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Bill Gates Bestowed with Africa’s Financial Inclusion Medal Of Honor – at #DIAA2019 #IncludeEveryone

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Bill Gates Bestowed with Africa’s Financial Inclusion Medal Of Honor – at #DIAA2019 #IncludeEveryone

HiPipo, through its Include Everyone program is delighted to celebrate global business leader Bill Gates with a Digital Impact Awards Africa honor, the ‘Africa’s Financial Inclusion Medal of Honor.’

“The Africa Financial Inclusion Medal of Honor is awarded to an individual or organization that has made exceptional contribution to Africa’s Digital space, by specifically taking lead in ensuring that there is provision of affordable, reliable and accessible financial services across the continent.” noted Innocent Kawooya, CEO, HiPipo.

According to GSMA 2018 report, mobile money is now available in 100 countries through over 300 services globally. The number of verified mobile money accounts is reaching a total of half a billion globally with strong growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.


This fast-growing mobile money penetration that has greatly improved financial inclusion to the poorest of the poor is thanks to the tremendous work done by development partners that have invested time and money in research and delivery of sustainable financial solutions for the poor. Notable among such partners is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The different researches and productions/live projects that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is supporting are mammoth contributions that demonstrate how different industries can innovate and positively transform life using mobile financial services.

It is against this background that Digital Impact Awards Africa appreciates this noble contribution and thus presents the “Africa’s Financial Inclusion Medal of Honor, 2019” to Bill Gates, the Co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Medal of Honor was accompanied with a Special Fiber Mosaic Art Piece
It is an original and unique piece with a patterned surface consisting of various simple patterns of quite collaborated color effects made with small pieces of banana fibre, plywood and glue.
Godfrey Kabaale Phipo crafted the best ever most durable, greatest looking, most admirable medal to celebrate Bill Gates. In his own words,


“This art piece is a patterned surface made with small pieces of banana fibre, stuck on plywood with art glue. This art piece took me 6,570 man hours to finish. It required a detailed and customized attention for any slight distraction would make me lose truck. This art piece will forever be a very special art piece to me because it has made me discover the potential I never imagined I had.”

The Digital Impact Awards Africa honor and special mosaic art piece was received by Dr. Warren D. Carew, Vice President – Payment at ModusBox on behalf of the Gate Foundation at the recently concluded 6th edition of Include Everyone Summit and #DIAA2019.

Since their inception, the Digital Impact Awards Africa (DIAA) have enjoyed increasing international recognition. Today they are among the most respected and sought-after prizes bestowed.

Their prestige, acknowledged within Africa and rest of the world, has grown over the years because the public and digital industry recognizes the DIAA as an award based on technical achievement and because care has been taken to preserve the integrity of the DIAA. Specifically, the Digital Impact Awards Africa has carefully limited reproductions of the DIAA statuettes.

Dar es Salaam Port Expansion comes with sweetens for Uganda.

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Dar es Salaam Port Expansion comes with sweetens for Uganda.

Dar es Salaam.

The Tanzanian government is investing some TShs. 2.2trillion (about UGX. 3.5trillion) in expanding its main sea ports of Dar es Salaam, Tanga and Mtwara.

This huge investment is part of President John Pombe Magufuli’s Central Corridor blueprint, with an ultimate goal of wooing traders from East, Central and Southern Africa in to using Tanzania sea ports for international trade.

About 50 per cent of this money is being injected in upgrading the Dar es Salaam which handles over 90 per cent of international trade goods consumed locally and those in transit. Other countries that use the Dar Port are DR Congo, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda and South Sudan.

A female cargo forklift driver goes on with her work at the Dar es Salaam Port

On completion, the Dar Port will be able to handle 6000 containers vessels from the current 4000 containers capacity. It will also have 7 modernised vessel berths, a 15 metres deep harbour, better port layout and direct connection to both the Standard and Metre gauge railways among other facilities.

In a recent interview, Mr Elihuruma Lema, the acting Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) Director for Dar es Salaam noted that at the end of the on-going works, the Dar es Salaam Port will be the most sought-after port in the region.

“Dare es Salaam Port was designed to handle around 13.5 million tonnes. Recently, we have been handling more than 15 million tonnes. As such, we have been having capacity issues and these necessitated an urgent expansion. The moment we complete the works on the port overhaul and also finish the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), we shall be faster, cheaper and more efficient,” Mr Lema said, adding:

“We are also undertaking the electronic single window system. We are planning that this system will be integrated with the non-intrusive cargo scanners so that once you log in to that electronic single window system, you can track your cargo and know where it is. The single window system will cover government institutions in addition to being linked with neighboring countries. This will be completed in about three years.”

