HiPipo Money

Our reporter.

Nomanini is a South Africa-founded payments platform that connects financial service providers and fast-moving consumer goods companies to consumers. Founded in 2011, Nomanini, which means ‘anytime’ in the ‘Siswati’ language, started out as a point-of-sale gadget distributor to retailers where they could be able to sell airtime to customers. It has since expanded to offer a wide range of financial services in Zambia, Kenya, and beyond.

Our team talked to Paul Nyamweya, Nomanini’s Regional Partnerships Manager for East Africa. He explained the evolution of Nomanini, challenges, and opportunities.

QN: It is more than 10 years since you came into existence: how has the journey been?

ANS: It has been great, full of growth and progress but not without challenges. Having started with just a point-of-sale gadget, eventually, we were able to develop a wide-labeled application where retailers could download the app and be able to provide the same service that the gadget was able to do. Over time, we have been able to expand and partner with banks such as Moza Banco in 2015 and Standard Bank in 2019 to provide solutions relevant to informal retailers. In 2021, we partnered with another bank and have been able to extend our presence to Zambia, Lesotho, Ivory Coast, and Tanzania and now rolling out in Kenya.

QN: What are your flagship services?

ANS: We offer a wide range of value-added services. Once a retailer is registered with us, you can be able to buy air time, electricity, pay bills; and for retailers, if we have a history of their transactions, they can get float loans.

The other one we are rolling out is the supply chain finance solution…where we partner with financial services providers and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies to provide what we call stock advances to informal retailers.

Then there is another one called Umoja, where we basically integrate with an aggregator where we buy airtime in bulk from mobile service providers and be able to cascade them down to retailers.

QN: How are the numbers looking like?

ANS: So far, cumulatively we are at about 15,000 retailers registered on the platform with over 3.3 million dollars in loans given to customers. We have processed over 42 million transactions so far.

QN: How are you ensuring gender equality and usability in service provision?

ANS: When you talk about informal trade retailers, many of them are actually women that run them. When you talk about small businesses like salons, barber shops, they are mainly run by youths. So, we are supporting a lot of them. Women and youth are the most vulnerable…When we support these businesses, they are the ones we help grow their businesses.

Our technology is advanced in terms of usability. Most of our transactions are real-time and in terms of KYC (Know-Your-Customer), we do elaborate KYC of at least what is relevant to what we need in terms of collecting customer information. Most of this information is protected because we sign Non-Disclosure Agreements so that we use it for what it must be used for.

QN: What is your assessment of FinTech in Kenya?

ANS: Kenya is considered a hotbed for FinTech. It is actually a global hub because of the pioneering work that has been done in this country such as M-Pesa and mobile penetration because most of these solutions are through the mobile phone. There are a lot of innovations in this country that have propelled the FinTech industry. So, there are massive opportunities not just in Kenya but across the region. A lot of innovators are creating their own mobile solutions or partnering with FinTechs so that they can be able to access more points of representation.

QN: How do you rate the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative and what can be improved?

ANS: The 40 days 40 FinTechs initiative is great because it creates awareness on what the FinTech ecosystem has to offer…We have made great steps but there is still a lot of ground to cover. If you are talking about 10 million informal retailers in Sub-Saharan Africa, this initiative is creating that awareness that these opportunities are there that can help small retailers and small businesses to take advantage to grow their businesses and change their lives.

What else can we do? …Actively bringing together the different players as well as investors, financial service providers, and the FMCG companies to talk and see how we can grow together.

40-Days 40-FinTechs.

Nomanini is the 43^rd participant in this year’s 40 Days 40 FinTechs platform.

The initiative is 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.

Now in its third edition, #40Days40FinTechs has quickly grown into one of the world’s premier showcase events for the innovations that are enabling ever more people to join the digital economy space. That is surely going to remain the case, in large part due to the inspiration and collaboration that our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop, ModusBox, and Crosslake Technologies generate, but mostly because of the continuing, generous support of the Gates Foundation.

The initiative offers participants useful tools and an introduction to the industry’s emerging technologies, such as Mojaloop Open Source Software, and guidance from Level One Project foundational material. The skills gained from this initiative cover Level One Project Principles, Instant and Inclusive Payment Systems (IIPS), Inclusive Finance, and FinTech in general.

According to HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya, this year’s edition has cemented the achievements of the previous editions – where over 60 FinTechs have been transformed – but also building on them to leverage digital financial inclusion in East Africa and beyond.

“As HiPipo, our extensive effort and advocacy is partly for the intention of championing digital innovation and interoperable instant and inclusive payment systems (IIPS) in Africa to a point where our innovators enjoy and achieve sound profit margins to help them keep designing and deploying affordable and inclusive financial services for the poor,” Kawooya said.

Our Reporter.

East Africa has one of the fastest-growing populations, predominated by women and youth. The same region has a ballooning informal sector economy including Boda Boda riders, market vendors, and salon operators among others.

Unfortunately, the majority of these have little, somewhat no clue about financial discipline, especially the art of saving.

