The COMESA Business Council (CBC) and HiPipo have today kicked off the inaugural Women in FinTech Hackathon for Zambia and Malawi with a call to women innovators to develop relevant solutions that can leverage on the market of over 600 million population in this region.
Speaking at the launch of the Hackathon held at the Lusaka Legacy Resort in Zambia this morning, the CBC Chief Executive Officer Teddy Soobramanien noted that when women entrepreneurs are empowered, there is a ripple effect on the rest of the region because women are always more likely to come up with solutions that tackle everyday problems.
“I would like to appreciate HiPipo from Uganda for this initiative. For the start, we are looking at Zambia and Malawi but I think this conversation should continue to the rest of the 21 COMESA countries because what we have already done is bearing fruit,” he said.
“FinTechs want the market for their products and COMESA has over 600 million people and Africa has over 1.2bn people. So, with the Western world currently facing their own challenges, Africa has to take care of themselves. Women and men of Africa have the potential to develop and stop relying on external factors. This is very good project that is here to help women entrepreneurs build financial inclusion and technology.”
According to the HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya, the Women in FinTech initiative is part of HiPipo Include Everyone program that we are scaling in the COMESA Region in partnership with CBC and with support from the Gates Foundation. The initiative is designed to bridge the gender gap in Digital Financial Services (DFS), empowering women to become leaders in FinTech innovation, especially women in cross-border trade.
“When we started the Women in FinTech initiative six years ago, rarely would you find women leading FinTech conversations. Today, we have more women holding C-Level leadership positions. We believe that leaders are made and this initiative has groomed women into becoming leaders, registering organisation that have become big corporations that have broken through and become leaders in innovation,” he said.
“So, this means participants in this Hackathon have an opportunity to be mentored and become part of the changemakers in the COMESA region.”
Kawooya says that following five years of success in Uganda, where over 500 women have been trained in FinTech ideation, development, and sustainability, the Hackathon is now expanding into the COMESA region!
“This convening means that the leaders we want are going to be made by all of you. We have the capacity to encourage mobile network operators to integrate your solutions. Now you have connections throughout the COMESA region as long as you have a viable solution. We believe that when we empower women, we build stronger economies and build inclusive economies for a long time.”
The inaugural Zambia/Malawi cohort has attracted 17 participating teams (6 from Malawi and 11 from Zambia) who are going to be taken through hands-on experience with Mojaloop Open-Source Software (OSS) and Level One Project tools as well as Mentorship from industry experts & global facilitators.
At the end of the Hackathon, women innovators will be equipped with essential tools, skills, and winners will receive financial support.
“This all-encompassing approach ensures that every individual, irrespective of gender, can leverage digital financial services to enhance their quality of life,” noted Charlottee Neeza, the FinTech Events Manager at HiPipo.