Mr Elihuruma Lema, the acting Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) Director for Dar es Salaam addressing Ugandan Journalists.

At the back of the Dar Port expansion are deliberate efforts to acquire more TPA customers in addition to retaining those already existing.

Uganda is the main country that Tanzania is courting thanks to its trade potential (currently enjoyed by Mombasa Port), coupled with ability to unlock both the South Sudan and eastern DR Congo markets.

The 2018 Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) ranks Uganda as the leading user of the Mombasa Port in terms of transit cargo, covering about 82 per cent of all imports and exports.

Even worse for Tanzania is the fact that Uganda goods passing through Dar es Salaam declined in the recent financial year.

According to statistics from TPA, about 187,000 tonnes of Uganda goods were processed through Dar es Salaam in the 2018/19 financial year, compared to the over 225,000 tonnes processed in the 2017/18 financial year. The sharp decline was attributed to railway infrastructure challenges that affected local cargo transportation system.

Nonetheless, TPA and other Tanzania trade facilitation agencies are pulling all strings to change the direction of this narrative.

Key among the incentives that TPA is offering to Uganda is longer transit cargo grace period of 30 days, compared to 14 days for goods destined to other countries. The other is dedicated customer support and cost effectiveness.

“We have created a Ugandan cargo communication group that has TPA, Tanzania, Railway Corporations, URA, clearing agents and all other trade facilitation agencies. The moment cargo is offloaded; we start monitoring and sharing information. Once a customer from Uganda has a challenge, it is dropped in the group and we handle it immediately. This support is 24/7,” Mr Lema.

In addition, the ongoing refurbishment of the inland Mwanza Port on the shores of Lake Victoria and SGR works are meant to address the inland transport glitches along the central corridor. But then, even Kenya is equally improving the northern corridor with concentration on SGR and refurbishing Kisumu Port.

Even though it is not yet all systems go at TPA, the current works on the Dar Port which are part of the rivalry between Dar es Salaam and Mombasa are positive for Ugandan traders.

Lead M-Pesa Architect to speak at 2019 Digital Impact Awards Africa summit.

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Lead M-Pesa Architect to speak at 2019 Digital Impact Awards Africa summit.

Our Reporter.

Leading Digital Financial Services (DFS) technologist, Warren Carew will be a keynote speaker at the 2019 Digital Impact Awards Africa (#DIAA2019) summit slated for 20th September at the Kampala Serena Hotel.

Warren was a core member of the team that developed and successfully launched the world changing mobile money service M-PESA in Kenya in 2007.

He is currently the Vice President and General Manager of ModusBox – a software firm that enables enterprise integration through Business to Business (B2B) digital and finance services solutions.

Their latest revolution is Mojaloop; an open-source software for financial services companies, government regulators, and others taking on the challenges of interoperability and financial inclusion. Mojaloop is supported by Global System Mobile Association (GSMA) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

About #DIAA2019.

Under the theme Include Everyone, Digital Impact Awards Africa is a platform that promotes Digital Inclusion, Financial Inclusion and Cybersecurity. The #DIAA2019 summit will be attended by C-Level Executives, Senior Digital and Finance players from across the continent.

This summit will explore the strategic trends and technologies that are shaping the future of financial inclusion, Digital, IT and business. Over 500 African executives will come together to discuss key topics including digital financial inclusion, interoperability, data & analytics, artificial intelligence, customer experience, Cybersecurity and much more.

Also on the agenda are the Awards which recognize, celebrate and appreciate different individuals and organizations that are spearheading the use of digital mediums to better serve their communities.

“There are 16 Uganda and 6 Continental Categories.  The most coveted accolade is Digital Brand of the Year. The six shortlisted nominees for Digital Brand of the Year (Airtel, MTN, Centenary, DFCU, Stanbic and Standard Chartered Bank) were assessed for their digital first approach to changing the lives of Ugandans, mainly disadvantaged communities – women, youth and PWDs,” Innocent Kawooya, the CEO HiPipo – the organisers of the event noted.

See you all on 20th September at Kampala Serena Hotel.

Telecoms and Regulators Must fix Cross-Network Mobile Money challenges.

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Telecoms and Regulators Must fix Cross-Network Mobile Money challenges.

Innocent Kawooya.

When Nick Hughes, and Susie Lonie, under the stewardship of Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph founded M-pesa in 2007 in Kenya, key on their agenda was to make money transfers seamless, efficient, affordable and accessible for everyone; the rich, middle class and the poor.

Then in 2009, MTN became the first telecom in Uganda to venture in to the financial sector with the roll-out of MTN Mobile Money.

