HiPipo Money

Our Reporter.

If there is anything that the corona virus crisis has taught business people in Uganda and world over, it is the power of technology in providing goods and services.

With the lockdowns that cut across nations as countries implemented measures to curb the spread of the dreaded virus, the only businesses that managed to generate revenue are only those that adopted technology-supported channels to deliver goods and services.

Among them is Yapheh, a startup that offers salon and spa related services to customers including hair, nails, skins, massage or any other beauty service.

Launched recently, the person who needs the services only has to click a button and choose the service they want where they want to have it from – whether at their home, workplace or a salon.

Vicent Nemeyimana, the founder said that he was motivated to start such a platform after realizing that people were tired of the long queues in salons, waiting to be worked on while others were walking long distances to get to their favorite salon, which was inconveniencing

Additionally, some people, especially women, lacked salon time because of their busy schedules while others spa business owners were faced with shortage of clients. Salons also have poor data collection regarding clients, poor digital presence, overcrowded space and working on pressure.

Putting the services online provides salon owners with data that can be used for customer retention purposes and also enables salon owners to effectively plan, depending on the number of clients they have to attend to.

“With our solution, people no longer have to wait for long hours on benches, walk long distances to their favorite salon or suffering difficulties of finding salon time in case they are busy. You can now order all you need whether hair, nails, skin or massage services at a click of a button from wherever you are and the nearest salon will come to you,” Nemeyimana said.

He said there are thousands of salons and spa businesses, with the biggest percentage being in Kampala and most owners and users have access to smart phones and internet.

Being a multivendor, the startup has since had 20 different salons registered on its website in 20 locations in Kampala and 10 customers have already been served. Booking and payment is done online.

Yapheh is among the firms participating in the ongoing inaugural 40-days-40-FinTechs project organized by HiPipo, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation.

The initiative seeks to enable FinTechs to innovate solutions that facilitate cross-network financial transactions at minimal risks to enhance access to financial services.

Running for 40 days, the project has seen the participating 40 FinTechs acquire interoperable development skills to improve access to financial services, using the Mojaloop open source software.

The HiPipo CEO thanked Yapheh for coming up with a digital platform to address people’s beauty needs noting that the salon business has thousands of clients that are potential Yapheh clients.

He pledged that HiPipo will offer technical and advisory support to Yapheh so that they can improve their digital platform and also make their payment collections solution interoperable.

He also urged the startup to invest in systems that offer users excellent user experiences.

“No matter how much you market, if people don’t get good user experience you cannot achieve your objective. For instance, if 20 people wanted to visit your platform but found it down or they had a bad user experience, they will run away to where the experience is better,” Kawooya said.

Our Reporter.

While some people and businesses in Uganda would be willing to pay taxes, the cumbersome procedures make it difficult for many to comply.

This explains why the Uganda Revenue Authority, the body charged with collecting taxes on behalf of the government, is still failing to increase the country’s taxable base, despite there being a big number of people and businesses that qualify to pay taxes.

However, one technology company, FileTax, has set out to simplify and revolutionize tax payment in Uganda by helping individuals and businesses comply with their tax obligations so that they can support economic development.

Malcolm Kastiro, the FileTax founder said that the firm helps simplify tax payment through technology and offers advisory and training services on how to file their taxes better.

Katsiro said he was motivated to start the company after realizing that there is a big mandate to get as many people as possible to participate in financial services.

He noted that once a poor family is empowered on how to use money, they be inspired to scale and thus start a small business and as it grows, they have to be educated about tax matters so as to enable them comply with the taxman.

Malcolm Kastiro “As FileTax, we are trying to show people that as much as you are spending and keeping track of your expenses, you also need to remember that there is an obligation to government to pay taxes.”

Katsiro said that emphasis is put on women, given that they are the backbone of any society, know how to spend money, are always good at budgets and several are trying to start businesses but lack the necessary skills for them to manage certain aspects of their businesses, including taxes.

He noted that they are coming up with a simple way of empowering women to be able to keep abreast with the kind of taxes they need to pay and when to pay them.

Kastiro also announced that women in business have also been given an offer, where their businesses will pay UShs150,000 for a package that will enable them file taxes better, down from UShs200,000.

They will also benefit from advisory and training services on how to file their taxes better.

Technology key

FileTax is among the firms participating in the 40-days-40-FinTechs project, organised by HiPipo and in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation.

The initiative seeks to enable companies to innovate solutions that facilitate cross-network financial transactions at minimal risks to enhance access to financial services.

Running for 40 days, the project has seen the participating 40 FinTechs acquire interoperable development skills to improve access to financial services, using the Mojaloop open source software.

The HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya applauded FileTax for the innovation, saying that filing tax has never been simple, even for some big firms.

He noted that it is important that taxation becomes an important point of discussion saying that when money becomes digital, it will become easy to visualize and also make it easy for the government to monitor.

“With digital money, authorities will know the money generated by a business, payments made and the amount of tax an entity is required to pay as tax.

