Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 07:58 am
East Africa’s Uganda is rapidly emerging as a fintech hub. Millions of customers across the continent view the emerging facility as a great “convenience”. Consumers are cashing in on great access to financial technology offered by these mobile applications and comment on never going back to traditional banking, thus boosting Africa’s financial technology (fintech).
Mobile money transactions in Africa witnessed a jump of 15% in 2020. Sub-Saharan Africa made up for approximately half of all registered mobile money accounts globally, said GSMA the mobile industry body.
Ever send is a mobile-only financial service based out of Uganda, that is among the long list of rapidly growing apps in Africa. Co-founder Ronald Kasendwa of Ever sends said, “We’re growing 30% in terms of gross revenue … moving about $5 million dollars every month.” But when it comes to funding, Uganda’s fintech startups including mobile finance, e-commerce, and crypto ventures attract way fewer investors as compared to bigger hubs in Africa like Kenya and Nigeria.
Co-founder of Uganda’s startup DusuPay, Kenneth Nitende says the biggest hurdle comes to figure out way to achieve payment system without borders. “Africa is too fragmented in the world of payments,” he says. He adds, “Everyone tries to capture the opportunity, but only the strongest … will survive.”
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New e-commerce business owners see these mobile payment apps a way towards life changing solutions that provide global payment systems. Sandra Namakula, one such business owner used DusuPay to fulfill suppliers orders in China and also collect payments from customers in multiple countries. “With an online business you have to be as fast and efficient as possible,” Namakula says.
According to report by Google and International Finance Corporation, internet economy can add up to $180 billion to Africa’s GDP by 2025. GSMA head of sub-Saharan Africa, Akinwale Goodluck said, “There’s a vote of confidence for the tech industry in Africa. We’ve seen a lot of innovation coming out of Africa … and this attracts interest from Twitter, Facebook and Google.” This year Facebook is opening its offices in South Africa and Nigeria. Twitter has handpicked Ghana for setting up its regional headquarters.
