HiPipo Money

By Our writer

While businesses are grappling with various challenges as they seek to thrive in today’s competitive environment, it is not easy to come across a firm that offers a range of solutions, to almost all challenges, under the same roof.

However, Trade Lance, an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) firm, has curved itself a slot in that area as it provides digital solutions to most challenges that businesses require to thrive.

The Ugandan firm offers a range of solutions from integration, aggregation, software development and utility payments, among others, to solve day-to-day challenges.

The firm’s Sales and Marketing Analyst Nelson Mandela Ewolu says the company has integrated with major telecommunications companies in Uganda including MTN, Airtel, Africel and Uganda Telecom (UTL) to facilitate smooth mobile money transactions.

It has also aggregated with MTN, Airtel, Africell and Lycamobile, in addition to offering third-party integrations to various companies such as Smile, Roketelkom, Absolute Energy, Cloud Core, Quick Tap, Bright life and Alliance Africa Insurance.

Trade Lance, which boasts of having some of the best software experts in the country, is also in the business of customized software development; it for instance develops Micro Loans Software for financial institutions. Some of its visible products include the Yetu loans software, HCH Financial Services, Hot Cash, Sukuma Loans and Yellow Sacco software.

Other software solutions it has since developed are the E-Voting Software for POA Star Search, a Counseling Registration Software for Strong Minds Uganda and Boda Boda Loans Software.

Additionally, the firm offers a bulk payments solution to mobile money registered numbers. Key among its clients on this solution are Roke Investments and Fireworks Advertising, among others.

Given the increasing cry for mobile money interoperability, Trade Lance allows sending of money across networks, making it easy for people to transact at affordable rates, irrespective of the network they are using.

Their other solutions include utility payments, Client Relation Management Solution, M-Ticket Solution, School Fees Payments and Katale Online Shopping. Trade Lance is also very famous for its *252# financial inclusion USSD and website.

As a firm that participated in the 2020 40-Days 40 FinTechs initiative, Ewolu says among the key takeaways was implementing financial inclusion best practices.

The firm has since implemented some of best practices such as the Low Cost User devices and Pricing Transparency practices.

Ewolu, however, notes that they are not yet able to settle payments on the same way as their partners such as Airtel money are not implementing it as well, for now.

40-Days 40 FinTechs

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

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

Ewolu also alludes that the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has provided a platform that brings together all players to share experiences and challenges and devise solutions. This, he notes, that enabled the industry to grow.

While he acknowledges that Uganda’s Fintech industry is growing with the number of transactions increasing, he notes that the public is still skeptical about using digital platforms.

“We still have a lot to do to instill faith. I believe in the next five years it will be booming,” he says.

The HiPipo Chief Executive Officer Innocent Kawooya alluded that FinTech is the launch pad on which the promise of full global financial inclusion will be fulfilled, noting that this edition of #40Days40FinTechs will be Uganda’s most comprehensive foray into things like distributed ledger technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Automated Customer Relationship Management, cash management and lending platforms.

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

Kawooya, however, adds that a connecting thread will be how FinTechs urgently need interoperability and thus how open source frameworks such as Mojaloop and other technologies, are here to help, including guiding on how emerging frameworks such as #LevelOneProject principles can be used to engender sustainable financial inclusion impact.

By Our Writer

Many businesses globally have been affected by the lockdowns instituted by their respective governments to tame the spread of the deadly corona virus, wiping away livelihoods for millions of people.

However, Beyonic/ MFS Africa; a giant FinTech that facilitates payments integration across Africa has refined itself to help such businesses continue operating amid the lockdown to enable them survive.

Doreen Lukandwa, the Beyonic/ MFS Africa Vice President, Global Enterprises says: “In the current lockdown, a lot of businesses are asking themselves how they can continue to make money, reach their customers in the safest and most affordable way possible or how to scale their businesses beyond the confines of one district or country. We enable them do that and much more.”

“Also given the current situations where people have to work remotely and are disconnected from their customers, FinTechs like Beyonic have to be very innovative around how they enable businesses to continue to thrive.

 “This explains why we have focused on refining the answer to the question for you. When you get a Beyonic account, all you have to do is provide basic Know-Your Customer (KYC) to open an account and you will be able to continue operating your business without having to deal with physical cash. You only need to have the mobile money numbers of the people you would want to send money to or those you want to collect money from and communicate widely that you can accept payments through your platform,” she explains.

She adds that the FinTech is also implementing LevelOneProject principles by effecting all its outstanding payments within minutes.

This, according to Lukandwa, seeks to ensure that they use their digital platforms and available infrastructure to make market challenges obsolete.

“We are a solution provider to the challenges our partners face; it doesn’t matter how small or big your business is, we have a solution for you and we ensure real time settlements to facilitate your business growth.”

Beyonic facilitates payments integration across the African continent by integrating all telecoms in Uganda and in other African countries where it operates.

Thus, once one connects to the Beyonic platform, they will have access to all the networks across all countries where it operates, enabling access through a single log-in.

“When you log-in into that account as a business, you can effect payment to as many people as you would like to or receive payments from as many people as you would like to,” Lukandwa says.

