HiPipo Money

Gone are the days when the only way one would access health services was through physically visiting a healthcare facility, seeing a physician, and getting treated. Lately, you can complete the entire hospital process without visiting a healthcare facility thanks to telemedicine.

Although Telemedicine has multiple definitions, it can be easily explained as a term used to describe the remote delivery of healthcare services using telecommunications technology. Among the players offering all-around Telemedicine services in Uganda is Venro Healthcare – a medical company specializing in home-based care and e-health services.

“At Venro Healthcare, we offer telemedicine services. Our main aim is to make healthcare available, affordable, and accessible to everyone. We have an online platform that enables our patients to schedule appointments after which a doctor moves to the patient’s home or office and conducts consultation and physical examination, and also takes samples in case tests are needed. We also offer bedside nursing dedicated to patients that don’t have caretakers. The other service we offer is online medicine delivery through our online pharmacy. For controlled medicines, you must present a prescription,” Kenneth Ssonko, the Venro Healthcare Co-Founder explained.

He added: “We started Venro Healthcare in 2020 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. We realized that patients couldn’t access hospitals yet healthcare providers were allowed to move. We have since served more than 1,000 patients and have gone on to establish a physical facility that supports our telemedicine services.”

Ssonko highlighted that their services are accessible via a website platform and on a mobile APP.

“When one logs onto the website or opens the APP, he/she chooses the service they want and also selects the physician they want to see or medicine they want to buy. When we receive this order, we go through it and automatically assign the right professional to attend to it. We show the customer the total bill which they can pay digitally via mobile money, merchant codes, bank deposits, or online banking. All customers sign consent forms to confirm that they have allowed us to serve them and commit to paying the arising bill.”

Venro Health has featured on Day 18 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

Run under HiPipo’s Include Everyone program that also encompasses other initiatives such as FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit & Incubator, and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit and Digital Impact Awards Africa; the #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Advancement in Technology has come with several innovations. Today, you can almost do everything with the help of technology. Among the new things that people are doing digitally is investment. Instead of investing in tangible things (buying land, home assets, or domestic animals), technology enables one to invest in intangible yet profitable ventures. Even though this comes with its unique challenges, when done right and with the right people, it yields results.

In Uganda, among the players that are offering digital investment opportunities is Cyanase, a platform founded by students of Makerere University.

According to Mark Obini, the Cyanase Chief Marketing Officer, the platform’s ultimate goal is to use financial technology to make investment accessible to everyone including the underdeveloped markets.

“At Cyanase, we have three major products. We have the web platform, API, and fund managers’ portal. Each of these platforms serves a different customer. The web platform is for daily users. It enables them to understand how the different investments work before they start investing in them. The API is a technology that a FinTech or Bank can integrate into its platform and use it to serve its customers. The fund managers’ portal is for the managers who manage the investment. We offer our customers different investment products such as unit trust, treasury bills and bonds, and real estate, among others,” Mark Obini said.

He added: “We are regulated by the Uganda sandbox that is operated by the Bank of Uganda. This regulation makes us authentic as it allows us to operate. So far, we have close to 3,000 subscribers and about 1,000 active investors.”

Obini noted that their biggest challenges so far are funding, market awareness and reach. He nonetheless noted that thanks to their participation in the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative last year, they have been able to onboard a fund manager and are also in progressive discussions with potential investors.

“Before we featured on 40 Days 40 FinTechs, the market didn’t know us that much. But after this, our awareness and interest from potential customers grew. We now seek more collaborations with like-minded people to further scale this platform and serve more people.”

Cyanase has featured on Day 17 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

Run under HiPipo’s Include Everyone program that also encompasses other initiatives such as FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit & Incubator, and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit and Digital Impact Awards Africa; the #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs) and Microfinance Institutions are at the heart of last-mile financial institutions as these serve the unserved and underserved. However, many of these continue to depend on paper and cash-based systems that are prone to misuse, time-wasting, and thus inconvenience all the parties involved.

But technology is addressing most of these issues with innovators developing solutions that enable such institutions to transition from traditional to digital systems. Among the platforms that are leading the digitization of SACCOs and microfinance institutions is Zimba Technologies.

Zimba Technologies is a platform that builds core banking solutions and systems for financial institutions with a primary focus on SACCOs and microfinance institutions. 

