Women in FinTech Hackathon winners, participants celebrated

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After an intense and knowledge-packed week, the 2022 Women in FinTech Hackathon, culminated in the Women in FinTech Summit on 16th September.

The Women in FinTech Summit was characterized by colour and pomp as the top six teams were announced and rewarded. Even so, all the 20 Teams got their fair share of the collective USD 10,000 reward prizes.

While presiding over the Summit, Owek. Hon. Joyce Nabbosa Ssebugwawo, the Minister of State for ICT noted that the Women in FinTech Hackathon is a noble idea that uplifts women and also fosters overall country development.

“We are happy that HiPipo, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other partners are exploring women’s formal and informal income-generating opportunities that add value to women’s lives and livelihoods using digital solutions. I thank HiPipo for applying a gender lens across all its projects and driving stakeholder influence to advance women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment. To my daughters that have completed this program, I applaud you and thank you for your commitment. Please use this knowledge to uplift even more women,” Nabbosa said.

The Hackathon had a total of 20 women led and women dominated teams. Team Elevation was declared the overall winner and took home a cash prize of UGX 4,000,000 thanks to its product named Kutayarisha; which is a web-based platform that provides maternity services and products to pregnant women in Urban-rural communities with need to have timely and reliable access to maternity care.

Academic Personal Assistant (APA), Oliwaa Events, and Go Green came second, third and four respectively while both Lands Resource and Insure Wallet tied at the fifth spot.

Prof. Maggie Kigozi, who was the Hackathon’s Chief Mentor advised the young developers to use the opportunity presented to them to transform and improve lives of their communities.

“At an individual level, I am always ready and willing to help people attain success. If there is one advice I would give all of you today, it is to pull up your sister. Please pull up your sister. Do not go alone because there is no much point. You will not go very far if you go alone,” Prof. Maggie Kigozi said.

The Women in FinTech Hackathon and Summit were organized by HiPipo in partnership with Level One Project, Mojaloop, ModusBox, Cyberplc Academy and Crosslake Technologies and generously supported by Gates Foundation. The Summit hosted several thematic panel discussions and speeches.

“Leadership is the ability to see the grey areas and hear the unspoken words. When I talk about this I am asking you to check yourself and ask yourself that as a woman who wants to serve my nation, where do I want to play. Do I want a leadership role, a regulators’ role, innovator’s role, an investor’s role or a consumer’s role?”

Princess Shamirah Kimbugwe, the founder and managing director Pivot Payments said in her keynote address, adding;
“There is no question as to if a woman is a worth player in the FinTech industry. There is just a question of where the woman should play in the value chain. There are a lot of opportunities for Women in FinTech. As a woman player, you have a whole list of opportunities that you can tap in to.”

On her part, Damali Ssali, the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) Chief of programmes and project officer noted that as a way of curbing high transactional costs in the financial technology industry, PSFU is working with partners, particularly HiPipo and Gates Foundation to implement the Pearl of Africa Instant and Inclusive Payment Switch.