Podcasts about ussd

- Trên cơ sở kết quả và đánh giá đà tăng trưởng kim ngạch xuất nhập khẩu giữa Việt Nam và Philippines trong 10 tháng đầu năm 2024, Thương vụ Việt Nam tại Philippines dự báo tổng kim ngạch xuất nhập khẩu giữa Việt Nam và Philippines trong năm 2024 sẽ lần đầu tiên vượt mức 8 tỷ USSD, đạt khoảng 8,5 tỷ USSD, trong đó xuất siêu trên 3 tỷ USD. Chủ đề : Philippines, xuất khẩu --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vov1tintuc/support

Dein Schnellsicherungssystem noch schneller.

Czy łatwo jest zapewnić bezpieczeństwo w takiej firmie jak Allegro? Na czym polegają ofensywne, a na czym defensywne role w obszarze security, gdzie się przecinają i jak ze sobą współpracują? Czym jest, jak działa i co nam daje purple teaming?  Jak podnosimy kompetencje pracowników Allegro z obszaru technologii w zakresie świadomości zagrożeń i unikania błędów bezpieczeństwa? O naszych zmaganiach z podatnością log4shell, programie bug bounty od Allegro i projekcie Malware Information Sharing Platform dla firm posłuchacie w dziesiątym odcinku Allegro Tech Podcast z udziałem Łukasza Basy (Manager, IT Security) i Marcina Ratajczyka (IT Security Specialist).  Łukasz BasaŁukasz jest IT Security Managerem w Allegro. Posiada ponad dziesięcioletnie doświadczenie zawodowe w dziedzinie cyberbezpieczeństwa, budowy i zarządzania infrastrukturą informatyczną. Rozpoczął swoją ścieżkę zawodową pracując nad tworzeniem innowacyjnych systemów uwierzytelniania przy użyciu komunikacji USSD, a następnie spędził dekadę w sektorze finansowym, utrzymując bezpieczeństwo informatyczne w bankach z pierwszej dziesiątki w Polsce. Absolwent Akademii Górniczo-Hutniczej im. Stanisława Staszica w Krakowie, gdzie uzyskał tytuł magistra informatyki. Posiada certyfikaty branżowe CISSP, CEH, PN-EN ISO/IEC 27001:2017-06 Lead Auditor. Marcin RatajczykJest członkiem zespołu reagowania na incydenty bezpieczeństwa IT w Allegro. Na co dzień jego obowiązki skupiają się na obronie pracowników Allegro oraz użytkowników samej platformy przed cyberzagrożeniami. Ulubionymi obszarami Marcina w IT Security są Threat Hunting oraz Digital Forensics. W wolnym czasie uzupełnia wiedzę z historii świata po 1945 roku oraz stosunków międzynarodowych.

जम्मू कश्मीर की पांच लोकसभा सीटों में से सबसे हॉट सीट माने जाने वाली अनंतनाग राजोरी सीट पर मुकाबला रोचक होने जा रहा है. डेमोक्रेटिक प्रोग्रेसिव आजाद पार्टी (डीपीएपी) के अध्यक्ष गुलाम नबी आजाद इस सीट से लोकसभा चुनाव लड़ने जा रहे हैं. साल 2022 में कांग्रेस से अलग होकर गुलाम नबी आजाद ने जम्मू कश्मीर में खुद की पार्टी बनाई थी, लोकसभा चुनाव के लिए कांग्रेस ने उम्मीदवारों की नई लिस्ट आज जारी कर दी है, ये कांग्रेस की 11वीं लिस्ट है, छत्तीसगढ़ के माओवाद प्रभावित बीजापुर में पुलिस ने एक मुठभेड़ में 9 नक्सलियों के मारे जाने का दावा किया है, इस्तांबुल में एक नाइटक्लब में रिपेयर वर्क के दौरान आग लगने की घटना में 15 लोगों की मौत हो गई, डिपार्टमेंट ऑफ टेलीकम्युनिकेशन ने देश की सभी टेलीकॉम कंपनियों को USSD कोड्स के जरिए कॉल फॉरवर्ड करने की सुविधा बंद करने को कहा, रात 9 बजे तक की बड़ी ख़बरें सुनिए पांच मिनट पॉडकास्ट में.

support dispatch: https://citadeldispatch.com/donate ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠EPISODE: 121BLOCK: 836261PRICE: 1416 sats per dollar TOPICS: how machankura works, bitcoin adoption in Africa, difficulties, opportunitiesproject website: https://8333.mobi/ new to nostr? try ⁠https://primal.net⁠nostr live chat: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://citadeldispatch.com/stream⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠nostr account: ⁠https://primal.net/odell⁠youtube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@citadeldispatch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.podpage.com/citadeldispatch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠stream sats to the show: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fountain.fm/(00:00:02) Intro Clip: Bitcoin and Austin Texas on CNBC(00:06:00) Intro to Machankura(00:07:45) Discussion about Machankura(00:09:22) Explanation of USSD and M-Pesa(00:10:04) Discussion about the use of Bitcoin in Africa(00:23:44) Discussion about the impact of Bitcoin in Africa(00:38:30) Discussion about the growth of Bitcoin usage in Africa(00:45:39) Bitrefill's presence in Namibia and South Africa(00:48:17) Challenges of selling Bitcoin in Africa(01:19:58) The importance of building for local environments(01:30:36) Discussion about the size and structure of OpenSats(01:31:19) Challenges in supporting more Africans in OpenSats(01:31:47) Cultural differences and catching up in open source development(01:32:25) KG's experience with Bitcoin and savings(01:34:48) Initiatives to bring more women into Bitcoin in Africa(01:35:38) The need for patience and time in developing the developer pipeline in Africa(01:36:35) Future plans for another conversation and updates

The story of East African fintech is built around the mobile phone. Not the smartphone, mind you, but the humble feature phone. In markets where all but the most significant of locations lacked an established infrastructure of landlines and local bank branches, these phones leapfrogged both: powered by pre-paid sim cards that often served as a secondary currency and cleverly leveraged USSD technologies. But it has been seventeen years since M-PESA arrived on the scenes and yet traditional credit tools have often failed to cross the floor - in Uganda, the credit bureaus are filled with the data of there are just 2.4 million traditionally banked consumers, while a further 14 million sit waiting, with their data-rich mobile banking histories all but ignored.But no more. In today's epsidoe I'm speaking to Charles Wandia of gnuGRID who, with Airtel, have built a national-level mobile credit score.gnuGRID is the first and only indigenous credit reference bureau in Uganda, enabling financial inclusion through credit information sharing - and you can find them online at https://gnugridcrb.com/ You can also watch the official launch of that score at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VbEI_0l57A&t=19s gnuGRID is also on LinkedIn, of course, as is Charles Wandia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-wandia-983b4a65/As you'll hear on the show, Charles also offers tailor-made training on credit scorecard development via Credit Tick Consulting at https://www.linkedin.com/company/credit-risk-tick-consulting/Speaking of LinkedIn, that's where you can also find and connect with me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange (please do reach out, follow the show's page, and share the content with your networks)Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.Keep well, Brendan Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of CoinGeek Conversations, Charles Miller meets Michael Simeon, the Co-founder and CEO of VPD Money, a company which promises to create "The Bank of You."  "VPD" stands for "Virtual Payment Digital." Michael explains that they would have made their tagline, "The Bank of You," the name of the company but that there are regulatory restrictions on using the term "bank" in the name of a business.   Charles explores the user experience by signing up for VPD Money during the conversation. Michael guides him through the process, highlighting the flexibility in funding options, including transfers, card transactions, and unique codes like USSD codes, popular in Africa. One objective of VPD Money is financial inclusion, particularly in underserved regions. Michael expresses his passion for empowering communities: "we let you build your home bank." He emphasizes the challenges faced by those in remote areas where traditional banking is a challenge. VPD Money aims to bridge this gap. Michael highlights the strategic deployment of Point of Service (POS) machines, saying, "we have partnerships with all the places where we push out POS machines". These machines facilitate easy access to financial services, especially in areas where physical banks are scarce. When asked about the company's progress, Michael reveals, "we have over 50,000 customers," categorizing them into global customers, SMEs, and the unbanked. He touches upon the future capability of international remittances, contributing to the financial inclusion of the global community. Charles asks about Michael's entrepreneurial journey, referencing his previous venture, VoguePay. Michael explains a difference, stating that VoguePay is a payment processing company, while VPD Money is a comprehensive digital banking experience. Michael discusses VPD Money's future plans, including personalized savings features. He shares a concept of saving customers 20 per cent of their earnings monthly through AI-driven insights and negotiated discounts. Having extensive experience in the crypto space, Michael reveals that he was among the pioneers introducing crypto payments in Nigeria back in 2014. He acknowledges the unexpected trend of Nigerians using crypto as a store of value against their currency.  

Lex interviews Alisa Chinedu of Remita - a payment solution platform that helps individuals and businesses make and receive payments, pay bills, and manage their finances; making it key to supporting the Nigerian payments and fintech ecosystem.  discussing the company's role in enhancing the Nigerian fintech ecosystem. Alisa delves into Remita's functionality, strategic corporate partnerships, and its integral position in commerce and e-commerce. The discussion then proceeds to analyze Nigeria's banking system's dynamics and mobile banking's significance, focusing on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD). The conversation touches on the economic implications of COVID-19, the transition to digital currency, and the intricacies of eNaira, Nigeria's Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). They discuss Remita's role in eNaira's adoption, the application of CBDC in social services, and the banking sector's perspective on CBDC. The interview concludes with a future-oriented exploration of eNaira's adoption, market penetration, and the multichannel approach to CBDC distribution. MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION Remita's Website: https://bit.ly/3OUWbMQAlisa's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/42n16t1 Topics: Payments, Paytech, CBDC, Digital Wallets, Fintech, Banking Companies: Remita, eNaira, SpeedWallet ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT 

Women's Health has increasingly garnered attention, with growing research, investments, and discussions surrounding the topic. Although overall digital health investments experienced a decline last year compared to previous years, the proportion of funds allocated to femtech within the digital health budget has seen an upward trend. However, there is still significant progress to be made. Women's health encompasses more than just pregnancy care, breast and ovarian cancer, or fertility. It also includes addressing gender-based violence and promoting pleasure. In today's episode, we will be hearing from Shamala Hinrichsen - Founder and CEO - Hanai, an application providing reliable health information to the underserved communities in Malaysia and Africa and Mariatheresa Samson Kadushi - Founder and CEO of Mobile Afya - the first USSD application in Africa using internet-free mobile technology to provide basic health information in local and native languages starting with Swahili in Tanzania, East Africa.  Mariatheresa and Shamala were already on Faces of digital health in 2021: Tune in: F126 How is Tradition Hindering Health Literacy in Kenya, Tanzania and Malaysia? (Shamala Hinrichsen, Mariatheresa Samson Kadushi):  https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/women-health-africa-malaysia-mobile-afya-hanai  The reason this is important is, that, based on the meeting on this show, Shamala and Mariatheresa are now building a new app together. Sheher app aims to address the gap in knowledge about female health, which goes beyond pregnancy-related issues. They bring medical education and access while also bringing women into the conversation through personal stories validated by medical info. Their team brings cultural diversity as well as generational differences to tackle this broad aspect of women's health globally.  More about She Her App: www.sheher.app Website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Show notes: Introducing the speakers (00:08-02:49) Topics covered under Mobile Afia and Hanai (03:33-06:35) The importance of sharing personal stories backed up by medical information (09:01-14:57) Differences between the new app and previous projects (15:11-17:48) Adapting technology to cultural contexts (27:03-31:19) The impact of the app, investments in research and solutions for femtech (33:05-42:48)

The payments ecosystem in Africa is vast and complex, with various stakeholders ranging from mobile network operators to financial institutions. Olusegun Otaru, a FINTECH Business Development Manager, joins me on this episode. We explore the Payments Ecosystem in Africa -Unpacking the Impact, Challenges and Opportunities that Are Changing the Financial Landscape. What to expect; Key drivers of growth in the payments ecosystem in Africa The impact of new technologies on the payments landscape in Africa Opportunities exist for entrepreneurs to capitalize on emerging trends within African markets About this episode's guests Olusegun Otaru With over a decade of experience in the FINTECH and Banking Industries, he developed a major focus on digital & electronic payment products and financial inclusion in emerging markets. His multifunctional experience across sales and business development has allowed him to succeed as an individual contributor and team leader. Throughout his career, he has successfully led innovative product initiatives that delivered company-wide digital transformation, operational & cost efficiency, and customer success for financial institutions across EMEA while generating recurring revenues. As a sales leader, he is adept at collaborating with stakeholders to streamline and optimize processes. His consultative sales approach involves presentations and product demos to deliver solutions such as integrated solutions for the FMCG segment, alternate banking channels (ATM, USSD, POS, Mobile & web), Core Banking Applications for customers in the OFI/MFB segment, etc. This approach consistently helps him meet or surpass his targets by at least 90%. He possesses extensive knowledge of the Electronic Payments Industry and Acceptance Channels (EFT, payment cards, mobile payments, ATM, and POS), Financial Inclusion, and Enterprise Solutions for clients in both private and public sectors. His passion for working within high-performance teams sets him apart while constantly pursuing intuitive ways to bring affordable and secure solutions closer to the market. LinkedIn: Olusegun Otaru https://www.linkedin.com/in/olusegunotaru/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/joey3005 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Evangel Oputa https://www.linkedin.com/in/evangel-oputa/ Subscribe to the Youtube Channel: Evangel Oputa https://www.youtube.com/c/EvOputa/videos Subscribe to my Blog https://evangeloputa.com/blog/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ev-oputa/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ev-oputa/support

