The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Google Cloud Jack Ngare recently revealed that Uganda is one of the countries in Africa where big tech companies are trying to inject money to support many start-ups in the ecosystem.
While giving his keynote speech during the 5th annual conference of the Financial Technologies Service Providers Association (FITSPA), the former general manager of Microsoft Africa Development Center (ADC) noted that Uganda is one of the countries in Africa with a fit to train population whose average age is below 30 years.
“One of the reasons why I’m interested in Uganda or Google interested in Uganda is because of the youthful population, the Median age of Uganda is 15 years, and 1.1 million Ugandans will be turning 18 years this year. Secondly, the Industrial revolution has bypassed Sub-Saharan Africa and our goal must be technology that is why you see these big tech companies such as Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft coming here, to use your software engineers because they are good, young and even market,” he said.
“The other thing is the entrepreneurial spirit in Uganda is amazing, lastly Uganda is also the heart of Africa. If I throw a dart at the map of Africa, it’s most likely that I will land in Uganda because Uganda is the heart of Uganda,” he said.
Mr. Ngare however urged the existing FinTechs in Uganda that they must aim at building a flourishing ecosystem which will attract investors to engage in partnerships.
“Partnerships are very crucial in the succession of any FinTech. For any FinTech to succeed you need the industry, the capital and regulators. This trinity of Partnership is very key, however, regulators are key players because they are the ones to safeguard the public as well as give us rights to move to the next level,” he said.
“Partnerships are key because Iron sharpens an Iron, secondly FinTechs in Uganda and East Africa need to work together because of their GDPs, yes they are growing but their muscles are still tiny therefore they must think beyond borders and also we part of value chin.”
Mr. Ngare however appreciated that the level of conversation in Uganda’s FinTech Industry is impressive.
According to the International Monetary Fund, FinTech is defined as the technology-enabled innovation in financial services that could result in new business models, applications, processes, or products with an associated material effect on financial services.
As a result of increasingly innovative technological advances, FinTech is strategically positioned to facilitate financial inclusion through several different segments such as payments, savings, lending, insurance, and investment, to name a few.
However according to the report by FITSPA on the state of Uganda’s FinTech industry, to realize the full potential of FinTech in Uganda there is a need for governments, regulators, traditional incumbents, and Fintech companies to rally together and focus on several priorities.
These are; Establishment of regulatory harmonization within each of the Fintech ecosystems. Attract and develop local talent by offering the right incentives. Collaborate and build upon the existing infrastructure to create a conducive environment for Fintech innovation and development.
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