“With this, we will have no burden as innovators and proprietors of different businesses and the government will be able to have better service provision such as good schools, health facilities and road infrastructure among other,” he said.

Kawooya added that technology has played a major role in the growth of the economy as a number of tech firms are tax compliant.

“What a good way to end the first 40-days-40-FinTechs other than with an entity that speaks to regulation in terms of making sure that people pay taxes. If we want service provision, then we must all pay taxes,” Kawooya said.

Our Reporter.

Digital agriculture is increasingly gaining prominence across the world. It is predicted that by 2021, the digital agriculture market, including value of software, algorithm, platforms and links between farming and technology hardware, would triple to $15 billion.

To tap into this growing market so as to transform agriculture through enhanced production and productivity, Hamwe East Africa, a startup that specializes in the digitization of agricultural value chains, was established in 2013.

The company’s co-founder Allan Asiimwe said that while the initial objective was a desire to help farmers have computerized records, it later evolved into a fully digital platform after identifying that the biggest problems facing farmers were being unable to get timely payments and moving long distances to receive payments.

The company then re-invented itself to solve these challenges.  It set up the M-Farmer app, which is designed to extend the benefits of technology to agricultural value chains where different actors – farmers, traders, processors and consumers – can build better records, increase efficiency of operations and make informed decisions.

The M-Farmer platform functionality includes farmer profiling and registration, collections, check-off system, mobile payments, supplier module, e-extension, farm monitoring, order management, farmer app and traceability.

“We were motivated by the need to solve what we thought were fundamental problems facing farmers so as to enable them do farming as a business  and also sustain and have livelihoods from their activity,” Asiimwe said.

He added: “Over 70% of the working population in Uganda is involved in agriculture but the playing field is not leveled for them to make sense out of their vocations. But since we went into digitization, it has taught us that there is so much that needs to be done.

“There is need to work on the infrastructure and collaborations starting with government, financial  institutions and technology companies – especially those that have been there before to solve these problems – and development partners in order for the farmer to get that last mile experience of being part of that ecosystem.

Hamwe East Africa is among the 40 firms participating in the 40-days-40 FinTechs initiative, which is organised by HiPipo, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation.

The initiative seeks to enable FinTechs to innovate solutions that facilitate cross-network financial transactions at minimal risks to enhance access to financial services.

Running for 40 days, the project has seen the participating 40 FinTechs acquire interoperable development skills to improve access to financial services, using the Mojaloop open source software.

The HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya commended Hamwe East Africa for thinking about digitizing agriculture, saying that it (agriculture) together with technology are among the two most important sectors in Uganda.

This, he said, is because Covid-19 proved that the country did not have enough maize flour and beans to distribute to the targeted people while technology emerged as one of crucial sector that connected people during the crisis.

“The easiest ways of making sure that we have food is to ensure farmers are empowered with technology to help them receive payments in real time and to have whatever kind of information they need to ensure they have better agricultural practices and also to bridge the gap between farmers and sellers of the end product,” Kawooya said.

He also commended all the firms that have participated in this year’s 40-days-40-FinTechs initiative, saying that the project would not have been successful without their participation.

Although it was limited to slightly over 40 FinTechs, despite being oversubscribed, Kawooya said that they will ensure that they integrate more learning opportunities in future so that even those that are unable to participate as mainstream participants, can take part during different days to share knowledge.

Our Reporter.

Mobile wallets have over the past few years become a buzzword in most countries across the world, including Uganda.

However, one name stands out in Uganda when it comes to mobile wallets; that is Yo Uganda, a technology solutions company that braved to venture into the world of the unknown.

Established in 2006, the company entered the market offering a low cost international call service before venturing into mobile technology to provide Value-Added-Services.

Solutions such as mobile money, SMS, Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) gateways, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), voice solutions and custom-developed applications were introduced to the market and were tailored to its clients’ needs, according to company’s managing director Gerald Begumisa.

This followed the launch of MTN mobile money in 2009 and Kenya’s M-Pesa, which had been launched two years before MTN’s mobile money services.

Like any agile company, Yo Uganda later ventured into the mobile payments space. This saw it launch the Yo Payment, a mobile money payments and mobile commerce aggregation system that enables businesses to receive payments from their customers via mobile money as well as make mobile money payments to any mobile money account holder.

It facilitates airtime transfers, integrating with banks, utilities and individuals and businesses that wish to use mobile money networks to accept or make payments.

“When mobile money was first launched, the focus was person–to-person and the recipient would immediately go to a nearby agent to withdraw cash. So we saw an opportunity to enable businesses and other organisations to take advantage of the mobile money service in a way that would enable them reduce their costs and reduce on the risks of keeping cash at their premises,” Begumisa said.

It targeted three sectors including merchants, corporates and financial institutions.

Under the merchant sector, Yo Uganda enables businesses to securely accept mobile money payments for their goods and services through any channel of their choice, depending on their needs while under corporates; it enables organisations transform from cash to digital form of payment, using mobile money.