BezoMoney is a fintech company incorporated in Ghana that builds and provides digital social financial solutions to the unbanked and young individuals through mobile technology.   BezoMoney is a digital bank for the unbanked and underbanked in Africa where we help them save, invest, borrow, spend and send money. Built on USSD and integrated with Mobile Money, we scale our user base to about 100,000 users in 8 months.    BezoMoney was built out of the need to ensure unbanked communities and young people have the opportunity to gain access to the formal financial system so as to enjoy benefits therein. We do so by helping them to plan and grow their finances as well as build credit histories. For more information, visit www.bezomoney.com   If you have the next big idea, apply to the Expert Dojo Accelerator: www.expertdojo.com

More than a million Kenyans have registered for a government loan scheme targeting the youth and informal traders just a day after its launch The scheme, known as the Hustler Fund, was launched by President William Ruto on Wednesday and has already disbursed over 400m shillings ($3.3m; £2.7m) to borrowers. Local media reports that the minister for co-operatives as citing an uptake of the loans, with up to 600 transactions per second, hours after the launch – which eased later. Borrowers are able to access the money by dialling a USSD code or using an application on their mobile phones. The loans start from between $4 and $408 for individual borrowers. Loans for groups and small enterprises will be launched at a later date. Borrowers are expected to repay the loan within 14 days, and an annual interest of 8% calculated per day will be charged.

Kgothatso Kgako talks to Mike Peterson about Machankura, the popular project that brings bitcoin through (dumb) cell phone connectivity via a USSD interface into African areas that have been previously un-banked. 75% of the population use dumb phones, non-smart phones. Yet, another evolving story of hope.Live From Bitcoin Beach

Conheça o serviço Machankura 8333 para acessar a rede Lightning do Bitcoin usando um celular "burro" que não tem conexão à internet. Basta uma conexão telefônica simples, usando o protocolo de comunicação USSD. Um serviço custodial que permite que pessoas mais humildes possam acessar a rede Bitcoin no continente africano, sem depender de conexão web e smartphone. Mercado Waka Waka! https://twitter.com/bitdov/status/1587571483739660302 Machankura https://twitter.com/Machankura8333 https://8333.mobi/ Sobre o protocolo USSD lifewire.com/what-is-ussd-unstructured-supplementary-service-data-4800760 Gravado no bloco 761421 ________________ APOIE O CANAL https://bitcoinheiros.com/apoie/ ⚡ln@pay.bitcoinheiros.com Loja dos Bitcoinheiros https://loja.bitcoinheiros.com/ SIGA OS BITCOINHEIROS: Site: https://www.bitcoinheiros.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/bitcoinheiros Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bitcoinheiros Allan - https://www.twitter.com/allanraicher Dov - https://twitter.com/bitdov Becas - https://twitter.com/bksbk6 Ivan - https://twitter.com/bitofsilence Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoinheiros Facebook: https://www.fb.com/bitcoinheiros Podcast: https://anchor.fm/bitcoinheiros COMO GUARDAR SEUS BITCOINS? Bitcoinheiros recomendam o uso de carteiras Multisig com Hardware Wallets de diferentes fabricantes ou próprias. Para ver as carteiras de hardware que recomendamos, acesse https://www.bitcoinheiros.com/carteiras Veja os descontos e clique nos links de afiliados para ajudar o canal Por exemplo, para a COLDCARD - https://store.coinkite.com/promo/bitcoinheiros Com o código "bitcoinheiros" você ganha 5% de desconto na ColdCard Playlist "Canivete Suíço Bitcoinheiro" https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgcVYwONyxmg-KH5bwzMU4sdyMbVMPqwb Playlist "Carteiras Multisig de Bitcoin" https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgcVYwONyxmi74PiIUSnGieNIPqmtmdjW ISENÇÃO DE RESPONSABILIDADE: Este conteúdo foi preparado para fins meramente informativos. NÃO é uma recomendação financeira nem de investimento. As opiniões apresentadas são apenas opiniões. Faça sua própria pesquisa. Não nos responsabilizamos por qualquer decisão de investimento que você tomar ou ação que você executar inspirada em nossos vídeos. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bitcoinheiros/message

Kgothatso Ngako is the lead catalyst at Machankura, a service on the Bitcoin and Lightning Networks that enables people in Ghana, Namibia, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Malawi, South Africa, and Zambia (so far!) to send and receive Bitcoin over cellular network protocols (GSM and USSD) using Lightning addresses.He is not only Changing the Tide with this service but also through Exonumia Africa, his open-source initiative to translate leading Bitcoin content into native African languages.Imagine millions of people across the continent of Africa understanding and using Bitcoin. Not on smartphones. But on feature phones that act like "hardware wallets."This is the future Machankura is creating. And it's happening now.Links:Kgothatso's Twitter handle: @440UrPpMachankura's Twitter handle: @Machankura8333Exonumia Africa's Twitter handle: @ExonumiaAfricaMachankura's website: https://machankura.com/Note: Nothing in this podcast constitutes financial, legal, or medical advice. The content within is solely for educational purposes. Please consult tax, legal, or medical professionals before making financial, legal, or medical decisions based on what you hear.Music: "Summer Nights" by Bobo RenthleiGraphics: Kal KassaHost: Jon CrabtreeProducer: Jon Crabtree

The Central Bank of Nigeria has unveiled the *997# USSD code in Kano State as part of efforts to reduce the use of cash in commercial activities in the country. The Deputy Governor, Operations Directorate of the CBN, Mr Folashadun Adebisi Shonubi says it was another milestone in delivering digital financial services to Nigerians and enabling their participation in the global digital economy. He urged Nigerians to embrace the central bank digital currency, describing it as safe, saying it would help in reducing the number of the country's unbanked population.

I'm joined by returning guest, Kgothatso, to chat about his latest project, Machankura: Bitcoin and Lightning wallets operating on the USSD rail.Follow Kgothatso on Twitter: @440UrPpMachankura: https://8333.mobi/Join the Satstacker Beta: https://satstacker.bitvice.io/Bitvice: Self Custody Simplified - www.bitvice.ioBy the Horns:Subscribe to our channels and get notified as soon as a new podcast is released!By The Horns is a Bitcoin podcast about South Africa. You can follow our discussions on YouTube or via our podcast on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts. or Podcasting 2.0 platforms like Breez Wallet.DisclaimerWe do not provide tax, legal, financial or accounting advice. The material discussed and views expressed on this podcast is intended to be for information purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, financial or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal, financial or accounting advice advisors before engaging in any transaction.

Available on Spotify, Apple, and anywhere else you listen to podcasts!Timestamps:Intro‘Fin-techionary' of the Week: Cross Border Payments (1:36)News (2:31)Interview with Wiza about his experience and current work at Chipper Cash(4:54)Quick Fire Questions with Wiza and friendly questions (27:46)Signals: ‘Decimal's Matt Tait on Fundraising During a Downturn'(35:51)Transcript:IntroHey FinTech friends. Hey FinTech friends. My name is Helen Femi Williams, and I'm your host of this new podcast. Hey FinTech friends!This podcast is brought to you by This Week in FinTech, which is on the front page of global FinTech news, fostering the largest FinTech community through newsletters, thought leadership, and events. Oh, and now podcasting. And what's quite cool about this community is the creativity, the intelligence, and also understanding that those who work in the field are just regular people who've decided to devote themselves to solving a particular problem. And with that comes a unique mix of finance, technology, and fun, which is exactly what this podcast wants to explore. So expect this content to be informative? Yes. But we're also keen to get to know our founders and ask them questions you didn't know you needed answering. So let's talk about the structure of this podcast. First, we're gonna go through the news. And if you're a subscriber to this week in FinTech newsletter, you're in luck because this is the audio version. Then we're going to chat with this week's friend, which is Wiza Jalakasi, VP of Global Developer Relations at Chipper Cash. And lastly, I'll tell you a bit about the latest signal article. ‘Fintech Founders: Decimal's Matt Tait on Fundraising During a Downturn' written by Dez Flemming.Oh, and one last thing before we start this interview, I should tell you that every episode, we're going to be dropping a ‘fin-techionary. The dictionary definition of a FinTech keyword, which we talked about on the podcast with our guest, and this week, it's:cross-border paymentsAccording to the Bank of England, Cross-border payments are financial transactions where the payer and the recipient are based in separate countries. They cover both wholesale and retail payments, including remittances.Cross-border payments can be made in several different ways. Bank transfers, credit card payments, and alternative payment methods such as e-money wallets and mobile payments are currently the most prevalent ways of transferring funds across borders.So hope you enjoy our friendly chat with this week's friend. But first this week in FinTech….

In this episode, we bring you innocent Kawooya CEO HiPipo who has been advocating for digital and financial inclusion for 17 years now, policy and regulatory interventions like bad tax, Fintech licensing costs, and Interoperability policies to name but a few. He dives deep into; Fintech landscape in Uganda Trends Technology empowerment and economic development, particularly, increase growth and productivity. Challenges/opportunities in the space. 40 days 40 Fintechs initiative. social change Policy recommendations Future of FinTech in Uganda GOLD: Fintech's contribution to achieving a middle-class economy. Follow up with Innocent Kawooya on LinkedIn here, HiPipo on LinkedIn, and on Twitter @hipipo Find out more about the Podcast Producer/ Host here send inquiries to onuganda@gmail.com or call/ WhatsApp +25678537996. #innocentkawooya #fintechs #Banks #mnos #fintech #regulators #NITAU #UCC #continentalpremier #40days40fintechs #advocacy #mobilesignal #internet #dongo #USSD #paymentsolutions #FinTechConnect #GatesFoundation #leveloneproject #collaboration #opensourcesoftware #aggregator #openAPIs #innovation #kamezaproducts #FDIs #CEOAward #FintechAward PODCAST DISCLAIMER The views and opinions expressed in the episode are those of the guests. They do not represent or reflect the official position of the ON Uganda Podcast, so we do not take responsibility for any ideas expressed by guests during the Podcast episode. You are smart enough, take out what works for you. As of 12.04.22 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/onugandapodcast/message

Ben Lyon is the CoFounder and CEO of Hover Developer Services, the parent company of Stax, a simple & secure way to transfer money, buy airtime, & pay bills in Africa without dialling USSD codes or relying on an internet connection. In this episode of Founders Connect, I ask Ben questions about his background, growing up in Southern America, moving to Africa and acquiring a global perspective and starting a startup that aims at Financial Inclusivity. It is a great discussion, you'll love it. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/founders-connect/message

The Reserve Bank of India last month, in collaboration with the National Payments Corporation of India, launched the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) for feature phone users known as UPI 123Pay. UPI can, in fact, can be used on feature phones even currently, but the process is USSD based. It can be accessed through NUUP (National Unified USSD Platform) using the short code of *99#. But this option is cumbersome and remains unpopular. Considering that there are more than 400 million feature phone users in India, UPI 123pay will materially improve the options for such users to access UPI. Feature phone users will now be able to undertake a host of transactions based on four technology alternatives. They include calling an IVR number, app-based functionality in feature phones, missed call-based approach and also proximity sound-based payments. Let's go through each option. UPI payment through pre-defined IVR numbers would require users to initiate a secured call from their feature phones to a predetermined number and complete UPI on-boarding formalities to be able to start making financial transactions without an internet connection. With the IVR providing multiple language options, customers can avail this service in their preferred languages. In app-based functionality, an app would be installed on the feature phone through which the user can access several UPI functions. In this type, the interested solution providers will need to partner with the feature phone mobile manufacturers to enable a native payment app. This UPI app's look and feel is similar to smartphone-based apps, however with certain limitations of the feature phone. Currently, it can offer the majority of UPI functionality except for Scan and Pay, which is a work in progress. In a missed call-based approach, feature phone users can access their bank account and perform routine transactions such as receiving and transferring funds, regular purchases, bill payments, etc., by giving a missed call on the number displayed at the merchant outlet. At the time of billing, the merchant will create a token with the customer's mobile number and the bill amount of his purchase. The customer will receive an incoming call to authenticate the transaction by entering UPI PIN. And last but not least, Proximity Sound-based Payment uses sound waves to enable contactless, offline, and proximity data communication on any device. Users can tap any phone and make UPI payments to merchants using a payment solution developed by ToneTag. The user first calls the IVR number and chooses the Pay to Merchant option. They tap their mobile phone on the merchant device, and press # once the device emits the unique tone. The user then enters the amount to pay, followed by their UPI PIN to complete the transaction. The merchant device acknowledges the transaction status and the user receives confirmation through

Paul Nilsen, Commercial Director, MD Africa, CIS & Global, Codebase Technologies & Nikhil Gokhale, Head of Research, IBS IntelligenceThe biggest challenge in the adoption of omnichannel banking solutions in Africa is grasping the nettle and taking that first step into the future. Pressure is building on financial institutions with consumers expecting the same level of service from their banks as they already receive from other service providers online. Robin Amlôt discusses Africa's omnichannel opportunities with Paul Nilsen (pictured), Commercial Director, MD Africa, CIS & Global of Codebase Technologies and Nikhil Gokhale, Head of Research at IBS Intelligence.

