Women in Fintech: The government seeks to close the gender gap

The Prime Minister for ICT Joyce Nabosa Ssebugwawo has said that the government is conscious of closing the gender gap that exists between male and female innovators in financial technology (Fintech).

Speaking at the third edition of the Women in Fintech Hackathon in Kampala at the weekend, Ssebugwawo said Fintechs continue to be dominated by men, but there have been conscious efforts with other stakeholders to improve the participation of women, especially in to come up with innovations that are not only useful but also solve problems, many of which are faced by women.

“We are happy about that [a number of] partners explore women’s formal and informal income-generating opportunities that add value to livelihoods using digital solutions, she said, noting that to address the gender gap in financial inclusion, the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance has mapped challenges that stand in the way of women’s financial inclusion and financial empowerment as well as identifying opportunities.

The Women in Fintech Hackathon, which is an initiative of HiPipo and a number of partners, has since September 10 engaged and trained 20 female-led teams in a number of innovations, including digitization of ticketing and booking, developed by Team Oliwa Arrangements.

Other innovations include the Go Green crowd funding platform, the Academic Personal Assistant, which enables payment of tuition through WhatsApp and a Land Resource platform which helps with leasing and acquisition of land.

Dr. Maggie Kigozi, a seasoned businesswoman and leader, told participating teams and young tech entrepreneurs that there was a lot of room in the tech space where they could innovate to make a mark and support the growth of Uganda.

However, she noted that it was important that innovators maintain high levels of integrity by delivering innovations that are reliable.

The third Women in Fintech Hackathon, which ended with a summit on Friday, also recognized innovators with the overall winner – Team Elevation – walking away with a cash prize of NOK 4 million.

Team Elevation was awarded the overall winner for its innovation that enables women in rural areas to quickly access maternity services to avoid complications.

Around 80 innovators, developers and technology enthusiasts, most of whom were women, participated in the week-long hackathon organized by HiPipo with support from the Gates Foundation, Mojaloop Foundation, Cyberplc Academy, Modusbox and Level One Project.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Women in Fintech Summit, Damali Ssali, Private Sector Foundation Uganda’s Program Manager and Project Officer, said there are plans to roll out tailored innovations that will make it easy for women in businesses across all sectors of the economy to accept digital payments without fear of loss.

Rewarding innovators

The third Women in Fintech Hackathon saw all the participating teams and individuals from across East Africa receive a share of the collective prize money of $10,000 (Shs38m) with Team Elevation walking away with Shs4m in addition to automatically qualifying for the Women in Fintech Incubator- the program which will last until January 2023.

The prize money seeks to help innovators roll out their innovations to the market as soon as possible.