“I can’t explain the origins of Zimba without telling my personal story. I come from Eastern Uganda, just outside Mbale. When I was young, my family had so many struggles. I lost both my parents by the age of seven and my uncle was responsible for providing for my siblings and myself. He was unable to access capital to expand our family farm. Fortunately, things worked out and we were adopted by American missionaries, and that is how I ended up in the USA,” explained Isaac Were, Zimba Technologies Founder and CEO, adding;

“But I never forgot those experiences as a child. So, when I came back to visit for the first time, after twelve years, I hoped to start a business but the same problem – limited access to capital – was still persistent. So, when I decided that I wanted to come back to settle in Uganda, I said I would start a business to address the problem of capital and access to finance. I knew that Saccos and microfinances play an important role for the people at the bottom of the pyramid as they enable them access to capital. But I believe that they can do better with the help of technology. That is how Zimba technologies came about.”

Mr. Were highlighted that before launching Zimba Technologies, they did comprehensive research and found the gaps in the market and thus started to design solutions to address those specific problems.

“We have developed an end-to-end solution that allows institutions to handle all their operations from managing clients and their data, loans, deposits and to keeping track of all their books. We have also developed a mobile APP specifically for the end-users. The APP allows them to have access to their financial information, view their statements, and apply for loans. We also have a blockchain-based wallet that handles all the cashless transactions. It allows both mobile money and bank transactions,” he said.

“We started building the product in 2021 and officially launched in November 2023. We currently have seventeen institutions that are using the platform. These serve over 80,000 end-users.”

Zimba Technologies has featured on Day 16 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

Run under HiPipo’s Include Everyone program that also encompasses other initiatives such as FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit & Incubator, and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit and Digital Impact Awards Africa; the #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Construction is a time-consuming and expensive venture. A lot happens from purchasing a plot of land to having house plans drawn, approved and construction done. It becomes more stressful when you have to look for all these services, one by one.

However, this hustle and bustle is a thing of the past thanks to innovators thinking out of the box and developing platforms to mitigate this stress.  One such innovation is Kuzimba Services; an online supermarket for all construction products and services.

“We are an end-to-end management digital platform that simplifies your home building process. We provide all construction services as well as different products for building and construction. We started Kuzimba in August 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic as a digital platform to create opportunities for engineering graduates mainly my students as I was a lecturer at the Engineering department of Kyambogo University at that time,” Ephrance Eunice Namugenyi, the founder and managing director of Kuzimba Services said.

Kuzimba later participated in the 2021 HiPipo Women in FinTech Hackathon which it won. Since then, it has transformed into a one-stop center for all construction needs.

“We attended the 2020 Hackathon and didn’t win. We never gave up and came back for the second Hackathon in 2021. This time, we were able to be victorious. This victory gave us an open platform to launch and operate. The Hackathon not only improved our platform but also continues to give us free marketing,” Namugenyi noted.

She highlighted that Kuzimba has since integrated FinTech enabling customers to be able to place orders and make payments digitally on the Kuzimba platform.

“Kuzimba is a digital payment platform. When a customer logs on to our platform, they then register as clients after which they start choosing the items and services they want. Whatever product or service you pick is added to your cart and totaled up. The payments have been simplified and are now available on the platform thanks to an API we have integrated that supports mobile money and bank card payments. Customers can make a partial or full payment after which their orders are prepared and delivered,” Namugenyi explained, adding;

“We started as a partnership but at the start of this year, we registered a fully-fledged limited company. This is a great milestone for us as it shows that we are progressing and moving in the right direction. We have so far served over 5000 customers.”

Kuzimba Services has featured on Day 15 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

Run under HiPipo’s Include Everyone program that also encompasses other initiatives such as FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit & Incubator, and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit and Digital Impact Awards Africa; the #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Access to quality healthcare continues to be lukewarm in Uganda due to high poverty rates, limited savings, and very low insurance uptake. As a result of this, most Ugandans are always just one medical emergency and hospital admission away from financial ruin and untold disaster.

But this is changeable and one way of doing it is through creating affordable healthcare insurance products. This is the gap that Peleyta seeks to address.

Peleyta Health is a flexible, affordable, and convenient platform helping low-income earners prepare for and afford quality healthcare anywhere at all times through digital healthcare micro-savings and lending.

To get started, you download the Peleyta App or visit their website and register. Only registered members are guaranteed access to Peleyta services within the shortest time possible since their KYC and due diligence in general was earlier done during registration stage.