In this episode we define what Thought Thick and Thin means for us. Remember, we decided to move the JoyRide live experience to a larger venue, so we can have more of you there, We're at Nairobi Cinema. Get your tickets for the JoyRide Live Experience here; https://mtickets.com/buy/joy-ride-live-experience/1567 or dial the USSD code *229*91# We cannot wait to meet you guys on the 30th! Remember you can always subscribe to our exclusive content here; https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pRvh86jITVGT5eP-UlGYkiujPh307PaGNtbajFv5naQ

Hey Guys, This episode is all about gender roles and also by popular demand we've decided to move the JoyRide live experience to a larger venue, so we can have more of you there, We're at Nairobi Cinema. Get your tickets for the JoyRide Live Experience here; https://mtickets.com/buy/joy-ride-live-experience/1567 or dial the USSD code *229*91# We cannot wait to meet you guys on the 30th! Remember you can always subscribe to our exclusive content here; https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pRvh86jITVGT5eP-UlGYkiujPh307PaGNtbajFv5naQ

Hey Guys! This is an episode we've got a lot of requests on Money Money Money Money, we hope you enjoy it. Also as requested by ya'll the JoyRide Live Experience is here!!! And we can't keep calm. Get your tickets for the JoyRide Live Experience here; https://mtickets.com/buy/joy-ride-live-experience/1567 or dial the USSD code *229*91# We cannot wait to meet you guys on the 30th! Remember you can always subscribe to our exclusive content here; https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pRvh86jITVGT5eP-UlGYkiujPh307PaGNtbajFv5naQ/edit

Last week, India's central bank finally rolled out Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for low-cost feature phones. With this move, the RBI aims to bring at least 400 million people into the fold of the digital ecosystem. Now, people who don't have a smartphone will be able to transfer money using the UPI feature. The new feature is the third iteration of the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data service launched in 2016.  It is expected that the new feature will onboard more users and help UPI cross the Rs 10-trillion monthly mark. Value of UPI transactions have increased, but volumes have increased faster. The need for the new service arose because despite transaction volume for digital payments growing, transactions from USSD service were declining. In February, 14 crore rupees worth of transactions were done using the USSD service, way lower than 21 crore rupees value achieved in January 2019. USSD is a message-based service where a person can transact using a feature phone by dialling *99#.  On the other hand, the growth in immediate payment service or IMPS -- another NPCI payment service -- was faster than national electronic funds transfer or NEFT. IMPS transactions' growth in value was almost 2.5-times higher compared to NEFT. IMPS transactions averaged a 2.48 per cent increase monthly for the last 12 months, compared to 1.01 per cent for NEFT--indicating a growing acceptance for faster money transfers.  Transaction volumes grew even faster than the value.  Let us now see how cards have performed. Credit card usage at online channels was higher. While debit card usage at point-of-sale (PoS) devices increased again, its share of online transactions declined. In November 2019, every second transaction via credit card was at PoS terminals; the ratio declined to just over one in three transactions. On the other hand, two out of three times debit cards were used at PoS terminals. Meanwhile, wallets have also made a comeback, with rising transaction volumes. Wallet transactions were consistently above Rs 200 crore between October and December.  Even though digital usage is growing in absolute terms, a Business Standard analysis shows that digital transactions have declined as a ratio of gross domestic product. In 2018-19, the ratio was 8.7. It dropped to 8.1 in 2019-20. And in 2021-22, it is expected to fall further to 7.1. A reason for the decline is rising demand for cash. Another significant reason is the absence of big ticket transactions during Covid. So it remains to be seen whether transactions will zoom again, once the economic trajectory improves. Watch video

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below: Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast. This podcast episode is sponsored by Uncover, the new podcast by ComplyAdvantage. Join CEO Charles Delingpole and his team as they interview compliance leaders, FinTech innovators, and financial crime experts to uncover the latest best practices and industry trends. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS Acorns has raised $300 million in a Series F funding round, valuing the company at nearly $2 billion ALSO: Estateguru.co Marketplace Limited announces its first office opening in Manchester. It plans to start facilitating loans once fully Financial Conduct Authority approved. FURTHERMORE, Ayoconnect and PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (BRI) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to leverage Ayoconnect's open finance technology in BRI's digital banking solutions. Barthi airtel has struck a deal with India's Axis Bank to roll out a range of financial services products to its 340 million customers. LET'S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS: Payments provider PPRO has announced it bought paytech company Alpha Fintech to expand its offering and presence across APAC. AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS Al Fardan Exchange L.L.C. announced a partnership with Thunes, a cross-border payments, enabling Al Fardan Exchange customers to make seamless payments to 87 countries. Zeta Suite, a banking tech unicorn and provider of next-gen credit card processing to banks and fintechs, and Mastercard announced a 5-year global partnership. BankiFi has announced that it has joined Visa Fintech Partner Connect in Europe – a programme that helps Visa`s clients deliver the next generation of digital banking solutions WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS? Female-founded fintech Super Fierce has raised $1.5 million in a seed capital to help women build better financial security. tabby, the Dubai-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform, has completed a Series B extension of $54 million. Stax by Hover, a startup that allows Africans to buy airtime, send and request money, and transfer funds between accounts via automated USSD codes, has raised a $2.2 million seed extension round. in3, a leading Dutch Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) fintech business, has announced a $11.1m funding round from Finch Capital as growth soars. Konvi has raised over €814k to open this sector up for all retail investors. Investors include APX and value-adding angel investors including (former) executives from tech giants like Snap Inc. and Shopify. Branch has raised $75 million in a Series C funding round that has closed just six months after it announced its last financing round. US-based payments software company Stax has grown from a kitchen table startup to a billion dollar business after raising $245 million. Hotel payment software provider Selfbook has completed a $15 million extension of its Series A financing that values the company at $300 million.

Is first mover really an advantage! In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Abhinav Sinha, Co-founder, Eko India Financial Services, a company that envisioned the innovations FinTech brought in recent years, more than a decade ago. Eko started operations in 2007 with an aim to bring banking to consumers 24X7 through a network of business correspondents. After numerous pivots and adapting to the ever-evolving market, today Eko has a vast chain of merchant outlets to provide banking services, especially to the economically weaker sections of the society. Tune in to this episode to hear Abhinav speak about how Eko is working towards making financial inclusion a reality in India. What you must not miss! The pilot that got funded by Gates Foundation. The journey from USSD to an app-based platform. Survival tip: Keep pivoting!

