Our Reporter.
Alpteq ICT Solutions is a Financial Technology Company (FinTech) with a mission to become a leader in providing homemade solutions that mostly target the underserved population.
Founded in 2018, the FinTech offers a wide range of ICT solutions to women, schools and people in the informal sector, using innovative products.
It has over the last one year innovated three major products that can be easily used by the public. These are Easelend, POS UG and School Novas.
Easelend is a Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization (Sacco) software that is meant to help Saccos automate their day-to-day operations and finance management. Given that most Saccos operate informally, they find it difficult to manage daily operations and the software thus helps them to track members’ deposits, gives all Sacco members a credit score and helps them manage saccos expenses, thus ensuring transparency.
“Most saccos are women dominated. They need support to grow because when you empower a woman, you have empowered a full nation. Easelend is the software that all these Saccos need,” The Alpteq ICT solutions Team Leader Fred Musisi says.
The POS UG product on the other hand helps small businesses easily do book keeping. It targets the sector that most people do not wish go to.
“We found out that informal traders in downtown have booking keeping and expenses management challenges and that is why developed this solution,” Musisi notes.
POS UG, tracks expenses, sales and incomes of the business and helps the business to know its financial health position at every moment.
About 100 shops in downtown Kampala are already using this product since its launch at the end of 2019. Those using it are already giving positive feedback.
Musisi nonetheless notes that while the Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on their rollout, they are on course.
POS UG is in the process of getting a financial management module that will enable its users to save and borrow from the POS community members.
Good for Teachers, Parents and Students.
Alpteq ICT solutions’ third product is School Novas, a product that helps schools manage their operations easily yet also allowing pupils to revise at their convenience.
“Just like other businesses, schools also have challenges of managing finances. Remember many teachers are ladies so they are badly hit by this mismanagement,” Musisi says.
He notes that due to high demand, they are introducing an e-learning module in the School Novas product to enable students easily revise on their own at home at a subsidized cost to be done via mobile money or payments cards.
Musisi applauded HiPipo for organising the 40-days-40 FinTechs initiative, saying that the project has given them a chance to learn, share ideas and also come to speed with latest technologies.
“We are excited about the future of FinTechs and tech lovers in Uganda,” he says.
Alpteq is one of the firms taking part in the 40-days-40-FinTech initiative, organised by HiPipo under its Include EveryOne programme, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop. The firm featured on day 3 of the project.
The initiative seeks to enable FinTechs to innovate solutions that facilitate cross-network financial transactions at minimal risks to enhance access to financial services.
The initiative will see the participating 40 FinTechs acquire interoperable development skills to improve access to financial services, using the Mojaloop open source software.
The HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya says: “I am happy to see developers such as Alpteq thinking widely and boldly.”
“The 40-days-40-FinTechs initiative was designed to tell the prime financial inclusion stories of Uganda and Africa. One of those stories is that of Alpteq team. Their three main products target a huge base – schools, informal traders, retail, wholesale shops and Saccos. Many of these are dominated by women. It is nice to see more companies targeting women,” Kawooya notes.
He notes that as an open source software, Mojaloop will help Alpteq create an interoperable payment solution that would see all its three products communicating to each other.
“Mojaloop will help you break all the barriers and create one ecosystem that will benefit everyone. As HiPipo, we are ready to help Alpteq improve its products and massively roll them out. Like we always say, an economy that includes everyone, benefits everyone.”