Registered members instantly have a savings account with Peleyta Health created; an account they keep servicing either daily, weekly, or monthly starting with as low as Shs 500. These savings attract interest at the end of the month. Savers will access their savings to clear their medical fares anytime.

“Healthcare bills should not hurt more than the sickness itself. Insurance penetration in Africa is very low under 2 per cent and in Uganda below 1 per cent. We are helping the uninsured low-income earners to prepare for and afford quality healthcare services anywhere, anytime through our digital healthcare micro-savings and lending platform. We help the uninsured save as little as UGX 500 every day dedicated to healthcare. These funds are used to offset their medical bills anywhere at our registered health facilities. In situations where the medical bills are higher than the wallet savings, we provide a microloan top-up and they are able to settle their medical bills and pay back in installments,” Douglas Smith, the Peleyta Co-Founder and COO, said.

He added: “Ever since we launched, we have had an amazing journey. So far, we have over 3,600 subscribers, and over 380 healthcare facilities we are partnering with. We are currently active in central and western Uganda. Shortly, we intend to scale to eastern Uganda.”

Peleyta has featured on Day 14 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

Run under HiPipo’s Include Everyone program that also encompasses other initiatives such as FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit & Incubator, and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit and Digital Impact Awards Africa; the #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Accessing affordable and available credit is a big obstacle to the growth of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Many of them end up relying on loan sharks that charge exorbitant interest.

Nonetheless, innovators continue to address these obstacles with the help of Financial Technology. One way they are doing this is through making digital loans available, anytime anywhere. One such entity that is offering digital credit to last-mile customers is Kray Microfinance. Kray Microfinance is a digital financial services provider that started as a money-lending company and has since transitioned into digital microfinance for the unserved and underserved.

“We are a digital microfinance. We have a mobile APP and also accessible via USSD. Accessing our credit is straightforward. You sign up and send a request for a loan. Our officers then reach out and an assessment is done after which, our officers do a direct engagement with the customer. After this engagement, a credit score is done and a loan limit is set, after which a loan is disbursed and a customer can access the money via our digital platform. Our payments are customized to the nature of business. We have salary advance loans and repayment is monthly. We have traders that earn daily and many of these prefer a daily repayment basis. We also have those who prefer weekly payments,” says Raymond Peter Kiwanuka, founder and managing director of Kray Microfinance.

He adds: “For the twelve years we have been in business, we have given out money to over 70,000 people and currently have over 18,000 active customers on the platform. Over the years, we have disbursed over UGX 21 billion.”

According to Kiwanuka, Kray Microfinance is licensed and regulated by the Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority and also has a license from the Ministry of Trade where they are licensed as a Savings and Credit Cooperative.

“Minus our internal technical team, we also work with third-party operators like Yo Uganda who are our aggregators. We are also working with Interswitch to roll out ATM cards to further serve our customers better. We also actively work with the MNOs – MTN MoMo and Airtel Money,” he concluded.

Kray Microfinance has featured on Day 13 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

Run under HiPipo’s Include Everyone program that also encompasses other initiatives such as the FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit & Incubator, and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit and Digital Impact Awards Africa; the #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

“We are happy to kick off Season Five of 40 Days 40 FinTechs. Last year, we focused on end-user experiences, and this year, we will focus on the innovativeness of the FinTechs. We are having candid discussions with FinTechs about their innovations and latest upgrades and what impact they envision these products and services and upgrades will have on their customers,” Innocent Kawooya, the HiPipo Chief Executive Officer noted.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Nutritionists have repeatedly advised that if we all minded what we eat, we would not need to visit healthcare facilities as regularly as we do. Unfortunately, most people eat to get satisfied and feel good without caring about the nutritional contents of the food they consume. In many cases, these unhealthy diets have led to life challenges such as a high prevalence of non-communicable diseases among people of all ages.

This is what the founders of Lyfex Africa seek to address.

Lyfex Africa is a digital platform dedicated to empowering individuals and families across Africa to achieve optimal nutrition health and wellness through comprehensive nutrition therapy and NutriFinTrancy services.

According to Nadia Malker Nanteza, the Team Lead at Lyfex Africa, through their latest proposition called LA-NutriFin, they are offering a comprehensive nutrition solution powered by FinTech to improve user convenience.