Health design thinking uses play and experimentation rather than a rigid methodology. It draws on interviews, observations, diagrams, storytelling, physical models, and role playing; design teams focus not on technology but on problems faced by patients and clinicians.  Healthcare UX, then, is about the experiences people have with healthcare technology and services. A Healthcare UX designer's job is to optimise the usability, accessibility and pleasure of healthcare technology and services. Remember, the experiences cannot be guaranteed, but they can be influenced. Clinical UX, a niche within Healthcare UX focused on the experiences clinicians and their patients have with healthcare technology and services. Dr. Delphine Huang is a medical director at IDEO Health. She works closely with design teams to bring impactful and innovative ideas to life. Her projects span from health products, services, systems and strategy design. She is also a practicing emergency medicine physician and loves hiking the California coast, finding the perfect avocado, and continuously learning from her kids. Dr Gyles Morrison is a Clinical UX Strategist with a 10 year history in healthcare. Starting as a doctor in the UK, he now works internationally, helping UX professionals and healthcare companies make products and services that are valued by clinicians and patients. His areas of interest are digital therapeutics, healthcare behaviour change, UX maturity and professional development.              https://drgylesmorrison.medium.com/what-is-healthcare-ux-and-why-is-it-so-important-be21b415e681 Health design solutions to improve the care of sickle cell patients with vaso-occlusive crisis in the emergency department https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am5jIA7xKJU https://drgylesmorrison.medium.com/how-to-learn-clinical-ux-through-mixed-learning-fbf147a42875 Transcript SUMMARY KEYWORDSdesign, people, Gyles, clinician, healthcare, IDEO, health, ux, moments, patients, thinking, resistance, therapeutics, clinical, digital, working, Delphine, opportunities, shared, projects SPEAKERSResa Lewiss, Delphine Huang, Gyles Morrison Resa Lewiss  01:12Hi, audience. Thanks so much for joining me. And we're talking about a favorite topic, health design and user experience by two guests or subject matter experts in after balancing a few calendars, a few continents and a few time zones. Here we are. Dr. Delphine Huang is a medical director at IDEO health. She works closely with design teams to bring impactful and innovative ideas to life. She's a practicing emergency physician at San Francisco General in San Francisco, and her projects span from health products, services, systems and strategy design. Dr. Gyles Morrison is a clinical UX strategist. He has a 10 year history in healthcare, and he started as a physician in the UK, yes, the United Kingdom. He now works internationally helping UX professionals and healthcare companies make products and services that are evaluated by clinicians and patients. So each of these physician health designers have websites and have lots of projects. I first met Delphine, when I was reading about design and Health Design, and the work of IDEO. They have some really interesting products, looking at diabetes, looking at breast pumps, looking at artificial intelligence, I first came across Gyles, when we were working on a piece together, he ultimately published this in the European Journal of Emergency Medicine in 2021. He talked about an app for the treatment, the Health Design, and patient centered treatment of sickle cell patients in the emergency department. So before the episode get started, we actually were talking a bit about design. And each of them were sharing when they first realized they were thinking like a design or how they implement design in their daily lives. And in both of their cases, they talked about taking care of patients in their clinical environments. Delfina actually added that she realizes in having two young children, she actually is designing on a daily basis. Okay, let's get to the conversation. What strikes me from what both of you have shared is because I know from working in healthcare is there's a lot of resistance. There's a lot embedded in tradition. Too many times we hear well, this is the way we've always done things. So I am sure that you are used to not just the resistance of human nature and people, but specifically the resistances within healthcare. So I'm wondering if you can share for audience members that really trying to wrap their head around this concept of design, where perhaps there's been a resistance, maybe from a patient, maybe from the healthcare team, maybe from the institution, maybe from the built environment, and how you worked through that resistance. Delphine? Delphine Huang  04:03Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, like whoever you're working with, whether it's a client or a patient, at the end of the gate, the two are also human. Right. So I think there is a, you know, when we talk about design, we talk about being empathetic, putting ourselves into their shoes. And so when you hit these moments of resistance, it's actually taking a time to slow down and actually understand, like, what is driving that? That thought process for that individual. And so, you know, a lot of love and work, I would say in design, there is the actual thing that you're trying to build or design for app or medical device, but it's also about aligning your lining, what could be multiple stakeholders also that are involved in this and so, you know, I think when you have this moment where it feels more I would maybe she A different resistance to feeling, maybe a moment of tension is to actually take a moment to be like, Okay, how can we better understand this moment tension, because within that, you might actually find the path of clarity that you need in order to then move something forward to design something forward. So an example of this would be like, you know, when we're talking to hospital administration, a lot of them are indoctrinated, or come from the theory of like, you know, LEAN improvements, or Sigma Six. And there are a lot of parallels actually, with that with design, I actually think they actually complement each other really well. And so it's about thinking about like, actually, how do you then speak their language? How do you bring in moments that there they are accustomed to and integrating that in order to be like, well, actually, and how do we elevate them through those means the principles of design, great, Resa Lewiss  05:56Gyles, what came to mind? Gyles Morrison  05:58So this is really advice, I would offer not just in healthcare as a way to overcome that resistance. But anytime you're facing resistance from people, I'm not a parent yet, but I've been around a lot of young children, or someone who, for whatever reason is against you. And I think it's that whole advice, the general advice that you would get from David Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People comes to mind. And the first big take home for that is to genuinely be interested in other people, which is something we can take for granted when we're talking about friends and family. But when you genuinely care about someone else's interests, it means that you start trying to read between the lines, and whenever there's doubt to ask explicitly, but over time, because you've built a relationship with that person, you instinctively start doing what's right for them, like my wife doesn't have to ask for peppermint tea in the morning, I just notice what she's gonna want, not just from tradition, but I can sense this is probably what she's gonna want right about now. And I think this can be applied very quickly, even when you are dealing with a stranger. Just having that first genuine interest in seeing how you can help that person, which then should motivate you should guide you to be asking the right questions and observing as well, because especially in design, a lot of what we determine the requirements or satisfy a user's needs, doesn't come from what the user tells us, it can often come from what the user shows us, or better still, what we learn from what the user isn't doing or what they can't do. So it's having that inquiring mind, which still first comes from genuine care about this person's interests. So I found that always worked really, really well in healthcare, I think as well, as a doctor dealing with clinical UX and design and is genuine working in digital health. Being a clinician myself is kind of like a superpower, you kind of get a power up, where when you are speaking to fellow clinicians, and you make it very clear from the outset, you're part of the solution to their problem that you're here to help. And you understand generally, even if you've never worked with them in their department, even in their country, generally, because your clinician like them, that they can trust you and that you're going to understand them because you've got a shared language, shared experiences. And so actually, the easiest conversations I've had in digital health, and clinical UX has always been with fellow doctors, more so than anybody else, followed by all other allied health care professionals, and actually is most difficult at times working with non clinicians, who have a very strong opinion about how things should be done. So again, I have to genuinely care for their interests. Is it money that's motivating them? Is it success of the project that's motivating them? And then see, how does that tie back to what I have to do in my job? What is it linked back to my agenda, and then have that common ground and make sure both of us are happy state communicating about our needs, and then that normally leads to success, it breaks down the wall that people can have, or resistance and build that bridge to connect to so that you can walk across and get stuff done? Resa Lewiss  09:28Thanks, I really like that reframe, rather than resistance perhaps consider it tension, which can be both positive and it does not necessarily have to connote negative. So in the show notes, the audience will be able to read about your respective work your project, Delphi, and I spent quite a bit of time going through your website reading about your projects. And, you know, most interestingly is your role when you're not an emergency physician at SF general is you are a medical director for IDEO some Audience members may not know about audio. And so I'm wondering if you can share a bit about the company, your role. And can you can you let us know what are you working on right now? Yeah, Delphine Huang  10:11Sure. So IDEO is a global design consultancy firm. And we are most like when most people think of IDEO, they think of, you know, products such as Oxo or Apple, I was involved in designing the first Apple mouse, for example. But over the years, besides doing physical products, we also have expanded our services and do a majority of our work in digital experience. And also think about new ventures or new opportunities. So, a lot of times organizations come to us because they have some big question that they're trying to solve. And they're looking for a creative or innovative way to be able to do that. And so, you know, IDEO is a multidisciplinary organization where we were, I think, where our strengths lie, is that we have folks that are spanning from interaction designers, to design researchers, to business designers, to someone like me, who's a clinician, to data scientist engineers, and we believe actually, the collective mind is a lot stronger than the individual mind. And so I think, with that, you know, we are a lot of times given a challenge, and from there, able to explore new avenues that perhaps haven't been thought of yet. In terms of my role, so I am one of the medical directors in our health domain. And my role primarily is to bring in the, the, the perspective of the healthcare ecosystem, and provide that lens of perhaps the different stakeholders that might be a play and the different levers that might be in play when trying to design. And so sometimes I think I think of myself a bit of like, I'm the gut check, of, you know, we can dream all these different different solutions out there. But you know, at the same time, we also have to think about the pragmatism of it, as well, as you know, what is our current state of, you know, our healthcare system. So there's a little bit of my role in terms of projects, and current, I most recently finished a project related to home care services. And I think that this was a you know, in COVID times, you know, this is an area ripe for innovation, you know, we're seeing a lot of movement, healthcare, thinking about what the outside of hospital experience could be like. And especially at home, in our current pandemic. So, you know, I think that, you know, the that this is an area that could be the has a lot of opportunities, because it's actually a lot of patients and families that need, you know, about, I think it's like 70% of patients who use home services or Medicaid beneficiaries. And we actually do see a lot of racial disparities, elder disparities when it comes to outcome and quality of care. So given the one on one nature of home care, I think there are opportunities, one of the things that we explored was, you know, I think they, the key to there a few things that we learned along the way was one, how do we like design and integrate tools, not just for the patient, but actually for the care provider? And what are those opportunities of community interacting patients, even when that provider is not with the patient? So you can build that trust and psychological safety? And second, thinking about how can we design delightful and interactive moments for patients who have a long road of recovery? And so thinking about what is that moments of being able to share progress and build positive feedback so that people are engaged in taking care of their health? So I think, you know, these are some of the projects that we work on. And this is just an example, where design I think, has a lot of can have a lot of tools that can help individuals think through how we can improve a particular situation health. Resa Lewiss  14:11Yeah, Gyles I want to get to you about your current work, but I want to first dovetail off Delphine something you shared about access, equity, health disparities, and sort of trying to raise the level of standard that everybody is getting the same care and particularly Health Design, I think is having its moment because of COVID because of and we can talk about the US and Gyles welcome your examples from the UK and Germany. You know, it basically pulled a scab off of the racial inequities, the racism throughout healthcare, in terms of patients and even in terms of health care trainees, but for you know, for the sake of argument here, we're talking about patients the despair The racial ethnic disparities and the racism. So in, as I said, health design, I think is having its moment. And I would wonder, with your role with IDEO, how have you seen that manifest? Are you just bananas, busy with many, many projects, and many, many consultations, you know, what's been coming your way because of the pandemic? Delphine Huang 15:22Yeah, I mean, I think when it comes to thinking about equity and thinking about health equity, specifically, IDEO, along with many other organizations that we're actually seeing now are grappling with, how do we how do we, as an organization, as a health care system in the US address, some of the some of the disparities that have really been they're always there, but now really exacerbated and highlighted. And during COVID, and in some ways, there's an awareness that we there, where's not even that imperative that we address these issues. And so I think that design itself really has a role to play in that kind of all the things that we've kind of talked about, of why design is a good can be helpful in these scenarios is that, you know, thinking about how we can in a moment where, you know, COVID has really highlighted these gaps in health care, it also has been an opportunity to really bring out Creative Innovations about how health care can be delivered and to whom we're really delivering it. So I think there are these moments where I think thinking about how both the merging of technology, human centered design, and healthcare come together, are at play right now. And I think we're seeing that across all organ, a lot of organizations out there and how they're approaching their work. There's a piece of organizations being wanting to be introspective about their own journey when it comes to equity at this point, Resa Lewiss  16:53Gyles, feel free to jump on that and update us on what you're working on right now. Yes, so Gyles Morrison 16:59I primarily focus on either working independently as a clinical UX strategist. So I primarily work on products in the digital therapeutic space. So any evidence base digital tool that can prevent, manage or treat disease, this can be disease anywhere in the world, on any disease, really. But what I love about that work is that you're suddenly moving the power more towards the individual patient to take more control over their health, because they're in a position to record their data most of the time and digital therapeutics and get feedback on their health in real time, within a forms them of what sort of options that they have to improve their health, or even reassure them if they had any previous concerns, which then feeds into any new treatment plans or seeing their primary care physician, so on and so forth. And what I love about this is that a lot of the issues that we face with health inequalities can be easily overcome through the more encouraged use, encouraged development and use of digital therapeutics. So you know, depending on the statistics that you look at, it can be argued that actually, people are more likely to have access to a mobile phone, then immediate healthcare services. You know, even if it's the back in the day, Nokia 9210, with the snake game that people might remember from the 90s, even those devices still can provide a very sophisticated offering to you. So the example I like to give is M-Pesa which is commonly used across Africa, particularly East Africa, which is a completely digital service to manage your money. So you can access your bank account, just through USSD, which is similar to SMS, but it's that hash, hash key and then few digit stuff that you do in your phone, which then gives you access to your ability to not only draw money as cash from an appropriate store, but for you to even send money to other people. Let's think if that instead of having financial data had medical data, you can give even homeless people the ability to own their own health data when they have a mobile phone because many homeless people, even in very deprived parts of the world have a mobile phone. And this is one of the reasons why I love working in digital therapeutics. As I said before, it can bring that shift of power more towards an individual. So anybody who needs healthcare services at some point is going to have to interact with a professional pharmacist or doctor so on and so forth. But there's many medical problems that we have or medical questions that we have, which can be easily solved on someone's own like we've seen this We've encouraged people to, you know, Google stuff, which isn't always so useful because it doesn't take into full consideration the realities of someone's lived experience and their personal health needs. But people are trying to help themselves. But we don't really have a sophisticated suite of tools and technologies to really allow people to do this properly. So that's why I like focusing on the digital therapeutics, because when we do that, right, we will be able to serve underserved people much more with language barriers. Even confidence with using technology to improve their health, we started to empower these populations. And when we satisfy their needs, everybody else who can take modern technology for granted, their needs are satisfied as well. Resa Lewiss  20:52Do you want to tell the audience briefly about your online course your clinical UX course? Yes. So Gyles Morrison 20:57the clinical UX course, he goes into his second year in January of 2022. So the course is designed to help anybody whether they are new to UX, or experienced in UX, perhaps they've done a recent bootcamp in UX design, or they've even been in UX for 10 years or more, to gain that additional skills, knowledge and experience on working in clinical UX. So how can you change your profession and go into this field, or have it as another string to your bow, so we had nine students graduate this year in 2021. And this is students all over the world, doctors, paramedic psychologists, UX professionals, new and old. And they've loved it. I'm biased, because I taught them. But the feedback has been very, very positive. And students have been able to even get jobs whilst taking the course, because the whole course is taught part time. So it's specifically designed to help people who's in full time education or full time employment, to spend a couple of hours a week on the course, if they're already in digital health or healthcare in general, they can base their coursework on what they do in the day job, or they spend a couple more hours Additionally, in the week, if they're outside of healthcare currently. But it's really to provide people with that experience, and a group of like-minded people globally, who are really passionate about making a difference in health care, food design. Resa Lewiss  22:32Great. I want to give each of you the opportunity to ask each other questions. Delphone, you want to start? Delphine Huang  22:39Sure, I would love to hear more about you teaching about clinical UX. Actually, I'm curious if you know, whether whether things are moments where you see learners or that are taking on this endeavor of clinical UX. moments for them to what are the moments where it's like an aha moment for them? Yeah, yeah. Gyles Morrison 23:08So the most common aha moment, regardless of someone being a clinician or not, is when it's revealed to them the crazy similarities between diagnosing patients and working as a designer, the whole process of there is a problem. So you investigate it. And through your investigations, you might start having ideas of what the solution could be your treatment plan. And so you give it to treatment, but then you still do a check to see you know, you know, an evaluation, further blood test, whatever the investigation that is required, and even still be saved in his life. So here's the treatment, we expect you to get better, but it'd be any problems, come back and see me the same thing you should be doing in design, someone comes with a brief, you gather as much information as possible. And you go through that cycle of understanding the problem, as well as possible, narrowing down to the right problems to solve, exploring potential solutions, testing out improving, and then making sure that if, after someone's been given a solution, they need to make any changes, they can come back to you. And so when conditions in particular, doctors realize that they're like, Wow, I get this, and I care about this. It's, it's not so hard to do is like as much as I need to learn new skills. It's that mindset change that people fit they need to go through as clinicians, we say don't they don't need to change the mindset. The only thing about the mindset that needs to change is to realize that you won't just be now using your medical degree and experiences, there's going to be some additional knowledge you're going to have to have, but otherwise you're in a good place to solve problems in healthcare as a design if you come from a clinical background. And then when the non designers I'm sorry, the designers realize this when the UX to start understanding this as well. They like I now see how Ready got such a common ground with clinicians, I can see how I can start a conversation with them and get them on my side because we've got this shared experience, even if it's seems to be different industries and different problems that's been solved. So that's perhaps the best aha moment that I see. amongst the students. The other one is when they realize how much they can earn, when they stay. That's another one that what okay, I definitely, I really like this whole clinical UX thing. Let's let's go for it, then. Yeah. Resa Lewiss  25:34Gyles, what do you want to ask? Delphine? Gyles Morrison 25:37Um, I'm really keen to know, what advice would you offer your younger self? Because I'm assuming that you weren't involved with design, before medical school? And if you didn't know about design, then would that have changed your your path in life? Delphine Huang 26:03Um, good question. Um, I don't think it would necessarily have changed the path, per se, I think that, at the heart of it, I'm still physician, and I still love the art of medicine. I think that, though, when I, you know, when I think back to folks have come to me and be like, you know, how do I get started on a journey similar to yours, I would say that, that, you know, the path at the end of the day is not clear. Because in medicine, you always have, you kind of have this trajectory that you go on, you go through medical school, and then go to residency become attending. And that path is very clear. But when I think for all of us out here on the call is that is that you have to forge your own path at the end of the day, but that you should take the opportunities as they come because you never know where it will lead you. And it's whether or not it's, you know, helping with a startup just help sit through their UX experience, and you're doing it as maybe something you do as a med student, or going to conferences and meeting different people in the industry, you start hearing some of their pain points, and what they may be struggling with, because a lot of those folks don't have experience in health care, and don't even have a weight of the lens to be able to get it. And so that can be you, right. And so I always tell folks, you know, use the opportunities as you especially as you're going through training, to one learn about the pain points of the industry, but then also learn the pain points of your hospital. Prior to coming out of prior to coming to IDEO. And prior, I had done a fellowship at Stanford called Biodesign. I had never thought about you have this physical product, let's say, let's say a ventilation machine. And then I never thought about who makes that machine? What goes into the design of it. What is components that need to be in there? What is the supply chain from being built in a manufacturer all the way with regulation, with the delivery to and training of an individual to use it, each of those steps, as someone who's early in it, who's working at the hospital had the opportunity to learn and that knowledge is so useful to somebody else in the industry? So I would say that those are the those are the things I would tell folks as they're thinking about either whether it's you know, doing something part time or making the jump fully into industry, that if you're a clinician, you can you can learn those moments and bring that knowledge to others. Resa Lewiss  28:59I know I say this every week, what a great conversation. But seriously, what a great conversation. I think it's obvious to you audience how much Delphine Gyles and I love speaking with each other and love the topic of health design and user experience. Delphine shared that this may have been one of her first podcast recordings, and I'm so glad and feel so lucky to be able to amplify her amplify her leadership as a health designer, and amplify her work. As an ideal Medical Director. Gyles and Delphine are people to watch in the health design and user experience space. You audience have a role in health design, you are designers. Think about your health. Think about health care. Think about health care that can better serve society. See you next week. The visible Voices Podcast amplifies voices both known and unknown, discussing topics of healthcare equity and current trends. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts. It helps other people find the show. You can listen on whatever platform you subscribe to podcasts. Our team includes Stacy Gatlin and Dr. Giuliano deport you. If you're interested in sponsoring an episode, please contact me resa@visiblevoicespodcast.com. I'm based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I'm on Twitter @ResaELewiss. Thank you so much for listening and as always, to be continued