Since then, a lot has happened; underscored by millions of Ugandans transacting trillions of shillings through mobile financial services annually.

In a bid to further broaden the mobile money transactions coverage and also enhance financial inclusion, Bank of Uganda (BoU) in 2017 directed telecoms offering mobile financial services (MFS) to implement mobile money interoperability.

Digital Impact Awards Africa defines Interoperability as “the ability for mass market users of digital financial services to perform transactions between accounts at/of different providers, for the case of this article sending money from Airtel to MTN and vice versa.”

Both MTN and Airtel heeded to the BOU directive and subsequently enabled both cross-network and cross-border mobile money transactions.

For over one year, this new service saved customers both money and time in additional to mitigating safety threats that come with handling hard cash.  An MTN customer intending to send money to an Airtel Money customer could do so automatically from his/her phone thus eliminating the hustle of withdrawing cash from an MTN Mobile Money agent and then sending to the intended receiver’s account through an Airtel Money agent.

Unfortunately, Mobile Money Interoperability amongst Uganda telecoms was indefinitely unavailable between late June and 23 August 2019, with both Airtel and MTN citing technical failures as the root cause of this impasse.

Minus being a clear step backwards, the on-going standoff between Airtel and MTN Uganda which has been brought to BOU attention has seen customers directly lose their hard earned money and waste a lot of time. Let me give just two examples.

In one scenario, an MTN Mobile Money user sent money to an Airtel Money user; the latter received the money but for some reason, MTN didn’t deduct the money from the former. Three weeks later, MTN deducted the money and communicated the same in a message which copy I was showed and can reproduce here and now.

“An adjustment has been made and (amount in UGX) has been withdrawn from your mobile money account at 2019-07-05 ………..”

Surprisingly, a week later, Airtel Uganda also deducted the same amount from the recipient. When he visited an Airtel service centre to find out why his money was deducted from his account with no explanation, he was told that while he received and used money on his account, MTN hadn’t remitted the same to Airtel thus this latest cash withdrawal.

In another scenario, an MTN Mobile Money customer initiated a five figure transaction to another Airtel Money customer, the latter didn’t receive but a few days later, money was deducted from the former’s account because MTN had processed the transaction on its side. But Airtel blocked the same and thus the intended receiver didn’t get anything.

When the original sender shared his grievances with MTN Uganda, he was asked to present mobile money statements (for his account and that of the intended receiver) to prove that the transaction was unsuccessful, after which MTN would gladly do a prompt refund. Luckily, within a few days, the sender was able to get the two signed account statements and his money was promptly refunded.

In both examples, the customers are at pain because the systems are not communicating. As a technology advocate, I appreciate tech and its shortcomings. I know for sure that there are always system failures and downtimes every once in a while. But this doesn’t justify the indefinite suspension of mobile money interoperability services between these two giant telecoms to date.

Nonetheless, for whatever reasons that were given to explain this confusion, the complete switch off of the service was unwarranted, more so at this point in time when interoperability is attracting a high level of attention from digital finance experts across the continent.

For example, with support from Global System Mobile Association (GSMA) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s open-source platform Mojaloop, MTN and Orange in 2018 launched a joint venture to enable interoperable payments across Africa.

Code named Mowali – mobile wallet interoperability; it is open to any mobile money provider in Africa, as well as to banks, money transfer operators and other financial services providers. Such is happening across Africa and Uganda must never be left out.

Digital Impact Awards Africa which drives sensitization of technologies to better Interoperability over the last year has further spread the gospel for better technologies such as Mojaloop to ensure more reliable interoperable services. Operators in Uganda should move faster on these technologies’ adoption.

With goodwill, both MTN and Airtel can, and should ensure that Mobile Money Interoperability works because cross network transactions are critical in enhancing financial inclusion for the poor.  Bank of Uganda and Uganda Communications Communication should also take interest to see to it that this happens.

Update : On 23rd August, Airtel Uganda communicated that it had fixed the technical issue and thus Airtel Money customers could once again send and receive money from MTN Mobile Money customers. It took over 2 months for this to be fixed unfortunately. 

The writer (Innocent Kawooya) is the CEO HiPipo, also project lead – Digital Impact Awards Africa.

The writer is the CEO HiPipo, also project lead – Digital Impact Awards Africa.

Email: socialweb@hipipo.com

South Sudan renews commitment to improve its trading environment. Signs MOU with TradeMark East Africa

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South Sudan renews commitment to improve its trading environment. Signs MOU with TradeMark East Africa

South Sudan National Revenue Authority (NRA) and TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding committing to establish modern trade systems and procedures to support faster clearance and transiting of goods.  This will build on work that TMEA in partnership with the governments is undertaking at Elegu-Nimule border, the main crossing point between Uganda and South Sudan.

