KAMPALA — FinTech Uganda Limited, a subsidiary of FinTech Group is one of the oldest financial technology companies in Africa with a variety of fully integrated models that assist over 240 financial institutions across Africa to manage payments and collections, asset financing, mortgage business, and insurance premium financing, among others.
Having opened shop back in 1993, FinTech Group has mastered the art of providing technology solutions to organizations in more than 20 African countries, including supporting and implementing financial and technology solutions to over 20 banks and institutions in Uganda alone.
According to Hazel Were, a Software Engineer and Business Development Executive at FinTech Group, their experience is unmatched in providing customized digital products and solutions specific to business needs.
One such product is LeasePAC; a web-based leasing management solution that incorporates the core asset finance management modules and interfaces to third-party systems. With over 15 different but fully integrated modules, LeasePAC assists financial institutions to manage asset financing, mortgage business, insurance premium financing, factoring and discounting, stocking plan, and deposits etc.
“LeasePAC allows you to have automated collections and also eases the tracking of payments with an inbuilt accounting module,” she says.
She adds that they also have another key product named Kapilink; an end-to-end, cloud-based platform that builds an ecosystem of financiers, large corporates, and MSMEs to facilitate Supply Chain Financing and Collections in one place. It supports various working capital solutions such as invoice discounting, factoring and, dynamic discounting.
As a way of ensuring that people at bottom of the pyramid have equal access to financial services, FinTech Uganda distributes point-of-sale (POS) terminals to different financial institutions who later then re-distribute the same to low-level kind of customers.
According to Priscilla Kemigisha, the Projects Team Leader at Fintech Group, the company is implementing financial inclusion best practices such as real-time transactions, same-day settlements, and tiered KYC among others.
“As FinTech Uganda, we have systems that are able to give our customers real-time notifications. For example, the traders in URA, when they get to make payments for their goods, they are able to get real-time notifications that payments are received and it enables them clear their goods in time. We have systems that handle mobile banking, and internet banking as well,” Kemigisha says.
Kemigisha further notes that Uganda and Africa at large are headed for a fully digitized economy because automation is the way to go. She however says there is a need to address the challenge of user retention and user experiences.
“We should find solutions to the issue of user experience so that we can retain and gain more customers,” she says.
She also cites a challenge of data security and inability to adhere to government regulations but calls on FinTechs to make sure that they go through what the policies say and engage legal teams to ensure compliance.
40-Days 40-FinTechs
FinTech Uganda is participant number 38 in this year’s 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative organized by HiPipo. The platform seeks to showcase financial technology companies that are changing lives, especially for people at the bottom of the pyramid.
“We appreciate the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative for enabling collaboration and networking for all tech enthusiasts. As a woman in tech, I appreciate the women inclusion aspect, especially in the Hackathons,” Hazel Were says.
The 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative is run by HiPipo in partnership with the Level One Project, Mojaloop, ModusBox, and Crosslake Technologies and supported by the Gates Foundation.
According to HiPipo CEO, Innocent Kawooya, FinTech Uganda is among the ‘legends of the game’ and their participation is crucial for emerging FinTechs to pick some lessons.
“This initiative provides a blend of the old and the new. FinTech Uganda has worked with some of the biggest financial institutions in this country. Startups have a lot to learn from them,” Kawooya 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 aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products & services and also share their ideas on how more people, especially those unserved and underserved by the present financial systems, can be brought into the fold.
It 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.