In this episode, we welcome Aziz Omar Masumbuko, founder of SaveApp. SaveApp has released Ukonga, a USSD and APP platform that enables its users to save passively through their everyday spend. SaveApp's vision is to solve Africa's social economic problems using technology. A bold vision from a bold team. Enjoy!

This episode concludes our three-part fintech series this season. In the first two episodes, we tackled payments. In this episode, we explore the other layers of the financial services stack - namely, identity and data. Africa Stack is a play on India Stack - India's pioneering platform of open APIs and digital infrastructure that underpins the country's rapid move towards a paperless, cashless, and digital future. But whereas India Stack was built in one market, with one currency and one regulator, and with significant government investment, how does Africa Stack get built across a fragmented continent? [04:33] - What is India Stack, why is it important, and what does it mean for Africa Stack?[07:20] - We explore one layer of the stack - identity - with Smile Identity's Mark Straub.[08:51] - Identity is a distinct challenge in Africa due to the gaps left by governments. According to The Economist, in countries like Tanzania, Ethiopia or Malawi, for example, less than 20% of births are registered.[12:50] - Another important part of identity is address verification - something that OkHi's Timbo Drayson is attempting to improve upon.[19:25] - One reason why Africa Stack is important is because of the opportunities created by data layer and open banking startups, like Mono, as discussed with its CEO, Abdul Hassan.[23:14] - Whereas Mono is tackling bank customers in bank-led Nigeria, Pngme is focused on USSD transaction data, the telco rails that power mobile money. We hear from Pngme's Brendan Playford.[27:40] - Beyond data aggregation, there is a need for data empowerment, to create opportunities for real-time, customized credit, for example.[30:25] - So how will Africa Stack come together across such a fragmented ecosystem?  This season is sponsored by MFS Africa.All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa.

Jack is building companies that benefit the East African agricultural sector. With NINAYO, smallholder farmers are able to own their harvests as a digital asset. This enables the farmer to store their harvest in a USSD wallet, and sell when the price is right. Resultantly, more food to reach markets at better prices in some of the most food insecure regions on earth. NINAYO's worked with WFP, USAID and the UN, and is soon partnering with some major cryptocurrencies to expand their service through staking.With Maua Mazuri, Jack is providing disease-free seedlings via a tissue culture laboratory, with a particular focus on the banana industry. Soon, via NINAYO, farmers will be able to get financing for their tissue culture seedling farms as well.Jack started as a Peace Corps Volunteer in 2009, and has gotten stuck in Tanzania ever since. He's working to bridge the numerous gaps in market access, finance, data and agro input quality. Connect with Behind Company Lines and HireOtter Website Facebook Twitter LinkedIn:Behind Company LinesHireOtter Instagram Buzzsprout

A presentation by Bethuel Muthee about debt, loans, sports betting apps, financial speculation and gambling and how it messes up our perception of time, using the trick game pata potea as a metaphor. Kenyan social media has been in uproar over the country's burgeoning debt and its concomitant strain on citizens through taxation. This comes against a backdrop of a decade of massive government borrowing and the exponential growth of fintech services that have increased personal debt of numerous households. Credit is ubiquitous and has been theorised by scholars such as Arjun Appadurai and Maurizio Lazzarato, to be a fundamental social relation of Western societies. Happening contiguously has been the rise of sports betting, either online via betting apps, or through USSD codes for those without smartphones. Nairobi has a number of betting shops set up by betting companies where one can watch and keep up with a variety of games. Both credit and gambling are happening on digital platforms that exemplify what Armen Avanessian and Suhail Malik refer to as the “speculative time-complex” in which the future determines the present. This presentation seeks to think through how notions of the future shape sociality that is increasingly virtual and what, if any, solutions there might be to reclaim the present BETHUEL MUTHEE is a poet living and working in Nairobi. He is a member of Maasai Mbili artists' collective. He was series editor for Down River Road's inaugural issue Place. As a member of Naijographia he has co-curated three exhibitions Naijographia (2017, Goethe-Institut Nairobi), Wanakuboeka Feelharmonic (2018, British Institute in Eastern Africa) and From Here to When (2019, Goethe-Institut Nairobi).

How do you define a community-led approach to helping recent migrants? What are the needs and context of each specific migrant and destination? What level of preparation, financial security and conditions does one have in order to be prepared? Nina Mohanty is no stranger to these important issues - being the founder of Bloom herself, and next week - she takes the lead in both hosting Tori Samples (Leaf Global) and as a guest together with our co-host Meaghan Johnson - in a wide discussion for our new installment of Breaking Impact. Meet the guests:Tori Samples - Co-Founder and CTO, Leaf Global Fintech.Tori has a background in technology and fifteen years of personal experience working with resettled refugees in the United States. As a Data Architect at HCA—a Fortune 75 healthcare company in the US—Tori developed products on some of the largest datasets in the world and helped manage sensitive clinical and financial data for 33 million patients. In addition to designing Leaf's technical system from the ground up, Tori has lectured on blockchain systems in university, corporate, and professional association settings. She has an MBA from Vanderbilt University and is currently based in Kigali, Rwanda leading Leaf's in-market team.Leaf is a blockchain-based, digital wallet that provides cross-border financial services on a mobile device—no smartphone required. With Leaf, customers can store, transport, exchange, send, and receive money digitally. Leaf targets the nearly 500 million cross-border traders across Africa and 79.5 million forcibly displaced refugees and migrants, though anyone can use Leaf. Leaf Wallet is live in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, available both on USSD and as a smartphone app on Google Play and the App Store. Leaf has processed over 100,000 transactions since going live in September 2020 and has been recognized by the Vatican, the US National Science Foundation, the United Nations, and Fast Company. Connect with Tori: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tori-samples-a0b85055/Leaf: https://leafglobalfintech.com Nina Mohanty - Founder, Bloom MoneyNina's interest in digital technology stems from her childhood growing up in the Silicon Valley, where she was surrounded by tech Giants such as Apple, Facebook, and Google and grew to recognize the awesome opportunities for technology to improve processes, functions, and more importantly – lives. This was confirmed during her time on the Digital Payments team at Mastercard, with a focus on digital payment acceptance. While at Mastercard, she was able to see how powerful small changes to a user experience can transform the way people interact with their money. Her time at Starling Bank further solidified the possibilities for tech to help people live healthier financial lives. Since then Nina worked at London-based Open Banking start-up, Bud, to build out a financial marketplace and rethink the way we interact with financial services. Today, Nina works with the magnificent team at Klarna, making payments smooth. Nina is a fiercely passionate feminist and vocal advocate of diversity (of all kinds) in the workplace. She volunteers for organizations including I Can Be, a charity whose goal is to share non-stereotypical careers with underprivileged school girls in London as well as Ada's List, a community of women working to advance women in technology. She is a member of FemTech Global and Tech Ladies, both international communities for women working in technology. Nina is also a mentor to students from her alma mater, the London School of Economics and regularly volunteers her time as a guest lecturer or panelist at LSE events. She is also a regular public speaker at events hosted by Money20/20, Innovate Finance, General Assembly, BrightTalk, Salesforce, and more speaking on topics ranging from payments, ethical AI, diversity, the future of work, and tech for good.Bloom Money is an app built to help people borrow and save money in a simple, transparent way,

In this episode, MOriental Bank CEO Alakh Kohli talks of harnessing digital banking opportunities for business continuity, going into detail about how mobile banking changing the Kenyan banking space through innovations like Pesalink and why USSD banking is important for the financial sector deepening. He also talks of the importance of initiatives like Kaa Chonjo, promoting a two-way approach towards protecting banks and clients against cybersecurity threats like phishing and identity theft. Finally, Kohli talks about cryptocurrencies in the banking space and the need of adopting the right framework which protects clients, banks and stakeholders over the proclivity to be the first mover. Audio Production by Ally Mwakaneno Gakweli – Business Writer & Podcast Host, Hisa Technologies Snippet Artwork by Muteti Munyambu – Hisa Technologies

In this episode, MOriental Bank CEO Alakh Kohli talks of harnessing digital banking opportunities for business continuity, going into detail about how mobile banking changing the Kenyan banking space through innovations like Pesalink and why USSD banking is important for the financial sector deepening. He also talks of the importance of initiatives like Kaa Chonjo, promoting a two-way approach towards protecting banks and clients against cybersecurity threats like phishing and identity theft. Finally, Kohli talks about cryptocurrencies in the banking space and the need of adopting the right framework which protects clients, banks and stakeholders over the proclivity to be the first mover. Audio Production by Ally Mwakaneno Gakweli – Business Writer & Podcast Host, Hisa Technologies Snippet Artwork by Muteti Munyambu – Hisa Technologies

Innocent is  a research associate at the MIT Gov /Lab. You can find him on Twitter here.Luke is the Founder and Executive Director of the civic technology organization Grassroot, as a practitioner-in-residence in 2021. You can follow him on Twitter here.Our lifeboat of the week goes to John Rotenstein, who explained: Why some services are called “AWS XXX” and the others “Amazon XXX”. 

Innocent is  a research associate at the MIT Gov /Lab. You can find him on Twitter here.Luke is the Founder and Executive Director of the civic technology organization Grassroot, as a practitioner-in-residence in 2021. You can follow him on Twitter here.Our lifeboat of the week goes to John Rotenstein, who explained: Why some services are called “AWS XXX” and the others “Amazon XXX”. 

Just a few weeks back, it was the telcos knocking off the USSD channels of banks due to debt. This time, in a scenario that looks like revenge, banks knock off all MTN airtime recharge channels. Hit the play button for more details

After a long squabble between the telcos and financial institutions, the regulatory bodies; NCC and CBN have come up with a fee for all USSD transactions. A debt owed but now passed on to consumers. Hit the play button to listen more!