The partners stated that attention will be given to enhancing faster clearance and movement of humanitarian goods coming into South Sudan aiming to halve the time it takes from current 2 days to one day or less.  Of recent cargo destined for South Sudan has been delayed at Container Freight Stations in Mombasa, the designed interventions will ease the process. This will involve facilitating their movement from the port of entry, either Mombasa or Dar es Salaam to the South Sudan borders. TMEA was represented by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Frank Matsaert, while the National Revenue Authority was represented by the Commissioner General, Dr. Olympio Attipoe. The MOU will be in force for the next three years.

Making his remarks, the Commissioner General, Dr. Olympio said, “ We are opening a new chapter with TradeMark East Africa by signing this MOU that aims at promoting fiscal transparency, accountability and effective revenue mobilization.”

On his part TMEA CEO Mr. Matsaert said, “We believe in the people of South Sudan; their resilience and adaptiveness is what has inspired us to renew our partnership here and work with the National Revenue Authority to facilitate trade for peace and prosperity in the country.”

Some of the envisioned projects include the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking system (RECTs), which is currently implemented along the Northern Corridor in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo in cooperation with the Revenue Authorities and Customs Administrations. RECTs is a web-based integrated system used to monitor transit cargo from departure (point of loading) to final destination within the countries where it is operational. A key benefit of RECTs is directly decreasing in transit costs by reducing lengthy transit times caused by physical checks in transit countries. The benefits of reduced costs of transit will also accrue to private sector players .South Sudan has in several occasions expressed keenness to adopt the cargo tracking system within its borders, as this will reduce cost of security bonds, incidences of theft and diversions, and enhance security along the transit highway to Juba.

In addition to this, NRA and TMEA will support trade facilitation initiatives that have been agreed to and ratified by the government of South Sudan including its access and utilization of all World Customs Organization’s instruments and services, aligning its operations to those of other East African Community’s Member States.

To improve efficiency in trade and reduce inequalities that result from the lack of access to information and time poverty, the two partners will devise online systems, such as, Trade Information Services Platform that shall provide information on international trade regulations and requirements. It will also map trade networks and other trade related information as defined and explained in the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (Bali Agreement).

Other projects that the partners are exploring include establishment of a Single Window Trade System for South Sudan.

TMEA first established offices in South Sudan in 2011 with support from mainly the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), Netherlands, Finland among others.. During that time, it facilitated interventions such as Customs Management Reforms, Elegu-Nimule border modernisation, modernisation of South Sudan Bureau of Standards including acquiring of new equipment, and training of personnel, support to East Africa Community (EAC) accession, and women and trade programmes.

“We believe that trade is a catalyst for peace. That is why we are committing to creating frameworks that bring together the private sector and the government, towards a common objective of promoting trade,” Said Mr. Matsaert.

South Sudan’s accession to the EAC, provides it with an opportunity to trade more with its neighbours, strengthen its governance structures, and increase economic activity. TMEA’s envisaged support in South Sudan is expected to enable businesses to benefit from reduced trade costs in the region, increase opportunities to trade and compete with their regional counterparts, and as a result, create employment opportunities locally.

Speech by Ambassador Patrick S. Mugoya, Permanent Secretary, Ministry Of Foreign Affairs at the Third Trade and Business Facilitation Symposium in Mombasa.

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Speech by Ambassador Patrick S. Mugoya, Permanent Secretary, Ministry Of Foreign Affairs at the Third Trade and Business Facilitation Symposium in Mombasa.

The Hon. Amelia Kyambadde, Minister of Trade Industry and Cooperatives
Your Excellencies, Ambassadors and High Commissioners,

Representatives of the Business Community here present,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Uganda and Kenya have historical and excellent relations that have been sustained in the spirit of pan Africanism; brotherhood and mutual respect. This is evidenced by the exchange of visits that have taken place at the level of Ministers, Senior Officials, Members of the Private Sector, and at the Level of Heads of State. It will be remembered that not so long ago at the invitation of H.E President Uhuru Kenyatta; H.E President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, paid a successful State Visit to the Republic of Kenya in March of this year. The visit further cemented the strong bonds of friendships that had already existed between the two Heads of State.