It is this problem that Ukonga was formed to provide an answer to. Founded eight months ago, Ukonga is a Kenyan FinTech product that provides a targeted micro-savings platform for youths and women. It is owned by SaveApp; a Kenyan financial technology company that creates solutions to solve real-life problems.

“Ukonga is a Zulu word that stands for savings. We seek to provide the answer to the underserved community of youth and women. We believe we have had a huge impact and we will continue to impact the lives of these people,” says Abdulaziz Mohammed Omar, the CEO of SaveApp. 

In less than one year, Abdulaziz is happy that Ukonga has been able to register more than 1800 users with a month-on-month growth averaging 30 percent.

“We are currently in Kenya but we want to dominate the East African region in a short time,” he says.

The solution is currently available on USSD and as an App to enable users save their spare change from their daily spending because every cent and shilling matters in enabling one’s financial goals. A user can redeem their savings to pay for anything in their saving goal right from holidays, to pension, insurance, shopping, etc.

“During registration, we ask our users to provide the KYC because it is essential not only for their own security but also for the security of financial assets. We work with partners that are regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya to provide some sense of security,” he says.

Abdulaziz is very happy that the FinTech industry is beginning to receive the recognition it duly deserves.

“The state of Kenyan FinTech business is quite interesting. The opportunities continue to come. The population continues to grow and many challenges which need solutions,” he noted, before appreciating the Kenyan government for providing a conducive regulatory environment for FinTechs.

Based in Kenya, Ukonga is participant number 42 in the third edition of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative organized by HiPipo.

“I want to thank the HiPipo team for the 40 days 40 FinTechs initiative that helps to advocate and showcase our products and services. Through this platform, we can share knowledge, opportunities and seek support from other players. We thank you because very few people dare to do what you do,” Abdulaziz said, before calling for an expanded version of this initiative in future to accommodate more players from across Africa.

40 Days 40 FinTechs

The #40Days40FinTechs initiative is run under HiPipo in partnership with the Level One Project, Mojaloop, ModusBox, and Crosslake Technologies with support from the Gates Foundation.

According to HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya, initiatives such as Ukonga offer hope for the underserved populations which have for long been ignored by financial service providers.

“Ukonga has cut a niche for providing the underserved population with targeted saving avenues. This is in line with our common objective of achieving financial inclusion for all,” Kawooya said.

He further thanked digital innovators and FinTechs around East Africa for embracing Season three of 40 Days 40 FinTechs which has covered physical destinations in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania.

 “As HiPipo, our extensive effort and advocacy is partly for the intention of championing digital innovation and interoperable instant and inclusive payment systems (IIPS) in Africa to a point where our innovators enjoy and achieve sound profit margins to help them keep designing and deploying affordable and inclusive financial services for the poor,” he said.

The #40Days40FinTechs platform is 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 platform also offers participants useful tools and an introduction to the industry’s emerging technologies, such as Mojaloop Open Source Software, and guidance from Level One Project foundational material. The skills gained from this initiative cover Level One Project Principles, Instant and Inclusive Payment Systems (IIPS), Inclusive Finance and FinTech in general.

Our Reporter.

It is now 22 years since one of East Africa’s oldest financial technology companies, Craft Silicon launched operations.   

What started as a back-end financial solutions company has since transitioned into a huge banking and financial inclusion enabler providing a wide range of solutions, from core banking, microfinance, anti-money laundering, and electronic payments among others.

According to Vivek Bhirud, the Craft Silicon Country Head, while their primary goal was to provide backend core banking and microfinance solutions, experience over the years made them realize that financial inclusion can only be achieved if you provide the entire value chain in business transactions.

As such, Craft Silicon has since grown into a platform capable of facilitating business-to-business transactions, consumer-to-business transactions, consumer-to-government transactions, and consumer-to-consumer transactions.

To make this happen, Bhirud says, Craft Silicon provides solutions right from core banking to mobile banking, internet banking, agency banking, and even ATM services to their clientele of more than one billion people across 35 countries.

“Using our solutions such as mobile banking used by several banks, we are processing about 1 billion transactions per day. This includes the mobile money transactions and bill payments,” he says.

In order to meet the company’s aspirations of enabling last mile financial inclusion, Craft Silicon predominantly prioritizes tackling the underserved segments dominated by SMEs and MSMEs, especially those run by women and youths, to level their playing field with bigger players.

State of FinTech in East Africa.

Meanwhile, Dhimant Shah, the Craft Silicon CEO notes that Financial Technology (FinTech) is fast growing in East Africa with Kenya leading the East African Community in adoption and progress in digital financial products ‘because most of its citizens are open to embracing new technology’.

He adds that the outbreak of Covid-19 further opened frontiers for innovation in Kenya’s digital financial services sector.

“Even though we have made progress, opportunities are still immense. We will continue to expand [beyond borders]. In Uganda for instance, we are partnering with different institutions to provide instant and affordable digital loans,” Shah says.

Craft Silicon is the 41^st participant in season three of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs Initiative that is shining a light on emerging and established FinTechs across the East African region.

Shah says the initiative couldn’t have come at a better time when start-up FinTechs need a lot of inspiring and mentoring.

He notes that with such interactions as 40 Days 40 FinTechs, mature FinTechs get the opportunity to share their stories, which in turn helps to inspire the start-ups and also creates room for cooperation.