Africa's Talking is a Kenyan based enterprise software company that developers access telco infrastructure with their SMS, USSD, Voice, Airtime, and Payments APIs. Since 2016, Africa’s Talking has expanded to 18 countries around Africa and supports about 5,000 businesses ranging from early-stage startups to large organizations. We spoke with Wiza Jalakasi, former International Expansion Lead about his three years at Africa’s Talking, working across different regulatory environments, and how he married his technical skills with business acumen. Check out the full article: https://www.builtinafrica.io/blog-post/wiza-jalakasi-africas-talking

The Central Bank of Nigeria has imposed a 6.98 naira service charge on Nigerians for all USSD transactions.A statement jointly signed by the apex bank and the Nigerian Communications Commission says Customers will pay a flat fee of N6.98 per transaction every time they use USSD services from March 16.The deal was part of an agreement reached with banks following a disagreement between banks and telecom firms over USSD and other text message transaction requests.The statement partly read that the approach is transparent and will ensure the amount remains the same, regardless of the number of sessions per transaction.The CBN noted that the charges were part of the agreements after banks and telecommunication operators met on Monday to discuss the ₦42bn debt owed mobile operators by banks.

Will the cheaper USSD charge be sustainable? Did the Enugu State House of Assembly bow to public pressure? Do schools have a hope of securing themselves beyond Government help? Those are the Big 3, Lagos. Let's Talk. #NigeriainfoHF|@SEzekwesili

How much is petrol in your area, and do you have to queue for it? Is your bank's USSD service still up? Is there a way to protect the school system from kidnappings? What exactly did Monguno say about money for arms procurement? How is the vaccine rollout going in Lagos?

The Central Bank of Nigeria, has explained preciously the reason for its directive to Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and other financial institutions to stop trading in cryptocurrencies.Issuing a press statement on Sunday through Mr Osita Nwanisobi, its acting director of corporate communications, titled ‘Response to Regulatory Directive on Cryptocurrencies' the Apex bank said it felt the need to provide further reasons about its standpoint to the general public .The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to various comments and reactions following our recent reminder to Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to desist from transacting in / and with entities dealing in cryptocurrencies. Most of these reactions reveal that there appears to be a need to provide further justifications about our position, especially to the general public.For those who are not conversant with the universe of cryptocurrencies, it is important to state that Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies issued by largely anonymous entities and secured by cryptography. Cryptography is a method of encrypting and hiding codes that prevent oversight, accountability, and regulation. While there are a number of cryptocurrencies now in circulation, Bitcoin was the first to be introduced in 2009, and now accounts for about 68 percent of all cryptocurrencies. As regards our recent policy pronouncement, it is important to clarify that the CBN circular of February 5, 2021 did not place any new restrictions on cryptocurrencies, given that all banks in the country had earlier been forbidden, through CBN's circular dated January 12, 2017, not to use, hold, trade and/or transact in cryptocurrencies . Indeed, this position was reiterated in another CBN Press Release dated February 27, 2018.It is also important to note that the CBN's position on cryptocurrencies is not an outlier as many countries, central banks, international financial institutions, and distinguished investors and economists have also warned against its use. They have all made similar pronouncements based of the significant risks that transacting in cryptocurrencies portend- risk of loss of investments, money laundering, terrorism financing, illicit fund flows and criminal activities. China, Canada, Taiwan, Indonesia, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Bolivia, Kyrgyzstan, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iran, Bangladesh, Nepal and Cambodia have all placed certain level of restrictions on financial institutions facilitating cryptocurrency transactions. In China, for example, cryptocurrencies are completely banned and all exchanges closed as well. Banks and other financial institutions are not allowed by law to transact or deal with cryptocurrencies. China's Central Bank, called the Peoples Bank of China (PBoC) has provided several directives ruling out the use of these currencies. The PBOC views cryptocurrencies as illegal because they are not issued by any recognized monetary institution and do not hold any legal status that can make them equivalent to money. Hence banks and all stakeholders are strongly advised against their use as a currency.Even famed investor Warren Buffett has called cryptocurrencies “rat poison squared,” a “mirage,” and a “gambling device.” Mr. Buffett believes it is a “gambling device” given that they are mostly valuable because the person buying it does so, not as a means of payment; but in the hope they can sell it for even more than what they paid at some point.During an online forum hosted by the Davos-based World Economic Forum few weeks ago, Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, highlighted the extreme price volatility of cryptocurrencies as one of the biggest flaws and explained that this flaw makes it impossible for them to be used as a lasting means of payment.“Have we landed on what I would call the design, governance and arrangements for what I might call a lasting digital currency? No, I don't think we're there yet, honestly. I don't think cryptocurrencies as originally formulated are it,” he said.It is not surprising he would take that position because, Bitcoin, the best-known cryptocurrency, hit a record high of $42,000 per unit on January 8, 2021, and sank as low as $28,800 about two weeks later. This is far greater volatility than is found with normal currencies. Let us now turn to some of the justifications for CBN's recent policy reminder. A perfunctory reflection on the definition of cryptocurrencies can already reveal several problems.First, in light of the fact that they are issued by unregulated and unlicensed entities, their use in Nigeria goes against the key mandates of the CBN, as enshrined in the CBN Act (2007), as the issuer of legal tender in Nigeria. In effect, the use of cryptocurrencies in Nigeria are a direct contravention of existing law. It is also important to highlight that there is a critical difference between a Central Bank issued Digital Currency and cryptocurrencies. As the names imply, while Central Banks can issue Digital Currencies, cryptocurrencies are issued by unknown and unregulated entities.Second, the very name and nature of “cryptocurrencies” suggests that its patrons and users value anonymity, obscurity, and concealment. The question that one may need to ask therefore is, why any entity would disguise its transactions if they were legal. It is on the basis of this opacity that cryptocurrencies have become well-suited for conducting many illegal activities including money laundering, terrorism financing, purchase of small arms and light weapons, and tax evasion. Indeed, many banks and investors who place a high value on reputation have been turned off from cryptocurrencies because of the damaging effects of the widespread use of cryptocurrencies for illegal activities. In fact, the role of cryptocurrencies in the purchase of hard and illegal drugs on the darknet website called “Silk Road” is well known. They have also been recent reports that cryptocurrencies have been used to finance terror plots, further damaging its image as a legitimate means of exchange.More also, repeated and recent evidence now suggests that some cryptocurrencies have become more widely used as speculative assets rather than as means of payment, thus explaining the significant volatility and variability in their prices. Because the total number of Bitcoins that would ever be issued is fixed (only 21 million will ever be created), new issuances are predetermined at a gradually decelerating pace. This limited supply has created a perverse incentive that encourages users to stockpile them in the hope that their prices rise. Unfortunately, with a conglomeration of desperate, disparate, and unregulated actors comes unprecedented price volatility that have threatened many sophisticated financial systems. In fact, the price of ether, one of the largest cryptocurrencies in the world, fell from US$320 to US$0.10 in June 2017. The price of Bitcoins has also suffered similar volatilities.Given that unlike Fiat Money which accompanied by full faith and comfort of a country or Central Bank, cryptocurrencies do not have any intrinsic value and do not generate returns by themselves. When one buys a stock, say of a conglomerate in the Nigeria Stock Exchange, its price reflects the activity and production of that conglomerate and the value people place on their goods and/or services. This price may rise as the conglomerate produces better goods/services and probably gains greater market share. The reverse would be true if the conglomerate does not innovate to improve the quality of its goods/services. In other words, the price of that stock reflects market fundamentals. In contrast, , cryptocurrencies do not have fundamentals and would never have fundamentals. Investors only buy in the hope that its use and acceptability will rise, thereby pushing up its demand and price. But since new versions of cryptocurrencies come on stream with new mathematical models, an infinite supply may someday crash the price to zero.At this juncture, the CBN would like to assert that our actions are not in any way, shape or form inimical to the development of FinTech or a technology-driven payment system. To the contrary, the Nigerian payment system has evolved significantly over the last decade, leapfrogging many of its counterparts in emerging, frontier and advanced economies propelled by reforms driven by the CBN. This is evident from the variety of participants, products, channels, cutting-edge technology in the payments system. It is also validated by the astronomical growth of volume/value of transactions and the fact that Nigeria is an investment destination of choice for international financial technology companies because of CBN's policies that have created an enabling investment environment in the payments system.These developments in the payments and settlements space has helped to grow the financial system, improving financial inclusion, the quality and convenience of financial services and has also created millions of direct and indirect jobs for teeming youth population.The innovations in Nigeria's payment system were catalyzed by regulatory reforms driven by the CBN which entailed the issuance of a raft of guidelines and regulations on Operations of Electronic Payments Channels in Nigeria; Transaction Switching; Card Issuance and Usage, Licensing of payment service providers; Mobile Money Services, Electronic Payments of Salaries, Pensions, Suppliers and Taxes, Licensing Super Agents in Nigeria; and use of USSD for Financial Services in Nigeria, Super Agents and Agent Banking Operations and Payment Service Banks to mention a few.The robust regulatory framework put in place by the Bank opened up the payment system to innovation with several new players across in the following licensing categories- Payment Terminal Service Providers (PTSPs), Payment Solution Service Providers (PSSPs), Mobile Money Opera

In this episode, we speak with two entrepreneurs, Tosin Adelowo & Dare Odumade, that have built a business that is dedicated to making sure that you and your loved ones are staying healthy in the new year. Their business Chekkit is an anti-counterfeiting platform that helps consumers make sure that the goods they are consuming, be it medicine or beverages or cosmetics are authentic i.e. with USSD or QR codes and that helps companies make sure that their products are arriving at their intended destination without having been tempered with. Now this is not a small issue. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people die due to #counterfeited drugs and Africa is heavily affected. Chekkit tackles this by a solution built on a blockchain for maximum security and transparency that allows both consumers and manufacturers to track the products end to end from factory to retail point using a variety of techniques to ensure that the products moved with Chekkit are tamperproof. In the interview we speak about

O economista angolano Januário Agostinho, que trabalha com tecnologias aplicadas a finanças, criou o aplicativo "Umbrella" com o objectivo de melhorar a caótica segurança e mobilidade nos transportes públicos em Angola. O aplicativo, que aguarda homologação da entidade competente, permite reportar à polícia em tempo real, desmandos cometidos por passageiros, condutores e cobradores dos autocarros e táxis particulares e colectivos e no futuro será abrangente a todos os automobilistas em Angola, com uma maior gama de funções. Em Angola, os táxis colectivos conhecidos como "Azul e Branco" são o meio de transporte por excelência, mas muitas vezes informais e a sua segurança é frequentemente questionada pelos utentes, com relatos de assaltos, maus tratos, incumprimento de rotas, especulação de preços, excesso de velocidade, desvio de rotas e inclui mesmo uma função "alarme - pânico".. A solução foi encontrada por Januário Agostinho que criou o aplicativo "Umbrella", destinado a operar na mobilidade e segurança pública, e que já está operacional, aguardando só a sua homologação pelo governo.  Com esta aplicação, todas as viaturas em Angola, que exercem a actividade de táxi, serão cadastradas, obterão um número de identificação de no máximo quatro digitos, para ser fácil de decorar, que será afixado nas partes frontal, lateral e por cima das viaturas, através do qual tanto os passageiros como a polícia e as associações de táxis vão poder aceder a toda a informação sobre o veículo, bem como os perfis dos motoristas e cobradores, de forma a garantir o melhor serviço aos passageiros. Benefícios para os passageiros Os passageiros vão poder classificar  o comportamento do motorista e cobrador; Denunciar cobranças de preços exagerados, vias curtas, excesso de velocidade; Os passageiros terão acesso a um botão pânico (alarme) caso sintam-se em perigo dentro da viatura. Contacto directo com a polícia  Todas as denúncias, classificações e botão de pânico serão directamente encaminhadas para o CISP – Centro integrado de Segurança Pública, com os dados de quem reporta e da geo-localização da viatura de onde surgiu a denúncia, o que permitirá o rastreio do veículo e garantir a segurança dos utilizadores da aplicação. Os passageiros terão ainda acesso ao menu perdidos e achados onde poderão reportar ou encontrar items perdidos e achados no interior dos táxis ou na via pública. Os utilizadores terão também acesso ao trânsito em tempo real e poderão partilhar a presença de obstáculos na via pública.  O seu lançamento está previsto para breve e numa primeira fase estará disponível apenas em Luanda através das plataformas iOS, Android e Web e está prevista a disponibilização das mesmas funcionalidades para telemóveis que não são smartphones, através da tecnologia USSD.  

