Financial Technologies Services Providers’ Association (FITSPA), an umbrella body for Financial Technologies (Fintechs) is to hold its annual Fintech conference aimed at finding ways of promoting digital financial solutions across Uganda.
In Uganda, technological progress has played an integral role in the formation and transformation of the financial sector. Over the past decade, the pace of technological progress has accelerated, resulting in the introduction of new business models that aim to make processes more efficient and address the needs of customers better.
The progression of these technologies has birthed Fintech which currently hold great potential for both financial inclusion and economic development in a wider sense.
Although these digital financial solutions have expanded access and reach to consumers, especially the unbanked and under-banked significantly lowering the costs of providing financial services, there is still a very big gap to be filled and little is known about them by the majority of Ugandans.
It’s from this background that FITSPA from 12th-13th October 2022 will hold the 4th edition of its annual conference where stakeholders in the industry will converge to discuss the progress being made in the industry as more fintech get licensed and what challenges still lie ahead.
The theme of this year’s conference is “Investments and Partnerships – How to Thrive in Uganda’s Fintech eco-system,” and is a platform that facilitates learning and networking amongst stakeholders.
While addressing the media on Monday at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel, Kevin Wavah, the FITSPA Board Vice-Chairperson noted that the growth of the industry has exposed the need for Fintechs to collaborate with the different specialized and non-specialized professional services to realize wholesome business growth.
According to Wavah, the industry has grown tremendously over the past 5 years, having started the Association with 5 members but now it has 189 member entities. He added that beyond the software developers and programmers, the fintech eco-system has grown and FITSPA is engaging the different stakeholders who contribute to the growth of the industry.
“The media are key stakeholders and play a key role in shaping the narrative around the industry and we invite you along on this journey,” he said.
Wavah added that the Association has structured initiatives that will directly engage the media in order to ensure they have the necessary resources to foster engagement, continuity and uniform development across the eco-system.
Meanwhile, the key topics to be discussed will include Regulation, Capital, Digital trade, Digital financial services and Green Finance. FITSPA will also launch two key products; the Deal book and a feasibility study. These two products will uniquely position the industry players to take advantage of the market opportunities.
The annual conference comes at a time when there is a need of providing an enabling regulatory environment to support the benefits of Fintech while balancing the emerging risks that it presents, requiring careful consideration.
Over 200 fintech are operating in Uganda however only 189 had registered under FITSPA since its formation in July 2017.
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