This warm and brotherly relationship between our two Leaders has allowed a shared space for trade and investment to flourish between our two countries. It is therefore no wonder that today we are in this beautiful city of Mombasa engaging in the 3rd Trade and Business Facilitation Symposium. Indeed, it is in the same vein, and informed by the great desire to better the lives of the people that they lead; that President Museveni and President Kenyatta are among the co-creators of the Northern Corridor Integration Projects, established with the view to fast track the integration agenda of the East African Community through the implementation of key projects in order to promote shared growth and prosperity by removing barriers to trade, harmonizing legal and regulatory mechanisms, liberalizing movement of capital, services and labour and developing common infrastructure.
Your Excellencies,

As a region, we must purpose to ensure that we adopt a collective posture to determine that bilateral relations are not an end in, and of themselves but rather, ought to have a direct and positive impact on the regular guy in our respective countries, to whom we owe an account. In Uganda, we have had a paradigm shift in our approach to foreign policy. Whereas we believe that peace and security are important; we also hold the strong view that in order to sustain the peace, there is need to create a nexus between Peace, Security and Development. To that end, therefore, Trade and Business Facilitation is a critical part of that nexus.

Your Excellencies,

The Port of Mombasa is the main gateway to the sea for the Northern and Central Corridor, covering the Republic of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It therefore means that whatever happens in Kenya has a direct impact on Uganda and all those that rely on this gateway. We applaud the Government of Kenya for the reforms and infrastructural developments, that have been put in place at the Port of Mombasa. According to the Kenya Ports Authority in its 2018 report; it indicated that Uganda was the leading user of the Port of Mombasa in terms of transit cargo which covers about 82% of all imports and exports.

Kenya is a key strategic and trading partner of Uganda. The volume of trade between our two countries is approximately USD1.2BN. While we believe that there is room for improvement, we are pleased with the commitment of the Government of Kenya and other partners to promote increased and shared prosperity along the Corridor.

Your Excellencies,

May I observe, that this has only been possible, in part, due to a number of reforms that have been adopted along the Northern and Central Corridor. Some of these have included the establishment of 15 One Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) such as but not limited to: the Mutukula OSBP, Malaba; Busia; Namanga; Nimule/Elegu; Kobero/Kabanga; Taveta/ Holili, Mirama Hills/Kagitumba; etc.  The implementation of the Busia OSBP, for instance, has resulted in a reduction of border crossing clearance time by an average of 80 per cent, strengthened co-operation between Kenya and Uganda, and improved co-ordination of all the border regulatory agencies led by the respective country revenue authorities.

Your Excellencies,

As you may recall on 28th October, 2013 their Excellences the Heads of State of the Northern Corridor Integration projects launched a Single Customs Territory for the Northern Corridor. The Single Customs Territory (SCT) model relies on three pillars: free circulation of goods; a revenue management system; and an adequate legal and institutional framework. The introduction of the SCT removed multiple weighbridges, police and customs checks along the Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali route and introduced computerized clearance; and Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking; and other innovations that have overturned many of the hurdles to free trade or Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) that the Northern Corridor was infamous for.

This has reduced the cost of doing business by about 50 per cent in the East African region. The system has reduced the time taken to move cargo across the region from eighteen (18) days to four (4) between Mombasa and Kampala. It also used to take six days instead of 21 for a truck to move from Mombasa to Kigali before the current challenges happened. Similarly, on the Central Corridor, the turnaround time between the port of Dar es Salaam and Kigali (or Bujumbura) has been reduced from over 20 days to 6. We applaud these achievements. We aspire for, and continue to work towards, even greater trade and business facilitation along the Corridor.

Before, I close, I would like to salute Amb. Katureebe, the Consul General of Uganda to Mombasa for this innovative approach to Trade and Business Facilitation. These annual symposia are a good opportunity to bring together officials from Government and the members of the private sector to exchange views and share experiences on how to make the region more competitive and attractive in building the future we want. Our duty as Government officials is to listen to the private sector with the view to creating an enabling environment for business to flourish, through inter alia addressing all non-trade facilitating measures and implementing decisions that have already been agreed to in a timely manner.

Your Excellencies,

Due to the excellent bilateral relations that Uganda has with Kenya and many members along the Northern and Central Corridor; a number of measures have been undertaken through the framework of Joint Permanent Commissions and others, to remove all non-trade facilitating measures, through inter alia convening regular meetings of not only the Joint Permanent Commissions but also Joint Business Fora for members of the private sector. The Joint Business Fora are a platform for members of the private sector to share experiences, identify opportunities and challenges and agree on appropriate measures to promote trade and investment. It is therefore important that we maintain the momentum that we have achieved so far, in our relations but also in the number of reforms that have been undertaken along the Northern and Central Corridor.

These reforms if fully implemented, without being rolled back, will be our generations best gift to posterity in bequeathing a future to our children better than our current circumstances.

I thank you.

 

 

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