business.

She noted that there are different kinds of pitching such as Elevator Pitch, Investors Pitch and Sales Pitch.

“When at a pitch, introduce yourself using catchy words, replace fear with confidence, be smart, and bring your A game. Stand out from the get-go because first impression is key. Do enough research and master your data –Have enough depth and clearly show an understanding of your business,” Kasenge said, adding;

“Importantly, end memorably; preferably with a life story of how you came up with the product. That conclusion can be as serious as that or as simplistic as a joke.”

Running for the 4th consecutive year, the Women in FinTech Hackathon is part of the broader Women in FinTech initiative that also includes a Summit and Incubator program; all implemented by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Cyberplc Academy, Crosslake Technologies, INFITX, Ideation Corner and Mojaloop Foundation and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The 2023 Women in FinTech Hackathon will culminate into the Women in FinTech summit on 18th August 2023 where the best-performing teams and individuals will be announced and receive their share of the USD 10,000 collective prize money. This will be in addition to the winners automatically qualifying for the Women in FinTech Incubator program that will run from September until December 2023.

Driven by passion and an unsatisfied appetite for success, the over 100 Innovators participating in the 2023 Women in FinTech Hackathon have their priorities well set out.

It is this desire to succeed that is keeping most of the participants awake throughout the night; some turning the Hackathon venue into their temporary home, taking short naps on wooden desks and the floor before waking up to resume their financial technology solutions’ design and development.

With the 2023 Women in FinTech Hackathon entering the final and most decisive days, the Teams were introduced to minimum viable products (MVP) on Day 5.

A product Plan defines a minimum viable product, or MVP, as a product with enough features to attract early-adaption customers and validate a product idea early in the product development cycle.

According to Dorothy Kabarozi, a Full Stack Software Engineer and Facilitator of the Women in FinTech Hackathon, the creation of minimum viable products (MVPs) raises the developers’ confidence and opens multi opportunities for partnerships and possible funding ‘because creating an MVP, even if it’s a simplified version, can instil a sense of achievement and sureness.’

“In a Hackathon like this, MVPs encourage participants to think creatively and find innovative ways to address challenges. This empowerment comes from the realization that they have the capability to design solutions that can make a difference in financial inclusion, benefiting themselves and others, “Dorothy Kabarozi said.

She added: “MVPs inspire developers like the young women and men we have here to pursue further opportunities in the tech field and beyond, knowing they have the ability to contribute meaningfully. Lastly, MVPs allow participants to demonstrate the tangible impact of their ideas. This can lead to partnerships, funding opportunities, or further development to scale the solution, which in turn can have a lasting impact on financial inclusion and empowerment.”

Mentorship Sessions.  

Osbert Osamai, the Head ICT Advisory, Research & Strategy at Centenary Technology Services, was the morning mentor and presented on key skills for effective Digital Transformation, urging the teams to interest themselves in learning more support skills as these would complement their competencies in products and solutions development.

“Away from developing great solutions, you need project & product management, communication, decision-making and digital marketing skills. You need emotional intelligence to know what to say when, how and why. You must continue to learn as this will aid your growth. Importantly, continue to seek collaborations and possible partnerships.”

Lyn Tukei, the Communications and Public Relations Manager at Capital Markets Authority, Uganda, took on the PR and Marketing Strategy training. In her afternoon presentation, she noted that successful brands are built by consumers, not companies.

“Ultimately, it’s the way consumers perceive a brand that defines it. It doesn’t matter what you think your brand promises. The only thing that matters is how consumers perceive your brand,” Tukei said, adding:

“You need to work to develop consumer perceptions that accurately reflect your brand or your brand is doomed to limited growth potential.”

Running for the 4th consecutive year, the Women in FinTech Hackathon is part of the broader Women in FinTech initiative that also includes a Summit and Incubator program; all implemented by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Crosslake Technologies and Ideation Corner and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The 2023 Women in FinTech Hackathon will culminate into the Women in FinTech summit on 18th August 2023 where the best-performing teams and individuals will be announced and receive their share of the USD 10,000 collective prize money. This will be in addition to the winners automatically qualifying for the Women in FinTech Incubator program that will run from September until December 2023.

Participants in the 2023 Women in FinTech Hackathon have continued to show significant progress and commitment to using Financial Technology to transform their communities.

Day 4 kicked off with a detailed session on Open Source Software and Mojaloop Security, presented by Paul Baker, the Principle Product Manager of INFITX and member of the Mojaloop Community.

The Mojaloop Open Source session was then followed by the teams presenting their solutions and prototype designs. With examples, they illustrated their solutions’ customer journey and explained how they envisioned them to function.

