Our Reporter.
If you are a frequent user of public transport in Africa, then you know the hustle and bustle involved in getting tickets and traveling. Things like long queues, manual processes and the no refund policy implemented by a majority of the players are common experiences encountered by travelers.
It is these and more issues that KaCyber Technologies; a global transport ticketing company and BPO practitioner currently operating in Uganda and Senegal, came to solve.
According to Innocent Orikiiriza, the founder and CEO of KaCyber Technologies, the company has in the past 6 years piloted its system with twelve clients across Africa, signed seven long-term contracts and currently maintaining five due to disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Since incorporation in 2016, our flagship product has been an e-ticketing system for buses, trains and ferries. We have piloted the system with over twelve clients across Africa. In Uganda, we offer a multi-tenant bus, train and ferry ticketing system,” Orikiiriza said.
He added: “Our solution is built based on the need to serve travelers. It incorporates mobile money services and we now have an in-house wallet. We have processed ten million plus tickets. That is a milestone we have just been celebrating recently. These ten million tickets were worth USD 54 million. As KaCyber, our business model is to earn a commission of about 1 percent per transaction. Cumulatively, we have earned about USD 100,000 from these transactions.”
Currently being used by the Uganda Railway Corporation (URC) on the Kampala commuter train and local buses companies including Malaika, Star Link and Highway Coaches, the solution has blocked revenue leakages and also enables passengers to book a travel ticket online, and only go to the bus or train station on their travel day.
“Passengers can use our platform end points like the mobile APP and website to book tickets online and thereafter pay using mobile money or KaCyber wallet. We give the transport operators a ticketing point of sale machine which they use to issue offline and online tickets.”
KaCyber is among the firms participating in the ongoing third edition of the 40-Days 40-FinTechs initiative, organized by HiPipo under its Include EveryOne program, in partnership with Level One Project, Crosslake Tech, Cyberplc Academy, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation and sponsored by the Gates Foundation.
Orikiiriza noted that the 40 Days 40 Fintechs initiative is one of the most interesting events his company has been involved in as it brings key stakeholders on one table to discuss matters of industry importance, financial inclusion and overall digitization.
“Bringing key stakeholders and multiple players from different sectors to have close conversations about development is very key. This is exactly what the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative is doing. We hope they can be part of our journey as we build the technology. We also hope that they will recognize our challenges and also contribute to solving these challenges, especially the telecoms and banks.”
According to HiPipo CEO, Innocent Kawooya, KaCyber Technologies’ ticketing solution is key to the modernization of transport and should be further developed and deployed across the industry.
“The KaCyber ticketing solution is helping travelers conveniently book train, bus and ferry tickets digitally. They are able to even reschedule their travel and also get refunds in case of genuine failure to travel. It is a first for our transport industry. We need to find ways of scaling such innovations and have them used across the region, not by just a few transporters.”
Kawooya added that this year’s edition of 40 Days 40 FinTechs is cementing the achievements of the previous editions – where over 60 FinTechs were transformed – but also building on them to leverage digital financial inclusion in East Africa and beyond.
“Thanks to initiatives like 40 Days 40 FinTechs and Level One Project among others; DFSPs, and FinTech stakeholders across Africa will soon gain access to fully functional IIPS regulatory sandboxes to prototype, build and test innovative digital products while evaluating Mojaloop technology with the aim of solving data/infrastructure localization government regulations and directives,” Kawooya said.
The #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products & Services and also share their ideas on how more of us, especially those unserved and underserved by the present financial systems, can be brought into the fold.
It also offers participants useful tools and an introduction to the industry’s emerging technologies, such as Mojaloop Open Source Software, and guidance from Level One Project foundational material.
The skills gained from this initiative cover Level One Project Principles, Instant and Inclusive Payment Systems (IIPS), Inclusive Finance and FinTech in general.
