Mobile payments and wallets have helped the African continent as a whole with regards to wider economic development via digital IMAGE SOURCE RICHIE SANTOSDIAZ

Located in East Africa, Uganda has a growing fintech ecosystem that many across the world might not be aware of.

Economic development overview

The country’s overall aspirations can be seen with its Uganda Vision 2040 strategy, whereby much of the country will have a diverse, sustainable and digital economy – similar long-term aspirations as other countries across the Middle East and Africa (MEA).

Fintech has been growing in the country and has played a growing role in various aspects of people’s lives. Having been to the country this year, I’ve seen first-hand that in particular with payment solutions it has been evident. In particular for a country whereby much of it is centred around USSD to cater to the current reality of most of its population not having smartphones (only 16 per cent of Ugandans have a smartphone).

Mobile penetration in Uganda is at 49 per cent. This reality has promoted financial inclusion for many Ugandans. In fact, the country’s digital economy contribution is around seven per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP), which is higher than, for instance, countries in the country such as South Africa at three per cent.

The Financial Technologies Service Providers Association (FITSPA), which is an independent, nonprofit, membership-based organisation founded in 2017 in partnership with the Financial Sector Deepening Uganda (FSDU) project that represents Uganda’s local fintech community and global fintech institutions operating in the country. Having nearly 160 members at the end of 2021, they have played a strong part in the community.

Their recently published report Study on The State of Uganda’s Fintech Industry which was done by Deloitte and commissioned by FITSPA, discovered that the country’s fintech composition was around half (47 per cent) on payments, followed by bank infrastructure at 23 per cent, investments and savings at 16 per cent, lending at seven per cent, insurance at five per cent, and markets at two per cent. The following will highlight other of their key findings.

First, with regards to payments, as commented based on my own personal observation in the capital and commercial hub of Kampala, mobile money in particular dominated; the Deloitte report highlighted this too.

In the study, it highlights that “players are typically aggregators who provide mobile wallets, telecoms who provide mobile money platform, and bankers providing exco account services or mobile wallet solutions, all combined to serve utilities, bank-to-consumer, e-commerce, and end-user retail payments. In addition, there is an increased number of mobile and digital wallet providers that are keen on tapping into the payments’ subsector.”

Second, with regards to savings & lending from the report, fintechs dominate in niche markets such as asset lending, solar, agro-business, micro-loans and savings. Fintechs have capitalised on their understanding of the traditional Ugandan SACCOs and microfinance structures to offer digital transformation solutions to this market segment.

Third, e-commerce grew and this further accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic. As reported, whereby Uganda had one of the world’s longest lockdowns, the Deloitte report saw Ugandan players like Safeboda and Jumia grow, in addition to new entrants like Glovo.

The disparity of its popularity is still evident with its reliance on the internet, whereby it can explain that Kampala area has the concentration of this due to it also having a higher smartphone usage compared to the rest of the country.

Fourth, with respect to remittances, mobile money helped the unbanked in the country, whereby today fintechs like Airtel Money, MTN Mobile Money, Eversend and others have enhanced inter-connectivity between financial institutions, businesses and the end-consumer via mobile and digital wallets.

According to the same source, mobile money penetration has grown at a fast pace with over 30 million registered customers and transaction value of Ugandan Shillings UGX 79.8trillion in 2020 compared to 0.6 million customers and transactions worth UGX133 billion in 2015.

As many Ugandans work abroad and send much of their money back to the country, in particular for a developing country like Uganda to have mobile money currently dominating remittances in Uganda.

Finally, financial technology regulations have shifted from more traditional banking to more mobile money, as well as more comprehensive open-ended financial regulations.

This has been highlighted for instance in my own Fintech: Middle East and Africa (MEA) 2021 report by The Fintech Times, as well as the Deloitte report. The country’s policies that have shown the developments of the sector include the National Payment Systems Act, whereby the Bank of Uganda introduced a new poly that will promote the payment systems in the country. In addition, with regards to fintech licenses and regulatory sandbox, the Bank of Uganda has been deploying fintech licences and sandbox to help promote innovation and regulate it.