“From the presented solution and prototype designs, it is evident that a lot of progress has been made by all the teams. Each team is now focusing on delivering a functional minimum viable product (MVP) by Thursday, 17^th August,” Charlotte Neeza, the HiPipo FinTech Events Manager noted.

“Compared to last week, the Hackathon is now tense in a very good way as the innovators continue to build their products. Teams are time conscious as they are aware that it is mission critical for them to have their MVPs ready and submitted for a final assessment on Thursday.”

Away from the solutions and prototype design presentations, the participants interacted with two mentors who shared extensive knowledge on Financial Discipline, Investment and Product Management.

Prossy Namubiru, the Youth Supervisor, Retail & Microfinance Division at Centenary Bank, noted that Financial Discipline refers to how well you are able to conform your spending and saving to the plans that you have set to achieve your monetary goals.

“Discipline is a necessary skill for proper financial management. Without it, you will never acquire or accumulate anything. Without it you will never accomplish anything,” Namubiru said, adding;

“Financially, discipline is about controlling your spending and making sure you pay for the things that need to be paid for. If you cannot control your spending, then no matter how much money you make it will never be enough.”

Namubiru noted that Centenary Bank has multiple offerings for young people including youth-friendly accounts, free financial literacy sessions for organized youth groups and low-interest youth loans.

Meanwhile, Mercy Angela Nantongo, a product manager and an emerging media technologist, took the teams on a product management voyage. She explained that product management is a deliberate and continuous process that ensures that both the product owners and customers get the best value possible. She likened a product manager to the customer’s voice within an organization.

“A product manager is like the parent of a child. This is a role we can differentiate from other actors in the child’s life like the doctor that helped birth them, or the teachers that guide them over the course of their lives,” Nantongo said.

“Product managers collect all the problems about the product, segregate them and share them with the responsible people in the product eco-system for resolution. They also plan and execute solutions. While customer support deals with after-sales, product management works more with before-sales.”

She noted that some of the key traits of successful product managers are empathy, optimism, being analytical, strategic and result-oriented.

Running for the 4th consecutive year, the Women in FinTech Hackathon is part of the broader Women in Fintech initiative that also includes a Summit and Incubator program; all implemented by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Crosslake Technologies and Ideation Corner and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The 2023 Women in FinTech Hackathon will culminate into the Women in FinTech summit on 18th August 2023 where the best-performing teams and individuals will be announced and receive their share of the USD 10,000 collective prize money. This will be in addition to the winners automatically qualifying for the Women in FinTech Incubator program that will run from September until December 2023.

Day Two of the 2023 Women in FinTech Hackathon was a huge success highlighted by participants presenting their refined Problem Statements and Business Cases.

The day started with a deep dive into both the Mobile Money ecosystem and the Mojaloop Open Source Software presented by HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya and Paul Baker, the Principle Product Manager at INFITX respectively.

This was followed by teams presenting their improved Problem Statements and Business Cases.

According to Dorothy Kabarozi, a Full Stack Software Engineer and Facilitator of the Women in FinTech Hackathon, this year’s edition has a variety of fresh innovations compared to the previous edition.

“On day two, we got to know an in-depth description of the solutions that the participants are trying to build for their different communities. There are several interesting solutions this year that we did not have in the previous hackathons. There are several innovations in areas such as Taxation, Forex Trade, Village Loans and Savings, Rural Women and Refugees’ Empowerment,” Kabarozi said, adding;

“The participants are really getting down to serious work now with a special focus on the pain points affecting their target audience. They are more engaged and willing to improve the solutions, which is a positive for them and the project.”

Furthermore, Franklin Ssozi, a senior Software Architect took the participants through the product development journey highlighting the need for all innovators to pay close attention to the KYC (know your customer) principle as it usually determines the success of any solution.

The late afternoon session took a different direction with the participants being trained on Fundraising and prudent Financial Management; two topics that are at the heart of potential success and possible failure of any business. This training was delivered by Vivienne Iga Kikoni, a Digital Finance Professional.

In her mentorship session, Vivienne Iga Kikoni noted that good fundraising starts with good financial management. In very simple terms, she noted that financial management means planning, organizing, directing and controlling financial activities.

“To succeed in business, you need to be specific. Your goal must be well-detailed with clear targets for a month, 3 months, 6 months, one year and five years, etc. Put all this on paper and diligently follow it. Whatever you intend to bring to the marketplace needs to generate income because fixed and operational costs will be incurred, leaving you with a margin of which taxes are paid to leave you with what actually goes into your pocket,” Kikoni said. 

