Ensuring Fintech success for women in East Africa through education

The sad reality of the current state of the fintech sector is that there is a huge gender gap when it comes to top-level representation. Although work continues to improve this, more needs to be done. More in some regions than others. To ensure that women and girls are guided on the right path to success, Sonal Kadcha established a charity in East Africa called Education of Children (ETC).

Currently, Kadchha works as an ’empowerment’ counsellor, helping young individuals struggling with identity and self-esteem issues. This is in addition to the city’s professionals seeking more purpose and meaning. She runs “women-only” programs to boost their confidence, but she believes there is more work to be done in the fintech sector and beyond. Especially in rapidly growing developing countries.

This is especially true in the Africa region, where less than five percent of funding went to fintechs owned by a female team. According to the research firm, British Bridgesall male fintech entrepreneurs received 82 percent of the $12.6 billion raised across the continent between 2013-2021.

However, all hope should not be lost. Although there is a huge disparity that needs to be addressed, there are some promising signs of equality in the region. Another market research firm, Find indexable found that globally there are only 1.6 percent women-owned fintech firms. Meanwhile, the African region has achieved double this average with 3.2 percent exclusively women-owned firms.

Tackling the problem at its roots

While double the global average sounds good, 3.2 percent is still far too small. One reason for this is education. Africa still faces significant barriers to education and economic empowerment, particularly for girls and young women. In Kenya, Sonal Kadchha found that there simply weren’t enough teachers to ensure that every student got the help they needed

This experience inspired her to establish a scheme which allowed British teachers to volunteer in local primary schools in the area. This initiative was the beginning of ETC. ETC’s Code Queen program is designed to address the urgent need for education and skill building among young women in East Africa. Its approach trains them in coding and connects them to education and employment opportunities.

The program not only promotes equality, but also takes steps to close the gender gap in the technology industry. Code Queen equips young women with the skills they need to build, create and develop their own ideas and solutions to problems. The first cohort had an 80 percent success rate in connecting students to internships, scholarships and jobs, with former students returning to facilitate new cohorts.

Building on current success

Fintech Times chatted with Kadchha to gain a greater understanding of how Code Queen can evolve and impact more lives. She said: “We need to raise awareness of the need to invest in young women’s ‘future-ready skills’ across the world.

“We’ve seen the impact such investments can have through our grassroots projects, but even the headline numbers agree. It costs the world between $15-30 trillion in lost life and productivity according to The World Bank. And yet, according to UNESCO, globally only three percent of ICT graduates are women. The differences in developing countries are even greater.

“We are trying to build awareness to close this gap through a coalition of donors and partners who recognize the impact investing in future-ready skills for young women can have. This in turn will enable more funding, which will help us bring in more potential students At the moment we can accept 60-70 per cent of those who apply.

– The demand is definitely there. ‘Linking’ (which is the percentage of graduates that we link to jobs/internships/training opportunities afterwards) is a key metric in our impact figures. Developing more of these ‘links’ partnerships with startups and other software companies is also key for us to be able to increase uptake.

“I see our ‘efficiency’ as the amount of impact we are able to make for every pound of donor funding. We are developing and implementing a learning management system that will allow us to scale the program and thereby increase efficiency.”

A matter close to home

Sonal Kadchha is a British-born individual with Kenyan-Indian roots. She has always had a global view, having spent 15 years in the financial sector in London, Asia and Africa. During the last four years in business, she worked as head of bancassurance for Caution plc in Africa south of the Sahara, and travels extensively across Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Nigeria and Ghana.

Kadchha is now looking to expand the ETC program to other parts of Uganda such as Gulu and the refugee camp in Umbe. As well as other countries such as Kenya and Zambia. One of the biggest obstacles to expansion is fundraising.

She went on to tell Fintech Times: “I think we will eventually get there as it becomes more and more clear that the greatest investment a society can make is investing in women. If the investment is in future skills that are not currently available in the market, this is even better (as is the case with ETC).

“The fintech industry is inherently about decentralization and innovation. Africa plays its part in this with leapfrogging technologies. People don’t have bank accounts, but they have mobile money. The success of MPESA is living proof of this.

“With ETC, we have tried to think like a fintech/start-up. We have been nimble, minimized delivery costs and continued to adapt to the market’s needs. This is how we went from building traditional brick and mortar schools to future-ready tech skills before the pandemic.”