Recognizing Talent & Cultivating A Pipeline Strategies For Ensuring An Inclusive USSD by Women of Color Advancing Peace & Security

On this 8th episode of the RIA podcast we are discussing COVID-19 contact tracing with Dr. David Johnson from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Cape Town. David has recently conducted research on contact tracing which he will be discussing, as well as South Africa's new contact tracing app, COVID Alert. In it we talk about contact tracing at both technological and non-technological levels. First we will discuss what contact tracing is, then we will discuss technological approaches to contact tracing. We will then discuss both the technological limits of, and access barriers to contact tracing. We will also discuss South Africa's previous mobile-location based contact tracing approach, and the WhatsApp and USSD based COVID information app. Finally we discuss the Google Apple Exposure Notification (GAEN) protocol, as well as the new GAEN-based South African App, COVID Alert. This podcast is hosted and produced by RIA Researcher, Alex Comninos. The music for this podcast is "Nobody Think Nomo" by Chimurenga Renaissance (feat. Mall Saint). Download the COVID Alert South Africa App on the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.

In this episode, we explore the evolution of mobile financial services and the opportunity to deepen financial inclusion in African markets. This opportunity exists for mobile network operators, as well fintechs like PalmPay, backed by hardware manufacturer Transsion, whose smartphone brands - Tecno, Itel, and Infinix - account for over 50% of smartphone devices on the continent.1:55 - We explore the evolution from USSD-led Mobile Money 1.0 to smartphone-led Mobile Money 2.0, with Hover's Wiza Jalakasi.5:11 - Chris Williamson, the Head of M-Pesa at Vodacom Group, describes the future of M-Pesa and mobile financial services, and the role M-Pesa wishes to play to broaden the use cases and lay the rails for others in the ecosystem to build on top of.10:27 - We also hear from Ramatoulaye Adama Diallo, the CEO of Orange Money Senegal, on Orange's approach to increasing the utilization of mobile financial services, and their role in the development of the tech ecosystem.14:24 - While telcos have an outsize advantage from a distribution and customer perspective, so too does Transsion. We speak to PalmPay's Sofia Zab on how the fintech is leveraging their strategic investment from Transsion to integrate financial services into the hardware, and on the work they are doing to build out the digital use cases for its users. 20:16 - Where are there opportunities for startups to partner with MNOs or manufacturers, and how do they go about developing said partnerships? We hear from two emerging market fintech veterans - Adia Sowho and Hayden Simmons. 26:05 - As always, a reflective discussion between Sayo Folawiyo and Justin Norman - this week, on the differences between and opportunities for telco-led versus hardware-led mobile financial services.

The National Bureau of Statistics, in its report released on Wednesday stated that the total value of transactions through electronic payment channels recorded in the second quarter of 2020 stood at N263.78 trillion with a transaction volume of 2,160,436,659. The report was titled Selected Banking Sector Data: Sectorial Breakdown of Credit, e-Payment Channels and Staff Strength (Q2 2020)’. The report stated that online transfer transactions dominated electronic payments with N72.25 trillion with 1,317,621,686 in volume of transactions. The value of cheque transactions stood at N2.29 trillion while NEFT transfers accounted for N59.55 trillion. Transactions via Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) amounted to N37.44 trillion while Point of Sale (PoS) transactions stood at N999.91 billion. The NBS said mobile app transfers amounted to N6.92 trillion, while USSD transfers totaled N1.04 trillion. --- This episode is sponsored by · Afrolit Podcast: Hosted by Ekua PM, Afrolit shares the stories of multi-faceted Africans one episode at a time. https://open.spotify.com/show/2nJxiiYRyfMQlDEXXpzlZS?si=mmgODX3NQ-yfQvR0JRH-WA Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/newscast-africa/support

Meet Kamal Yakub, co-founder of TROTRO Tractor, sometimes called the 'Uber for tractors' in Africa. TROTRO Tractor is an agricultural technology company that makes it possible for smallholder farmers to access agricultural machinery services ranging from tractors to combined harvesters, planters etc. as well as post harvest machinery, like shellers and treshers. Why that is a huge deal? According to Kamal, the average smallholder farmer in Ghana has about three acres of land and thus far getting access to agricultural machinery for land preparation and other services has been difficult to impossible for smallholder farmers in Ghana, which make up the majority of farmers in the country. Through TROTRO Tractor, the very smallholder farmers, that were mostly left out from mechanized farming now have the option to order mechanized farm services via USSD short codes from their phones, a service that has meet a real need. At the time of the interview in August 2019 TROTRO Tractor already had about 21.000 farmers signed up on their platform. But not just that, digitizing the payment processes with mobile money and upgrading the tractors and the agricultural machinery with IoT capabilities, such as geo fencing, gathering data on the agricultural machinery as well as the payment history for the services supplied, becomes possible, allowing the tractor owners to access financial services such as loans and insurances with more ease, according to Kamal. In the interview we speak about: ★ How Kamal and his team came up with the idea ★ How they tested their idea with no money down ★ What the bottlenecks are, how the right partnerships could make a huge impact for the advancement of mechanized farming in Ghana ★ What his advice is for young entrepreneurs on the continent and so much more... __ Also here the Interview with Kamal Yakub co-founder of TROTRO Tractor on the AfricaX Blog.

The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, says commercial banks in the country owe telecommunication over N17bn for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data access. This debt, according to him, accumulated following the regulator’s suspension of its determination on USSD pricing in 2019. Danbatta spoke at ATCON’s virtual forum, themed Meeting the interests of government, consumers and telecoms companies in the era of Covid-19 and post COVID-19 pandemic for digital economy development’on Thursday. Danbatta announced that it had revised the determination on the USSD in order to protect the interests of consumers and support a robust telecommunications sector. The EVC noted that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, had already been briefed on the development with a view to ensuring a quick settlement of the debt. --- This episode is sponsored by · Afrolit Podcast: Hosted by Ekua PM, Afrolit shares the stories of multi-faceted Africans one episode at a time. https://open.spotify.com/show/2nJxiiYRyfMQlDEXXpzlZS?si=mmgODX3NQ-yfQvR0JRH-WA Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/newscast-africa/support

It is super instructive to hear about payments evolution. So, it’s time to take a trip. In this Payments on Fire® episode we speak with Charles Ifedi, one of the founders of Interswitch, one of the leading digital payments providers in Nigeria, and founder of customer engagement platform company eBanqo. We hear a lot - and deservedly so - about innovative fintech companies but we hear very little about the advanced and highly competitive payment system already in place in Nigeria. Take a listen as Glenbrook partner Elizabeth McQuerry, partner in charge of Glenbrook’s Global payments consulting practice, talks with Charles about the Nigerian payments ecosystem, his role in developing one of the leading payments providers there and and his new venture in improving the front end of financial services with conversational AI . Payments in Nigeria are huge in every way. Its large population – some 200 million – allows digital payments to thrive even as the banked population remains stubbornly low at just under 40% of the adult population. Unlike the eastern Africa experience of telco-led companies like M-PESA, Nigerian telcos are not allowed to serve as payments providers. They aren’t banks but their agent networks serve an essential role in last mile service delivery. That said, recent regulatory changes are allowing partner companies of these telcos to apply for the country’s payments services bank license. Nigerians have been able to take advantage of instant or real-time payments for a decade. You can’t say that for Americans. It’s quite common to see people making instant payments transfers from their mobile devices via the simple USSD menu interface on feature phones. Those with smartphones take full advantage of app-based interfaces. These instant payments are often used to buy things in retail shops as well as to make business or personal transfers.  Payment by debit and credit card is also quite common and Nigeria is home to Verve, the pan-African card brand. Listen in as Charles, who was Verve’s first CEO, reflects on developing the Interswitch brand and discusses how Nigerians are making payments at small and large merchants during the Covid-19 lockdown, the successes of ATMs and their challenges to growth, the failure of biometrics, and about the Nigerian payments ecosystem overall.  

Boloro CEO Karl Kilb joins State of Identity to discuss the security advantages of true out-of-band authentication, how Boloro's use of USSD messaging protects from SIM swap attacks, and the potential applications for this technology outside of financial services.

The last couple of months or so have been rather eventful for Africa's fintech scene— particularly in Nigeria where Interswitch notably attained unicorn status in November following Visa acquiring 20% of the company for a reported $200 million.Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey's much-publicised visit to Africa last month also did much to put a global spotlight on the continent’s fintech arena, and the subsequent capital raises by OPay (backed by Opera) and PalmPay (backed by Transsion) drew attention to the on-going race for platform dominance in the space.In this instalment of the African Tech Roundup podcast, Andile Masuku and The Subtext’s Osarumen Osamuyi are joined by Malawian mobile tech entrepreneur, Wiza Jalakasi, to unpack some of the most pertinent fintech industry signals and discuss their implications for the continent’s tech ecosystem at large. (To skip the introductory niceties, head straight to [11:58].)Wiza is a passionate USSD proponent who formerly headed up business development and international expansion at Africa’s Talking. He is currently the head of strategy and business development at Hover..Questions discussed in this episode include:Is the hype around Jack Dorsey’s recent Africa visit well-deserved? [12:38]Why might PalmPay’s $40 million seed round be the most significant China-related fintech startup play of late? [25:47]Are aspiring ‘banks’ like Google and Facebook well-positioned to dominate Africa’s fintech industry? [28:52]Is there credence to Jack Dorsey’s citing of Bitcoin as a key part of the future of African fintech? [37:55]How significant is the trend towards digital-first and digital-only banks? [50:46]Could the Zimbabwean mobile telco NetOne spark a continental trend by making mobile money transactions free? [1:01:57]How will Google’s new Play Store lending term restrictions for financial services apps impact microlenders on the continent? [1:07:34]Resources referenced in this episode:APP: Bit SikaJOURNAL ARTICLE: The hustle economy: Informality, uncertainty and the geographies of getting by Tatiana A. ThiemeJOURNAL ARTICLE: Demystifying the motivations towards hybrid entrepreneurship among the working populace in South Africa by Obey Dzomonda and Olawale FatokiARTICLE: $40 million from TECNO and a Visa Partnership: PalmPay’s bold Nigeria play by Alexander O. Onukwue for TechCabalARTICLE: Google Makes a Bid for Banking, Where Tech Firms Go to Stumble by Stacy Cowley and Tara Siegel Bernard for the New York TimesARTICLE: Facebook takes on Venmo with new payments tool that can be used across its family of apps by Annie Palmer for CNBCTWEET: Jack Dorsey cites Bitcoin as key part of the future of African fintech via TwitterARTICLE: ...

MultimediaLIVE — The last couple of months or so have been rather eventful for Africa's fintech scene— particularly in Nigeria where Interswitch notably attained unicorn status in November following Visa acquiring 20% of the company for a reported $200 million.Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey's much-publicised visit to Africa last month also did much to put a global spotlight on the continent’s fintech arena, and the subsequent capital raises by OPay (backed by Opera) and PalmPay (backed by Transsion) drew attention to the on-going race for platform dominance in the space.In this instalment of the African Tech Roundup podcast, Andile Masuku and The Subtext’s Osarumen Osamuyi are joined by Malawian mobile tech entrepreneur, Wiza Jalakasi, to unpack some of the most pertinent fintech industry signals and discuss their implications for the continent’s tech ecosystem at large. (To skip the introductory niceties, head straight to [11:58].)Wiza is a passionate USSD proponent who formerly headed up business development and international expansion at Africa’s Talking. He is currently the head of strategy and business development at Hover..Questions discussed in this episode include:Is the hype around Jack Dorsey’s recent Africa visit well-deserved? [12:38]Why might PalmPay’s $40 million seed round be the most significant China-related fintech startup play of late? [25:47]Are aspiring ‘banks’ like Google and Facebook well-positioned to dominate Africa’s fintech industry? [28:52]Is there credence to Jack Dorsey’s citing of Bitcoin as a key part of the future of African fintech? [37:55]How significant is the trend towards digital-first and digital-only banks? [50:46]Could the Zimbabwean mobile telco NetOne spark a continental trend by making mobile money transactions free? [1:01:57]How will Google’s new Play Store lending term restrictions for financial services apps impact microlenders on the continent? [1:07:34]Resources referenced in this episode:APP: Bit SikaJOURNAL ARTICLE: The hustle economy: Informality, uncertainty and the geographies of getting by Tatiana A. ThiemeJOURNAL ARTICLE: Demystifying the motivations towards hybrid entrepreneurship among the working populace in South Africa by Obey Dzomonda and Olawale FatokiARTICLE: $40 million from TECNO and a Visa Partnership: PalmPay’s bold Nigeria play by Alexander O. Onukwue for TechCabalARTICLE: Google Makes a Bid for Banking, Where Tech Firms Go to Stumble by Stacy Cowley and Tara Siegel Bernard for the New York TimesARTICLE: Facebook takes on Venmo with new payments tool that can be used across its family of apps by Annie Palmer for CNBCTWEET: Jack Dorsey cites Bitcoin as key part of the future of African fintech via TwitterARTICLE: ...