She further noted that there are several pillars of fundraising such as strengthening relationships and support, raising awareness about your cause, providing donors and sponsors recognition, and building your donor base; which, if well executed, will pave the way for fundraising and other engagements.

Running for the 4th consecutive year, this Hackathon is part of HiPipo’s broader Women in Fintech initiative that also includes a Summit and Incubator program.

The 2023 Women in FinTech Hackathon will culminate in the Women in FinTech summit on 18th August 2023 where the best-performing teams and individuals will be announced and receive their share of the USD 10,000 collective prize money. This will be in addition to the winners automatically qualifying for the Women in FinTech Incubator program that will run from September until December 2023.

The Women in FinTech Hackathon is implemented by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Crosslake Technologies and Ideation Corner and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The 2023 Women in FinTech Hackathon has kicked off in Kampala with a formidable group of thirty (30) teams, hailing from Uganda and Kenya. This esteemed selection of participants was carefully curated from a competitive pool of over 100 innovative submissions received over the past two months.

From 10^th to 17^th August, the 30 teams will ideate, and develop Financial Inclusion innovations spanning a wide range of sectors such as Payments, Savings & Loans, E-commerce, E-Health, Fundraising, AgriTech, E-Insurance and Remittances.

On day one, the over 100 innovators were able to work on their Problem Statements and Business Cases.

Charlotte Neeza, the HiPipo FinTech Events Manager, explained that the Women in FinTech Hackathon is a timely intervention aimed at closing the gender diversity gap in the Technology Industry.

“Gender diversity in the tech industry is low with Men holding over 74 per cent of the Technology jobs. They also account for at least 79 per cent of the executive roles in the Tech Industry. This can only be closed by equipping more women with the required skills and resources to compete favourably. The Women in FinTech Hackathon is exactly doing this. We don’t only train the participants but also connect them to mentors and potential Investors,” Neeza noted.

Cleopatra Kanyunyuzi, the Hackathon Lead Facilitator and CEO of Club Tangaza guided the teams through crucial steps to be followed when defining a problem statement and working on a business case. She noted that innovations are bound to fail if they are not solving a specific and clear societal problem.

“Clearly define the problem you want your Fintech solution to solve. This should be a specific pain point or challenge faced by your target users. Validate the problem through interviews, surveys, and data analysis to ensure that it is a real and significant issue that your potential customers are facing,” Kanyunyuzi explained.    

Olga Naiga, a Strategic Business Planning Expert was Day-One’s Mentor and focused her presentation on Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

“Design thinking is pivotal in a women-led FinTech; combining innovation and user-centricity. Design thinking fosters collaboration, ensuring that multifaceted perspectives contribute to cohesive, inclusive Fintech products. This approach also streamlines problem-solving, iteratively refining prototypes based on user feedback,” Naiga noted; adding: 

“In the dynamic realm of FinTech, where women remain underrepresented, design thinking empowers female developers to challenge conventions and develop solutions that resonate, effectively bridging the gender gap and delivering financial tools that cater for the diverse spectrum of women’s needs and aspirations.”

The participants were also introduced to Level One Project Principles, Mojaloop Open Source Software and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.

The Level One Project introductions were done by Innocent Kawooya, the HiPipo CEO and George Kasakya, the HiPipo Tech lead while the Mojaloop Introduction was delivered by Paul Baker, the Principle Product Manager INFITX and member of the Mojaloop Community Council.

In his presentation, Baker noted that Mojaloop is a level one aligned payments hub, that is designed to support financial inclusion.

Mojaloop was designed to provide a reference model for payment interoperability, that can be used to overcome barriers that have slowed the spread of digital financial services. Whole, adapted, or as a blueprint – the Mojaloop Foundation’s open source software can be used by organizations to build interoperable, digital payment systems that enable seamless, affordable financial services between individual users, banks, government entities, merchants, mobile network operators, providers, and technology companies – connecting the underserved with the emerging digital economy.

Running for the 4th consecutive year, this Hackathon is part of HiPipo’s broader Women in Fintech initiative that also includes a Summit and Incubator program.

The 2023 Women in FinTech Hackathon will culminate in the Women in FinTech summit on 18th August 2023 where the best-performing teams and individuals will be announced and receive their share of the USD 10,000 collective prize money. This will be in addition to the winners automatically qualifying for the Women in FinTech Incubator program that will run from September until December 2023.

The Women in FinTech Hackathon is implemented by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Crosslake Technologies and Ideation Corner and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.