They can also use the bulk payments service to securely and conveniently disburse funds directly to the mobile money wallets of multiple beneficiaries.

Under the financial institutions sector, Yo Uganda provides a solution that enables institutions like banks, micro finance institutions and Saccos, among others to accept deposits through the mobile money channel and also enable their customers to withdraw funds from their accounts directly into their mobile money wallets.

In partnership with financial institutions, Yo Uganda also tapped into money remittances, where it would enable remitters to deliver remittances directly into beneficiaries’ wallets, in partnership with international remitters.

Bringing farmers onboard

Begumisa said that while mobile money was already popular by 2010, there was still a big gap especially in rural areas where farmers were skeptical about adopting digital finance.

However, in 2015, Yo Uganda partnered with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and telecoms to sensitize and enroll farmers onto mobile payment systems.

The focus was mainly on three value agricultural value chains including coffee, seed oil and dairy, in Eastern, Northern and Western Uganda, respectively.

Over 135,000 farmers have so far been on-boarded on the digital ecosystem so far, bringing them into the financially included people bracket, which currently stands at 78%. This is also in line with the ongoing efforts to boost financial inclusion and this explains why Yo Uganda is among the firms participating in the 40-days-40-FinTechs initiative organised by HiPipo, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation.

The initiative seeks to enable FinTechs to innovate solutions that facilitate cross-network financial transactions at minimal risks to enhance access to financial services.

Running for 40 days, the project will see the participating 40 FinTechs acquire interoperable development skills to improve access to financial services, using the Mojaloop open source software.

The HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya noted that achieving full financial inclusion requires collaborative efforts and this explains why HiPipo organised the -days-40-fintechs initiative to bring together players with different solutions so as to work together to address people’s financial needs.

He added that COVID-19 has proved that the technology sector is the savior of so many economies, given an important role it has played during this crisis across the globe.

Kawooya equated Yo Uganda’s mobile payments journey to that of Facebook and HiPipo, which started as a social media and entertainment platforms, respectively to now venturing into digital financial services.

“When you are able to show people the value of having mobile devices and using connectivity to communicate, then you can easily show them that even their money can be put on their phones and kept safely there,” he said.

Our Reporter.

Mwanjala Technologies, a Zambian company based in Kitwe Lusaka seeks to connect buyers and sellers with proper delivery lines and digital payment integrations.

It further seeks to enhance e-commerce through connecting people to various products and services and allowing them the option to pay through integrated digital financial services platforms such as mobile money.

Mwanjala Technologies makes it easy for users to make online purchases in a secure environment, through integration with electronic payment systems.

Edward Mwanjala, the company’s CEO explained that while they started off by integrating their social network platform with PayPal and VISA Card, users were uncomfortable using them. This forced them to revisit their option, thus integrating with mobile money payment systems, using Application Programming Interface (API).

Additionally, the Financial Technology Company (FinTech) seeks to empower entrepreneurs to be able to sell their products, services and brands.

“Ours is a platform for people to express themselves, to start up brands on our network and be able to make money. Our vision is to make sure that marketers can post their goods and people can be able to buy with mobile money,” Mwanjala said.

The future

Mwanjala is optimistic about the Opportunities in the financial technology space, saying that the future of buying any goods and services is online.

“People will in future reduce the time they go to shops physically; mobile payment systems are going to be the norm if in fact they are not already,” he said.

He added that drones are also expected to come in handy as new delivery systems. Despite the immense opportunities, Mwanjala expressed concern over the limited number of engineers who are able to code and the financing constraint which limits innovation.

“We have created a working engine similar to that of Facebook using the limited resources we have. If a major venture capitalist invested in our project, we could do immense stuff,” he said.

He added: “We are a young company but we are ambitious. We want to lead Africa in pioneering ways of doing business especially in the e-commerce sector. Using our platform, users can sell anything from music, clothes, gadgets and a lot more.”

Mwanjala noted that the team is constantly developing new solutions to bring about ease of doing business.

He noted that Mwanjala Technologies intends to enhance partnerships by collaborating with more players to enhance customers’ e-commerce experiences by minimizing fraud and ensuring timely delivery of purchased goods.

Mwanjala Technologies is among the firms participating in the 40-days-40-FinTechs project.

Running for 40 days, the project, which is organised by HiPipo, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation, seeks to enable FinTechs to innovate solutions that facilitate cross-network financial transactions at minimal risks to enhance access to financial services.

Simon Kamya, the 40 days 40 fintechs technical facilitator noted that Mwanjala’s state of business calls for availability of an open loop, and same day settlement services that can allow free transaction indulgent where the customers need not worry of which financial providers the businesses prefer.

“Based on the Mojaloop financial model, Mwanjala using the Open source API and business idea, they can include all Digital Financial Services Providers on the same echo system and make use of the account look up service to identify transaction from the different edges of the telecoms, bank, mobile wallets among others,”Kamya said.