The Financial Technologies Services Providers’ Association (FITSPA), an umbrella body for FinTechs in Uganda, recently hosted the 2022 fintech conference at Sheraton hotel.
Under the theme, “Investments and Partnerships – How to Thrive in Uganda’s FinTech eco-system and beyond,” the two-day conference convened industry stakeholders to discuss how best players in the industry can attract investment, opportunities, collaboration, and partnerships for sustainable and inclusive growth in the financial services sector.
Day one kicked off with riveting discussions about the fintech landscape, investments, and partnerships, and a FITSPA women’s hackathon where different innovators showcased solutions for the agritech, transport, and insurtech sectors and were awarded prizes.
While giving the opening remarks, Josephine Olok, the FITSPA Board Chairperson noted that as per the recent state of the Fintech landscape study, 57% of Fintechs in Uganda are self-funded and this is not sustainable. She further emphasized that the need to diversify financing is apparent.
While commenting on the significance of the hackathon, she emphasized, “35% of the Fintech Employees are women and of the 189 registered member companies, only 5 are women-led. FITSPA women was therefore formed to create a more inclusive environment in the current Fintech landscape.”
Robert Mukiza, Director General of Uganda Investment Authority also bolstered Josephine’s point on investments stating that investments and partnerships are critical to enhancing Uganda’s fintech ecosystem.
He said, “Uganda provides easy entry for investors to set up business for both native and international partners.”
He also mentioned that FITSPA members will now be listed on the Uganda Investment Authority portfolio to open them up to more opportunities.
Day 2 focused on regulation, digital finance, and green finance.
Speaking about the role played by digitization as a catalyst to green finance, Sanjay Rughani, Chief Executive Officer at Standard Chartered Bank stated, “Banks have scaled down and now have very few branches, this makes access to financial services difficult. FinTechs resolved this problem by moving most of these functions into an app or a USSD function. This reduces movement and ultimately, emission of carbon.”
He added that Uganda is the 12th most vulnerable country in light of environmental disasters and is the 49th least prepared. Therefore, the staggering statistics should encourage us to wake up to the threat of climate change.
FITSPA also launched a Deal book and a feasibility study at the conference. The feasibility study will uniquely position the industry players to take advantage of the market opportunities.
FITSPA recently celebrated its 5 years of existence.