For instance, Yo-Uganda Limited (‘Yo!’) is a 16-year-old fintech firm based in Uganda. According to Gerald Begumisa, managing director at Yo-Uganda Limited: “We introduced our mobile payments aggregation service in 2011, the first in Uganda, to the then-fledgling fintech market.

“Beyond the limited use for person-to-person transfers at the time, we saw the opportunity to extend the immense benefits of mobile financial services to a great number of use cases, and segments.

“Fast forward to 2022, we are among the first fintechs licensed by the Central Bank of Uganda, and our services are being used by thousands of merchants, corporations, government entities and financial institutions, processing payments to and from millions of customers.

“We are also engaged in a partnership with Mastercard to digitise workflows and payments in Agriculture value chains in Uganda, which has seen more than 200,000 farmers onboarded within the first six months of its commencement.” The Fintech Times

The Ministry of Education has launched a National Plan for Teaching and Learning of French in Rwanda to respond to the Government of Rwanda decision taken in 2018 to use French Language broadly across sectors including education, training and business.

The 4-year plan, funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), intends to reinforce French teaching in all education levels in Rwanda, Valentine Uwamariya, the Minister of Education said while launching it on Friday, April 01, 2022.

She said that French was being taught in Rwanda, but not in all schools, Also, she said, there was a lack of strengthening the proficiency of teachers in French.  

Referring to the development, she said the French curricula for all the education levels were being prepared in partnership with the French agency which has expertise in this language, adding that the implementation of the plan will start with the next academic year – 2022/2023 (beginning September 2022).

 “We have officially launched the teaching of French in our schools from primary to university level,” Uwamariya said.

She indicated that the initiative is in line with Rwanda’s vision 2050 to have competent citizens.

“Rwanda’s position is to have a Rwandan who is capable of being successful on the international stage. This requires being competent, being able to communicate with partners either in terms of economic, education sector, among others,” she said, pointing out that this is why Rwanda was promoting the use of French and English among other languages.  

 Though Rwanda is a small country, she said, it thinks big. She pointed out that all the various development projects that come into the country, and the Rwandans who can go to work in different countries are some of the cases that necessitate knowledge in different languages including French.

“[Sometimes] you do not choose a country you will work in, you don’t know the investor you will work with, or the investment to come into the country. All that requires that you understand the needed language so that you are able to communicate with your partners. That is why we have to attach importance to French in our schools,” she said.  

Minister Uwamariya said that the AFD support is meant to help get the required competency in French such that after the four years, Rwanda will be able to continue teaching the language without difficulties.

She said that students will study French as a subject in order to be able to express themselves in the language, but indicated that those who want to major in French at university would get a degree in the language.  

Ensuring effectiveness of French teaching and learning

The move follows the signing of a grant agreement between the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and AFD, aiming at reinforcing the teaching and learning of French on February 18, 2022, in line with the strategy of the Rwandan government to have ability to use skills from different languages – which is known as plurilingualism.  

The €5 Million grant (about Rwf5.7 billion) from AFD will finance the coordination and monitoring of the national plan for the teaching and learning of French.

It will constitute a Francophonie roadmap for the educational system, which aims at bettering the teaching and learning of French at school nationwide. AFD Group’s subsidiary Expertise France will carry out and monitor the implementation of the plan, as a technical assistant to the Ministry of Education.  

According to information from AFD, the project specifically targets, among other outcomes, to create an enabling environment for the teaching and learning of French as a foreign language and promote the learning of French in general education, through innovative teaching methods. 

It also seeks to strengthen the proficiency of more than 1000 language teachers in French with the aim to set up a solid base of trainers who possess the tools to train educators in French as a Foreign Language and French for Specific Objectives (FSO).