“When you visit our website, you will see different nutrition solutions we offer. You choose and order the package you need and then proceed to pay via mobile money or a bank card. Our team will confirm the booking and the [experts will contact you for a session]; which can be a physical session or a tele-nutrition session,” Nadia said.

Nadia says that because of the daily hustles people go through, they are reluctant to mind the quality and quantity of foods they consume. Eventually, people start minding their nutrition after being diagnosed with a certain disease that requires them to avoid some food.

Therefore, LA-NutriFin provides convenience because all the resources can be obtained digitally. She notes that they work with a wide range of professionals to offer consultation and sensitization about proper nutritional behavior and solutions for people of all ages.

Lyfex Africa has featured on Day 12 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

Run under HiPipo’s Include Everyone program that also encompasses other initiatives such as the FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit & Incubator, and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit and Digital Impact Awards Africa; the #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Over 20 women-led and women-dominated teams took part in the 2021 HiPipo Women in FinTech Hackathon. Among these teams was one named Belle Beauty. At the end of the Hackathon, this team came out with a minimum viable product (MVP) of a platform that would connect beauticians with customers.

But that was just an MVP! Alice Sharon Namugerwa, the founder of Belle Beauty, knew that she had to put a team together to transform this MVP into a functional product that would contribute to Uganda’s economy through connecting beauticians to an already market. Indeed, from 2021 to December 2023, Belle Beauty was redeveloped, made market-ready, and officially launched in January 2024.

Originally conceptualized as a digital platform that connects customers to beauticians like makeup artists, hairdressers, and many others, Belle Beauty has since grown to offer beauty services, sell beauty products, and also do event ticketing.

“In simple words, Belle Beauty is a digital platform that connects its users to beauty and lifestyle solutions. Belle Beauty was conceived as a viable idea four years ago in the HiPipo Women in FinTech Hackathon, the class of 2021. We did the feasibility about two years ago and have since gone on to launch. At first, we were only doing services, then added products and now we have added event ticketing services. Belle Beauty is accessible as an APP downloadable on Google Play and Apple store and also accessible through the website,” Ashley Ainomugisha, the Belle Beauty Publicity Relations Officer said.

She added: “When one downloads the Belle Beauty APP and registers, they can start to place their orders; be it products or services or tickets. At the end of the order, a customer checks out and then the order is received by the service provider. At the checkout point, the customer can then complete the transaction by making a digital payment either through mobile money or a bank transaction. Our services and products are pre-ordered and pre-paid. As Belle Beauty, we ensure that after the payment is made, the service provider completes the service, after which we remit the payment.”

She noted that, so far, Belle Beauty is serving more than 2,000 unique customers and has over 100 listed service providers, product manufacturers, distributors and sellers.

Belle Beauty has featured on Day 11 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

Run under HiPipo’s Include Everyone program that also encompasses other initiatives such as FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit & Incubator, and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit and Digital Impact Awards Africa; the #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

“We are happy to kick off Season Five of 40 Days 40 FinTechs. Last year, we focused on end-user experiences, and this year, we will focus on the innovativeness of the FinTechs. We are having candid discussions with FinTechs about their innovations and latest upgrades and what impact they envision these products and services and upgrades will have on their customers,” Innocent Kawooya, the HiPipo Chief Executive Officer noted.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Paying and collection of rent is a huge hustle. While most tenants are willing to pay rent, they are unable to pay it timely due to multiple financial pressures and hard economic times. Delayed rent payments in turn affect landlords as they are unable to appropriately earn from their investments.

To cure this, innovators are using technology to manage rent payment and collection, making it predictable and transparent for both tenants and landlords.

One solution that was developed to mitigate these challenges is RentBeta; a platform created specifically to reduce the stress and burden that comes with paying and collecting rent.

“Our overall goal is to ensure that whether you are a tenant or a landlord, you never miss a rent payment. We created a mobile platform that allows tenants to pay their rent in micro instalments. We created this platform after realizing that the majority of people who struggle with paying rent consistently are those who don’t have a standard monthly income. We thus created something that would serve these people so that they can pay daily, weekly or bi-weekly,” Brian Tweheyo, the RentBeta Founder and CEO said.

