HiPipo Money

By Our writer

Despite contributing immensely to Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product and employing the largest number of Ugandans, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) face a multitude of challenges, including limited access to credit.

Commercial banks do not want to extend credit to these entities as they are considered risky, have no collateral and most of them have unregistered businesses.

Identifying this gap in the market, ChapChap Africa, a low cost mobile payment application (App), sought to bridge it by bringing MSMEs into a digital age and enable financial inclusion for them and their customers.

Emmanuel Emodek, the Team Lead at ChapChap Africa says that with the App, MSMEs are able to tap into extending financial services such as mobile money to do deposits, withdraw as well as bill payment services in just five minutes.

“If you want to access mobile money right now as a service, 90% of businesses would fail to access it because they do not have formal documents like a bank account that has been operational for six months. They would also fail to tick the box of being a registered business. They would also fail to raise a minimum of $400 to be able to access the lines,” he says.

Emodek explains that in partnership with telecommunications companies, ChapChap has been able to aggregate and lower these requirements close to zero so as to increase the uptake of these solutions.

“Today if you want to run a mobile money business or a bill payment solution in this country through the ChapChap platform, it will take you five minutes to be on-boarded.

“All they need is an application, $5 (UGX20,000) and a simple Know-Your-Customer (KYC). They do not have to have a bank account and they are able to start running business immediately,” Emodek says.

In a span of three years, Emodek says about 17,000 businesses have been on-boarded.

The ChapChap mobile payment platform was launched in 2017 in Uganda, initially allowing customers to pay for digital goods and services and do online shopping while earning cashback on their transactions.

Further, Agatha Kyozira, a member of the Customer Support Team at ChapChap Africa notes that by introducing the digital economy to MSMEs’ day-to-day activities, ChapChap Africa has created credible financial profiles for these businesses, which has indirectly opened for them multiple credit opportunities.

“These businesses today have been able to tap into these financial institutions to be able to access credit. We want inclusion for everyone; if we level the playing ground, we will eliminate so many things that hinder businesses from participating,” Kyozira said, adding;

“This is in line with our goal of ensuring that these enterprises are seen, have access to manufacturers, financial institutions, governments and a fair advantage to compete thereby improving the livelihood of women and youth by providing employment for sustainable development.”

40-Days 40-FinTechs

ChapChap Africa is among the firms participating in the on-going second edition of the 40-Days 40-FinTechs programme, organized by HiPipo in partnership with Crosslake Technologies, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation, and sponsored by the Gates Foundation.

Emodek commended HiPipo for the initiative, saying that it has created for them the much needed visibility.

“Developing a product is the easiest bit but marketing it is the hardest and most expensive. A lot of Tech organisations have less spend on marketing because they cannot afford the mainstream media.

“We mainly serve the low income people market; if you charge them high, they shy away from the product. So the charge has to be low. But if you went to a media organisation to place an advert, what they ask for would kick you out of business,” he says.

He adds: “But 40-Days 40-FinTechs is that moment in life where you are in darkness then someone shows up with a candle and says I am going to amplify you.”

The HiPipo Chief Executive Officer Innocent Kawooya alludes that FinTech is the launchpad on which the promise of full global financial inclusion will be fulfilled.

“The 40-Days 40 FinTechs LevelOneProject shall show we have the innovators to take on the challenges,” he says.

He, however, notes that FinTechs need to be prepared with appropriate products and have appropriate real time payment systems in place to support an inclusive, interoperable digital marketplace that is both thriving and safe.

By Our writer

Many businesses always find themselves entangled in non-core business functions and end up giving little time to core operations, which affects their operations.

Payments are one of those non-core operations that businesses, especially the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) tend to spend a lot of time on.

To help them manage their daily payments needs without interrupting their core business operations, however, Kanzu Code, a software development company, came up with an aggregation solution dubbed Kanzu Money to enable MSMEs conveniently, effectively and securely make bulk payments.

According to the Kanzu Code Software Engineer Patricia Atim, the solution allows businesses make bulk payments to their employees, suppliers and vendors, among others, in a single click.

The system uses a Comma Separated Values (CSV) file where all the details including particulars to the people to be paid and the respective amounts, are input and then uploaded onto the web-based Application (App) system to effect the payments, accordingly.

The solution is an interoperable as it uses the Mojaloop software. This means that payments can be effected from the system to any mobile money service provider or bank, effectively and at the same cost.

“This solution helps a small business owner that needs to make several payments yet the recipients are on different networks yet they have to pay via mobile money,” she explains.