Another goal of the project is to contribute to improved employability through French by laying the groundwork for the teaching of French in higher education and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) establishments with a focus on the labor market integration of professionals. 

Rémy Rioux, Director General of AFD said that French is a common good of the Great Lakes Region, Africa, and the world in general.

He indicated that French experts will identify best practices and innovations for a very strong teaching of French which rapidly spreads into the education system in compliance with the Rwandan context.

 “We are very happy to contribute to reinforcing Rwanda as a multilingual hub,” he said, indicating that French is now an official language of the East African Community – including Rwanda, while English Kinyarwanda, and Kiswahili are also official languages for the country.

“This can encourage more trade, culture, innovations, and peace because language is ultimately the bond that binds us together,” he said.

The Plan encompasses activities supported by other stakeholders in particular the French Embassy and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).

Uwamariya said that 70 teachers from OIF will also support the teaching of French, adding that there are Rwandans who know the language and would provide help in that regard. - Emmanuel Ntirenganya, The New Times

RunCzech finally returned to Prague after three years. Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon was attended by around 9000 runners, among them also elite world athletes.

Four Kenyans ran to the finish line in under one hour. The Prague Half Marathon was dominated by Keneth Kiprop Renju in a time of 59:28. 

Philemon Kiplimo Kimaiyo finished second and Mathew Kipkorir Kimeli was third.

The fastest woman of this year’s edition was Nesphine Jepleting with a time of 1:06:57. The best Czech runner was Jiří Homoláč, who managed the half marathon in 1:04:36, the fastest Czech was Hana Homolková (1:20:31).

“I really liked the race, I enjoyed it a lot. Even though it was too cold, it was good. I had a more critical moment in the middle of the half marathon. Even though I didn’t feel pressure on myself, I wanted to win,” Renju said at the finish. “The weather caught me by surprise, I didn’t expect it to be so cold. The worst was the headwind, which made it really hard in some moments. I wanted to break my personal best, but I’m glad I showed such time. It’s a good start to the season, next time I could reach my maximum,” Jepleting said.

Already at the fifth kilometer, a group of elite runners was formed, eight Kenyans had the same time. At the tenth kilometer, only a group of four, Keneth Kiprop Renju, Philemon Kiplimo Kimaiyo, Bernard Kimeli and Mathew Kipkorir Kimeli, were at the front. Everyone had a time of 27:52.

The same four runners led the fifteenth kilometer. Before the finish, Renju and Kimaiyo grabbed each other, after crossing the Mánes Bridge, the first mentioned one broke away, who then first reached the finish.

“The race was very windy, from the sixth kilometer it was causing problems because there was a headwind. I had to lean into it from the seventh kilometer. I would like to run here again next year because this track is fast. A world record may fall here. Despite the conditions here, it was fast,” Renju added at the finish. A world record may fall here. Despite the conditions here, it was fast,” Renju added at the finish.

For the women, From the 10th kilometer, the favourites Nesphine Jepleting and Chepet Irine Cheptai broke away from the rest, they were also at the front at the fifteenth kilometer and built up a one-and-a-half-minute lead over the others. At the finish, Jepleting finally rejoiced in the triumph.

“I could run faster, but it was too cold and windy. During the race, I doubted I could win. But the mental strength, my head, helped me. In the group we ran until the twelfth kilometer, then we accelerated as we wanted,” said the fastest woman Nesphine Jepleting.

Yeremchuk ran for Ukraine

Sofia Yaremchuk, who is originally from Ukraine but has been racing for Italy for a year, improved her personal best. She finished fifth in a time of under 1 hour and 10 minutes.

“I ran for Ukraine and for all the people and men who are fighting in Ukraine. I want to tell everyone that Ukraine does not want war, the whole world does not want war, we all want peace,” Yaremchuk added, showing a time of 1:09:09. “I’m happy because I have my new record and I finished with the Ukrainian flag.”

Source: Prague Morning