He added: “If you are a tenant whose landlord has already signed up with RentBeta, then you don’t need to create a schedule because your landlord would have already created it. Those whose landlords are not on RentBeta create their schedule. After this, we break it down for you and for instance, if your monthly rent is UGX 600,000, then the schedule will indicate that you will pay UGX 20,000 per day until the full payment is done.”

Mr Tweheyo noted that this model guarantees that rent money is safe as it is a form of target saving that can only be used for paying rent, and not anything else.

“On the side of the landlords, we guarantee predictability of rent payments. We agree with a landlord, pay them upfront, and then collect the money from the tenants through a convenient payment schedule.”

He highlighted that currently, most of their payments are digital, through mobile money but with plans to add bank cards and direct transfers.

RentBeta has featured on Day 10 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

Run under HiPipo’s Include Everyone program that also encompasses other initiatives such as FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit & Incubator, and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit and Digital Impact Awards Africa; the #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

“We are happy to kick off Season Five of 40 Days 40 FinTechs. Last year, we focused on end-user experiences, and this year, we will focus on the innovativeness of the FinTechs. We are having candid discussions with FinTechs about their innovations and latest upgrades and what impact they envision these products and services and upgrades will have on their customers,” Innocent Kawooya, the HiPipo Chief Executive Officer noted.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

It is by default that every human being requires healthcare services at some point in their lives. However, many people cannot access quality healthcare services due to affordability, accessibility, and availability issues. As such, quality healthcare continues to be a preserve of the few, yet it is a need for everyone.

Nonetheless, multifaceted efforts are being undertaken to change this and make healthcare services affordable, accessible, reliable, and equitable for everyone, especially the people at the bottom of the pyramid. And, this is where My Doctor comes in.

My Doctor is a digital healthcare services platform that is transforming the traditional healthcare system like never before. Attached to a physical health centre in Nansana Municipality, Wakiso District, My Doctor is using telemedicine to provide equitable healthcare services by ensuring that people, especially those with emergencies easily reach out to professional medical services providers either through a phone call or social media, text, audio, and video.

Dr. David Mwesigwa, the Medical in-charge of My Doctor Digital Health Care Services, noted that, although a new concept, Telemedicine is changing the way healthcare services are provided and perceived as it is timely and convenient.

“The traditional health system is not failing. It continues to work.  However, we are in a technology era and as healthcare service providers, we can’t be left behind. We must move with technology and move where the world is going. We need to continuously innovate around how best we can serve our customers. We need to close the gaps that haven’t been closed by the traditional healthcare system. We are implementing telemedicine to serve customers who may not be able to visit us physically,” Dr Mwesigwa said, adding:

“From the community we are operating in, telemedicine has been warmly welcomed. We are having more clients embracing telemedicine, even those who preferred the traditional healthcare system are now switching to telemedicine because it is convenient, time-saving, and cheaper compared to physical healthcare visits, more so for mild ailments that can be diagnosed remotely. For example, some tests like HIV can be done from the comfort of someone’s home. So, when they call, we send laboratory personnel with the necessary equipment, the test is done and results are given immediately. For those, we can’t complete from a home set-up, we collect samples, take them to the laboratory, and share the results later on. For okay results, we can send them digitally but for concerning, worrying, and disturbing results, we reach out to the client and do physical counseling before we share these results.”

Dr. Mwesigwa highlighted that My Doctor has since embedded digital payments into their telemedicine proposition thus allowing the customers a chance to receive healthcare services and conveniently pay either through mobile money, bank transactions, or cash; whichever they prefer.

He revealed that in 2023 alone, over 4,600 customers reached out to My Doctor through the telemedicine approach while in the first half of 2024, at least 4,200 people have reached out via the same telemedicine service.

“In just six months of 2024, we are almost surpassing the number of customers we served in 2023. Majority of those that call seeking these services are women. This shows the high interest and belief that clients have in telemedicine.”

My Doctor Healthcare Services has featured on Day 9 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.

Run under HiPipo’s Include Everyone program that also encompasses other initiatives such as FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit & Incubator, and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit and Digital Impact Awards Africa; the #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

“We are happy to kick off Season Five of 40 Days 40 FinTechs. Last year, we focused on end-user experiences, and this year, we will focus on the innovativeness of the FinTechs. We are going to have candid discussions with FinTechs about their innovations and latest upgrades and what impact they envision these products and services and upgrades will have on their customers,” Innocent Kawooya, the HiPipo Chief Executive Officer noted.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.