The first Women in FinTech Hackathon for Zambia and Malawi was launched today by the COMESA Business Council (CBC) and HiPipo, who called on female innovators to provide pertinent solutions that can take advantage of the region’s 600 million+ consumers.
CBC Chief Executive Officer Teddy Soobramanien said during the opening of the hackathon this morning at the Lusaka Legacy Resort in Zambia that when women entrepreneurs are empowered, it has a subsequent effect on the rest of the region because women are always more likely to come up with solutions that address common problems.
“I would like to thank HiPipo from Uganda for this initiative. To start, we are looking at Zambia and Malawi, but I think this conversation should continue with 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 1.2 billion people. So, with the Western world currently facing their own challenges, Africa have to take care of themselves. Women and men of Africa have the potential to develop and stop relying on external factors. This is a very good project that is here to help women entrepreneurs build financial inclusion and technology.”
The Women in FinTech initiative is a component of the HiPipo Include Everyone program, which is being scaled across the COMESA Region in collaboration with CBC and with assistance from the Gates Foundation, according to HiPipo CEO, Innocent Kawooya. By empowering women to lead fintech innovation, particularly in cross-border trade, the program aims to close the gender gap in digital financial services (DFS).
He said “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 high-level leadership positions. We believe that leaders are made, and this initiative has groomed women into becoming leaders, registering organisations that have become big corporations that have broken through and become leaders in innovation.”
“So, this means participants in this hackathon have an opportunity to be mentored and become part of the changemakers in the COMESA region.”
According to Kawooya, the Hackathon is now spreading throughout the COMESA region after five years of success in Uganda, where more than 500 women received training in FinTech ideation, development, and sustainability.
“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.”
17 teams have signed up for the first Zambia/Malawi cohort, 6 from Malawi and 11 from Zambia. These teams will receive mentorship from global facilitators and industry experts in addition to practical experience with Mojaloop Open-Source Software (OSS) and Level One Project tools.
Women inventors will have the necessary tools and abilities at the end of the hackathon, and the winners will get cash assistance.
Charlottee Neeza, the FinTech Events Manager at HiPipo, noted “This all-encompassing approach ensures that every individual, irrespective of gender, can leverage digital financial services to enhance their quality of life.”