“In this digital era, no one is too big and no one is too small. It is the idea that counts. I think this initiative brings visibility for the smaller players which helps in creating better solutions and collaborations,” Shah says, stressing the importance of governments, venture capitalists and incubation hubs such as HiPipo and others in fostering financial inclusion and digital growth.

40 Days 40 FinTechs.

Now in its 3^rd season, the 40 Days 40 FinTech initiative is organized by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop, and Crosslake Tech and supported by the Gates Foundation.

This year’s edition is cementing the achievements of the first two seasons by looking at more impactful FinTechs from all over the East African region. The countries covered so far are Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania.

Innocent Kawooya, the HiPipo CEO noted that FinTech giants like Craft Silicon offer a variety of learning options for young FinTech players.

“With a presence in over 35 countries, every emerging FinTech should be trying to learn how Craft Silicon has done it. We are happy that they have agreed to share their story,” Kawooya said.

Minus shining a light on impactful FinTechs, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative also offers participants useful tools and an introduction to the industry’s emerging technologies, such as Mojaloop Open Source Software, and guidance from Level One Project foundational material. The skills gained from this initiative cover Level One Project Principles, Instant and Inclusive Payment Systems (IIPS), Inclusive Finance and Financial Inclusion in general.

Our Reporters.

At the start of July 2016, news broke that two Tech giants had come together and devised an African Transport solution. The Tech Giants were Craft Silicon and Safaricom. The Transport solution was Little Cab; a ride-hailing APP that was launched in Kenya to directly compete with the likes of Uber, and Taxify – that has since rebranded to Bolt.

According to Kamal Budhabhatti, the Little Founder and CEO, they introduced this APP to cushion African drivers from/against the several challenges they faced with foreign ride-hailing companies.

“Couple of years back, when ride-hailing Apps from the West were dominating the market, the driver’s interests were not being addressed. Every driver had an issue with how these platforms were operating. We felt that there was a need to come and address the challenges that these drivers were facing. That is how Little was formed,” Kamal said, adding;

“Today, the drivers’ community is really supporting Little because we listen to them and design products that are a win-win for both the drivers and riders. We have rolled out products specifically designed for women entrepreneurs. For example, on Little, we have a special product for women drivers.”

Six years later, Little has grown into a reliable ride-hailing platform with over 100,000 registered drivers and serving close to one million clients in Kenya alone. It has also since expanded to other countries like Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia and is now headed to West Africa.

Motivated by this success, Little has now evolved into a super APP that addresses a variety of day-to-day needs. Its latest APP version offers competitive and quality services in logistics, payments, money transfers, transport, entertainment, and e-commerce.

“What we have realized over the years is that the mobile phone capacity of an African consumer is always a challenge. The customer can’t have one APP for rides, one for deliveries, one for payments and one for entertainment. So, we thought about bringing all these services together under one App, with great customer experience,” Kamal explained.

He added: “That is why we have now transformed Little from just a ride-hailing platform to your every day, everything App. With Little, you can now order for a ride, food, groceries, pharmaceutical products, transfer money and make payments among others.”

Kamal notes that Kenya and East Africa’s FinTech industry is very competitive and fast-growing as several innovators continue to think and develop solutions for the issues addressing their communities. He nonetheless notes that the biggest challenge to the industry is the high transaction costs.

“When you send money from one account to another, when you buy airtime, when you make a bill payment, and when you pay a merchant, the transaction costs are relatively high. We believe that this transaction cost can be reduced,” Kamal noted.

40 Days 40 FinTechs.

Little is participant number 40 in the 2022 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative organized by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop, Crosslake Tech and supported by the Gates Foundation.

Little features as part of 40 Days 40 Fintechs initiative’s financial inclusion strategy that now covers the entire East Africa. More impactful Fintechs from all over the region are set to be showcased this year.

Innocent Kawooya, the HiPipo CEO explained that players like Little are key to shaping the future of Africa.

“The only little thing about Little is the English word little. Away from that, Little is doing amazing things for drivers and riders. It has now expanded its reach to cover a wider market. I have confidence in the Little Leadership and Team so I am sure that they have carefully scaled from ride-hailing to a super App. Their programs for women and youth are amazing,” Kawooya said.

Now in its third edition, the HiPipo #40Days40FinTechs has quickly grown into one of the world’s premier showcase events for the innovations that are enabling ever more people to join the digital economy space.

Kamal appreciates the great Financial Inclusion advocacy role that HiPipo is playing through platforms like 40 Days 40 FinTechs. He advises that such platforms are key to ending the ‘silo-mindset’ among innovators and ensuring that more FinTechs succeed.

“40 Days 40 Fintechs will help the FinTechs to shine. There are a lot of talented brains out there and a lot of FinTech companies outside there that are not well represented. I think this platform is where they can come and demonstrate their innovations. I applaud you guys for the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative.” Nicknamed Kenya’s Bill Gates by the Forbes magazine, Kamal Budhabhatti is also the founder of Craft Silicon – a Kenya-based Software company that currently serves over 300 institutions and clients globally.