She adds: “Imagine if you have 50 people to pay daily; making a single payment at a go to all those people is a lot of work. This means that you either have to carry the money with you to pay them or look for a money agent and ask them to pay one by one. The whole process is tiring and cumbersome.”

The solution not only eliminates the risk of carrying cash but also enables a business to make payments at once to all the people instead of having to pay each, one by one.

Kanzu Code also offers other solutions including custom digital solutions, online stores and Kanzu jobs, among others.

Having a bias towards women’s financial inclusion, Atim says that Kanzu Code plans to roll out a strategy to create initiatives that will be tailored specifically to encourage women to sign up.

She notes that four in 10 MSMEs are owned by women, yet most women are unhappy with the current FinTech solutions on market as they were not responsive to their needs.

Kanzu Code, which participated in the first ever Women in FinTech Hackathon last year, implements Real-Time payments and Same-Day settlements, which are among the financial inclusion principles.

They are among the firms participating in ongoing second edition of the 40-Days 40-FinTechs programme, organized by HiPipo in partnership with Crosslake Technologies, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation, and sponsored by the Gates Foundation.

Atim commends HiPipo for the programme, saying it has played a major role in publicity and raising awareness about the crucial role FinTechs play in the country.

While Uganda’s FinTech industry is steadily growing, Atim notes that there are a number of challenges including the prohibitive regulations and policies, high cost of lending and difficulty of attracting funding from investors.

The HiPipo Chief Executive Officer Innocent Kawooya, however, says that FinTech in Africa offers attractive opportunities and that investors are rightfully picking interest in the various startups offering a plethora of services, ranging from payments and lending, remittances and cross-border transfers, among others.

He explains that the 40-Days 40-FinTechs initiative seeks to boost the African FinTech ecosystem to enable innovators enjoy sustainable profitability to help them design and deploy affordable and inclusive financial services for the poor.

Kanzu Code can be accessed on www.kanzucode.com

By Our writer 

It is one thing to develop a financial solution and another thing for that solution to be accepted in the market.

It is for that reason that Alpteq, an ICT Solutions a company that specialises in software development, decided to take a customer-centric approach in product development, to ensure that the financial solutions brought to the market address the target audiences’ needs.

The company’s Chief Executive Officer Fred Musisi says that for any solution to be successful in the African market, it must be customer-centric, putting a customer in mind throughout the solution development process.

“Even before you start developing the solutions, you must have the customer in mind since a number of people do not use high end devices,” he says, adding that this explains why the firm introduced web-based products so as to include as many people as possible. 

He adds: “It is equally important to know the kind of customers you are serving because that is when you will be able to give products that are tailored for their needs.”

Established in 2019, Alpteq offers a range of high quality services in the development, delivery, and maintenance of software in Uganda including POS UG, Ease lend, UG Clinics and School novas.

Under the Ease Lend product, Alpteq has automated a number of women dominated SACCOs, including Self Sustainable Graduate SACCO and Mayenze Traders SACCO, among others.

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced the country into two lockdowns so far, Musisi says that Alpteq was forced to revamp its School Novas solution to include an e-learning option to enable learners continue with their studies from home.

Prior to the pandemic, the School Novas product was strictly a management tool for schools.

“While in 2020 and 2021 operations have been largely affected by the pandemic, this period has given us an opportunity to innovate and find ways of serving the less attended to sectors,” Musisi notes.

To enhance financial inclusion, payment for e-learning is done through mobile money.

Additionally, Musisi says that the growing need for businesses to cut costs so as to survive in this pandemic that contracted business, forced Alpteq to rethink its POS UG solution to enable businesses prioritise expenditure to lower expenses. 

Musisi notes that through automation, businesses have been able to operate more efficiently and effectively.

Alpteq is participating in the ongoing second edition of the 40-Days 40-FinTechs initiative, organized by HiPipo in partnership with Crosslake Technologies, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation, and sponsored by the Gates Foundation.

The initiative provides a platform for FinTechs and stakeholders in the digital and financial technology space to exhibit their products and share ideas.

Musisi applauded HiPipo for the initiative, saying it has given them market visibility.

Additionally, he notes that the initiative has exposed FinTechs to a number of helpful technologies such as Mojaloop, which have enabled them improve the kind of products and solutions they bring to market.

The HiPipo Chief Executive Officer Innocent Kawooya says that FinTech is the launchpad on which the promise of full global financial inclusion will be fulfilled.

“The 40-Days 40 FinTechs LevelOneProject shall show we have the innovators to take on the challenges,” he says.