Beyonic recently merged with MFS Africa, enabling it to increase the number of markets available for businesses to operate across the continent.

“To us making borders  matter less doesn’t just mean allowing your business go to many other markets but also things like equality, with gender being one of them,” she notes, adding that Beyonic/MFS Africa is women centric, with over 53% of its employees being women.

The FinTech is also deliberate at making more women-owned and led businesses access their platform to enable their businesses to thrive.

40 Days 40 FinTechs

Beyonic is one of the firms participating in the second edition of the 40-Days 40 FinTechs, organised by HiPipo in partnership with Crosslake Technologies, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation, and sponsored by the Gates Foundation.

Lukandwa applauded HiPipo for the initiative, saying that it has provided a platform to aggregate information and players in the ecosystem to create awareness about available solutions to address market challenges.

She, however, notes that while Uganda is extremely entrepreneurial, this needs to be matched with the opportunity to scale and advance these enterprises.

“One of the areas in which we are lacking is reducing the cost of operations and scale; for a lot of these businesses, it is very expensive for them to have startup capital, employ staff, and maintain these businesses plus building capacity on best business practices. These are some of the primary loopholes where I think we need to get together as stakeholders to agree on what we want to achieve and how to achieve it and I think consolidating efforts around KYC would be key.”

The HiPipo Chief Executive Officer Innocent Kawooya applauds Beyonic, saying it has played a great financial inclusion role across Africa, as its products and services are impacting thousands of people at the last mile.

He adds 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.

Currently, Beyonic can be accessed through www.beyonic.com or through social media, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Instagram as its offices are currently closed due to the lockdown but will be reopened once it is lifted.

#40Days40FinTechs #LevelOneProject

By Our writer

It has been widely documented that cash is one of the channels through which COVID-19 spreads.

While most parents are used to giving their children pocket money in cash, this, given the current pandemic, greatly exposes them to the virus.

In a bid to tame this, however, Pebuu Limited, a Financial Technology Company (FinTech) innovated the Pebuu School Product that has seen cash pocket money replaced with an electronic wallet.

The product, according to John Paul Semyalo, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, has been piloted in a number of schools and is working well.

“This is a post COVID-19 innovation because students will no longer be open to cash; they can now use their wallet which can be in form of their thumb print or a unique number,” Semyalo says, adding that it will help create a cashless environment in schools.

Pebuu, which is a women-centric brand, uses agents, who are spread across the country, to serve its customers.

Semyalo notes that the firm, which trades as Pebuu Africa, currently has 2,400 merchants countrywide, with 80% of them using Point-Of-Sale (POS) machines while 20% use a mobile App on their smartphones.

Pebuu partnered with telecommunications companies – MTN, Airtel, Africell and Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL) to distribute their products – mobile money, airtime, data, Over the Top Tax and other services, through its payment platform.

The FinTech started off with four agents five years ago, carrying only airtime as telecoms were at first adamant to on-boarding any FinTech for mobile money and the other services.

It is also partnering with banks, with three of them – Stanbic, GT Bank and Centenary, already on board, according to Semyalo, who adds that they are in advance stages of on-boarding other banks on to the platform.

“When you visit a Pebuu agent, you are able to cash-in or cash-out mobile money, pay your bills or do banking at the lowest cost possible,” Semyalo says.

Pebuu, which is among the firms taking part in the second edition of the 40-Days 40-FinTechs initiative, also has a Pebuu Care product, a micro credit solution that focuses on women and youth.

The product enables agents to borrow money in real time and pay back the loan in 24 hours or 30 days.

Commenting about the 40 Days 40 FinTechs, Semyalo said: “It is a great initiative; it brings together the different FinTechs to share ideas and the one unique thing is that it opens up the Ugandan FinTechs to the global space. Through this initiative, local FinTechs are promoted globally, which creates visibility for us so that when we decide to go out there and look for global partnership, in form of grants, equity or low interest financing, it becomes easy.”

The 40-Days 40-FinTechs initiative is organised 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.

Semyalo also notes that the firm uses Level One Project principles such as Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and real time settlement, which he says are key for competitiveness.

He explains that when on-boarding agents, the FinTech relies on KYC from telecoms or banks as every agent is required to have either a registered mobile phone number or that of the company’s director or a bank account.

The HiPipo Chief Executive Officer Innocent Kawooya notes that the 40-Days 40-FinTech project 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.

He alludes that FinTech in Africa offers attractive opportunities and that investors are rightfully picking interest in the various startups that are offering a plethora of services, ranging from payments and lending, remittances, cross-border transfers and neobanks, among others.

“Each of these services solves unique sets of challenges. That is why we have this initiative because we want to contribute towards solving the unique challenges that the everyday person faces.”

Challenges

However, Semyalo notes that while the FinTech space in Uganda has evolved over the last five years, it is still quite hard and tough as most FinTechs are still grappling with liquidity challenges.

“For you to survive in the FinTech space, you must have liquidity; you must be aggressive, must be frugal, daring and brave,” he says, adding that those that will benefit are only those that will be resilient to celebrate their 10^th birthday.