The last couple of months or so have been rather eventful for Africa's fintech scene— particularly in Nigeria where Interswitch notably attained unicorn status in November following Visa acquiring 20% of the company for a reported $200 million. Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey's much-publicised visit to Africa last month also did much to put a global spotlight on the continent’s fintech arena, and the subsequent capital raises by OPay (backed by Opera) and PalmPay (backed by Transsion) drew attention to the on-going race for platform dominance in the space. In this instalment of the African Tech Roundup podcast, Andile Masuku and The Subtext’s Osarumen Osamuyi are joined by Malawian mobile tech entrepreneur, Wiza Jalakasi, to unpack some of the more pertinent fintech industry signals and discuss their implications for the continent’s tech and innovation ecosystem at large. (To skip the introductory niceties, head straight to [11:58].) Wiza is a passionate USSD proponent who formerly headed up business development and international expansion at Africa’s Talking. He is currently the head of strategy and business development at Hover. Questions discussed in this episode include: 1) Is the hype around Jack Dorsey’s recent Africa visit well-deserved? [12:38] 2) Why might PalmPay’s $40 million seed round be the most significant China-related fintech startup play of late? [25:47] 3) Are aspiring ‘banks’ like Google and Facebook well-positioned to dominate Africa’s fintech industry? [28:52] 4) Is there credence to Jack Dorsey’s citing of Bitcoin as a key part of the future of African fintech? [37:55] 5) How significant is the trend towards digital-first and digital-only banks? [50:46] 6) Could the Zimbabwean mobile telco NetOne spark a continental trend by making mobile money transactions free? [1:01:57] 7) How will Google’s new Play Store lending term restrictions for financial services apps impact microlenders on the continent? [1:07:34] To view resources referenced in this episode, visit https://www.africantechroundup.com/fintech-signal-check-2019-part-1/ Image credit: Namnso Ukpanah

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that it is in talks with telecommunications companies (telcos) and the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) for new Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) charges. The disclosure was made by Samuel Okojere, CBN’s Director of Payment System Management while speaking at the 2019 Mobile Money Conference organized by the Association of Licensed Mobile Payment Operators (ALMPO) Okojie, who was represented by Aisha Isa-Olatinwo, Assistant Director Payment System Department, CBN, while speaking on the role of regulators in accelerating mobile money adoption in Nigeria said, “Engagement with the NCC is still ongoing to find a new conducive pricing regime for USSD services in the Industry. The uproar over USSD charges started on the 20th of October 2019 when telecoms subscribers received text messages from operators on the USSD deductions. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/newscast-africa/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paga is one of a handful of non-bank companies that have succeeded in building a truly mainstream financial product in Nigeria.Over 11 million Nigerians use Paga's mobile wallet to send and receive money and pay their bills. In 2018, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) recognized Paga with an award for being the top mobile money operator, by transaction count, for the third year in a row.Paga recently celebrated their 10 year anniversary, and in this episode, Paga CEO Tayo Oviosu tells us the story of how his team built a B2C African fintech success over the course of a decade.In this episode, we talk about03:11 - Why Tayo built Paga09:27 - How Paga drives brand awareness13:32 - [Paystack Merchant Alert] Introducing PiggyVest paystack.com/piggyvest16:20 - All the ways you can use Paga's USSD offering to access services17:38 - How Tayo sees Paga's offerings evolving over time20:15 - The most surprising trend Tayo has witnessed from his time in the payments industry22:56 - Paga's international expansion strategy26:01 - Why building in-house was tough, and totally worth itFollow UsThe Decode Fintech newsletter is a weekly email summary of the most important news in African fintech. Subscribe to receive original commentary and curated stories, as well as the latest episode of the podcast.Subscribe to the Decode Fintech NewsletterFollow Decode Fintech on TwitterDecode Fintech is brought to you by PaystackPaystack helps Africa's most successful fintechs build powerful and scalable financial service products with the industry's best-documented APIs. Please visit paystack.com/fintech to find out more.

Yemi Atanda, Group Head of ePayments at Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), takes us behind the scenes of GTB 737, GTB's wildly successful USSD service.Yemi shares the origin of 737, from how they selected the specific numbers 737, to usage trends, to the wildly successful mass marketing campaign that helped introduce the financial product to everyday Nigerians.In this episode, we talk about01:06 - Yemi's journey from mechanical engineering to digital banking03:34 - What USSD is, and how 737 came to be11:56 - Building out 737 with human-centered design13:22 - The various use-cases for 737, and the one that trumps them all16:55 - [Paystack Merchant Alert] Introducing Renmoney paystack.com/renmoney17:46 - The typical 737 customer19:08 - How the team came up with the popular 737 jingle20:25 - Marketing 737 to the average Nigerian22:17 - Preventing fraud on 73723:50 - Exploring plans to expand 737 outside of Nigeria25:27 - Learning about Nigerian behaviour through the lens of 737 usage trends27:23 - The future of 737 as a USSD service30:59 - The most important questionFollow UsThe Decode Fintech Newsletter is a weekly email summary of the most important news in African fintech. Subscribe to receive original commentary and curated stories, as well as the latest episode of the podcast.Subscribe to the Decode Fintech NewsletterFollow Decode Fintech on TwitterDecode Fintech is brought to you by PaystackPaystack helps Africa's most successful fintechs build powerful and scalable financial service products with the industry's best-documented APIs. Please visit paystack.com/fintech to find out more.

Today on the Techpoint Africa Podcast: Formerly BitPesa, African currency trading solution startup AZA, raises $15m funding. https://techpoint.africa/2019/10/22/formerly-bitpesa-aza-raises-15-million-dollars/ When should founders step down as CEOs of their startups? https://techpoint.africa/2019/10/24/when-should-founders-step-down-as-ceos/ These websites expose private CAC details of company directors, shareholders https://techpoint.africa/2019/10/23/websites-expose-private-cac-details/ Telcos, Bank CEOs, and USSD charges: A two-faced narrative of silence and finger-pointing https://techpoint.africa/2019/10/24/telcos-bank-ceos-ussd-charges/ Plugs: 1. Attend Techpoint Startup School https://school.techpoint.africa/ 2. SME Clinic 3: Investment Edition https://bit.ly/smeclinic 3. Q3 Startup Funding Report https://intelligence.techpoint.africa/form.php?report=NSFR2019Q3 Listen every Friday at 8 AM (WAT). You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, TuneIn or anywhere else you get your podcasts. Visit www.techpoint.africa for more stories.

Today on the Techpoint Africa Podcast: Formerly BitPesa, African currency trading solution startup AZA, raises $15m funding. https://techpoint.africa/2019/10/22/formerly-bitpesa-aza-raises-15-million-dollars/ When should founders step down as CEOs of their startups? https://techpoint.africa/2019/10/24/when-should-founders-step-down-as-ceos/ These websites expose private CAC details of company directors, shareholders https://techpoint.africa/2019/10/23/websites-expose-private-cac-details/ Telcos, Bank CEOs, and USSD charges: A two-faced narrative of silence and finger-pointing https://techpoint.africa/2019/10/24/telcos-bank-ceos-ussd-charges/ Plugs: 1. Attend Techpoint Startup School https://school.techpoint.africa/ 2. SME Clinic 3: Investment Edition https://bit.ly/smeclinic 3. Q3 Startup Funding Report https://intelligence.techpoint.africa/form.php?report=NSFR2019Q3 Listen every Friday at 8 AM (WAT). You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, TuneIn or anywhere else you get your podcasts. Visit www.techpoint.africa for more stories.

Channel Africa — TOP STORIES ON AFRICA RISE AND SHINE THIS HOUR *** Election fever grips Botswana as voting gets underway...... *** President Ramaphosa leads South African delegation to Russia-Africa Summit.... *** In Economics: Banks distance themselves from moves by MTN Nigeria to impose USSD charges.... *** And In Sports: South Africa wins 2019 Africa Netball Cup.....

Straight out of university into full-time entrepreneurship. Roots Digital started their story as a contract development software company which enabled them to build their own products without taking on external investment. Thryll, their first product launched, is an event management solution making organizers' lives easier and enabling consumers to find relevant events more seamlessly. Part of the product's success is the integration of mobile money, USSD dialing codes to pay through mobile networks, Kingsley discusses the importance of mobile money integration in products developed here.

D'banj is the founder of Koko Foundation for Youth and Peace Development. He is also Nigeria's first United Nations Youth Ambassador for Peace. Dbanj is a ONE campaign ambassador; he released the song "Cocoa Na Chocolate" in support of agriculture investments. 'Cocoa Na Chocolate' featured 18 other African artists and won Best African Collaboration at the All Africa Music Awards in 2014. In 2015, he was applauded by World Bank Chief, Jim Yong Kim for using his music power and high celebrity status to bringing attention to serious and critical issues in Africa with a special focus on agriculture and poverty alleviation. Jim Yong Kim was quoted saying that "I had the pleasure of meeting D’banj last month and seeing him perform. I’m thrilled he is the first artists to take part in our new Music4Dev series encouraging the global artist to raise awareness about poverty and related issues." In 2015 D'banj released the video to "Extraordinary" to raise awareness on gender equality and women's empowerment. World bank endorsed song as a song for women awareness. Projects D'Banj is vastly immersed in information technology, particularly in the areas of value-added services and Content digital distribution. He owns MCOMM Ltd (Median Mobile Communications Limited, A Value Added Service Content Provider) and D' Kings Men Media Limited (a 360 Media Company), which are responsible for his major digital moves in recent times. C.R.E.A.M In August 2016, D'banj's D'Kings Men Media partnered with MTN Nigeria and the Bank of Industry to launch THE CREAM PLATFORM, a creative talent platform that was set up to help discover young creative minds across Nigeria by just dialing a USSD code on a mobile phone. It is reported that the platform, as at December 2016, had over 2 million paying subscribers and has discovered hundreds of talents from the music category alone, with tens of music videos and millions of Naira given out to winners. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/entrepreneur-connect-africa/support

D'banj is the founder of Koko Foundation for Youth and Peace Development. He is also Nigeria's first United Nations Youth Ambassador for Peace. Dbanj is a ONE campaign ambassador; he released the song "Cocoa Na Chocolate" in support of agriculture investments. 'Cocoa Na Chocolate' featured 18 other African artists and won Best African Collaboration at the All Africa Music Awards in 2014. In 2015, he was applauded by World Bank Chief, Jim Yong Kim for using his music power and high celebrity status to bringing attention to serious and critical issues in Africa with a special focus on agriculture and poverty alleviation. Jim Yong Kim was quoted saying that "I had the pleasure of meeting D’banj last month and seeing him perform. I’m thrilled he is the first artists to take part in our new Music4Dev series encouraging the global artist to raise awareness about poverty and related issues." In 2015 D'banj released the video to "Extraordinary" to raise awareness on gender equality and women's empowerment. World bank endorsed song as a song for women awareness. Projects D'Banj is vastly immersed in information technology, particularly in the areas of value-added services and Content digital distribution. He owns MCOMM Ltd (Median Mobile Communications Limited, A Value Added Service Content Provider) and D' Kings Men Media Limited (a 360 Media Company), which are responsible for his major digital moves in recent times. C.R.E.A.M In August 2016, D'banj's D'Kings Men Media partnered with MTN Nigeria and the Bank of Industry to launch THE CREAM PLATFORM, a creative talent platform that was set up to help discover young creative minds across Nigeria by just dialing a USSD code on a mobile phone. It is reported that the platform, as at December 2016, had over 2 million paying subscribers and has discovered hundreds of talents from the music category alone, with tens of music videos and millions of Naira given out to winners. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/entrepreneur-connect-africa/support

D'banj is the founder of Koko Foundation for Youth and Peace Development. He is also Nigeria's first United Nations Youth Ambassador for Peace. Dbanj is a ONE campaign ambassador; he released the song "Cocoa Na Chocolate" in support of agriculture investments. 'Cocoa Na Chocolate' featured 18 other African artists and won Best African Collaboration at the All Africa Music Awards in 2014.In 2015, he was applauded by World Bank Chief, Jim Yong Kim for using his music power and high celebrity status to bringing attention to serious and critical issues in Africa with a special focus on agriculture and poverty alleviation. Jim Yong Kim was quoted saying that "I had the pleasure of meeting D’banj last month and seeing him perform. I’m thrilled he is the first artists to take part in our new Music4Dev series encouraging the global artist to raise awareness about poverty and related issues."In 2015 D'banj released the video to "Extraordinary" to raise awareness on gender equality and women's empowerment. World bank endorsed song as a song for women awareness.ProjectsD'Banj is vastly immersed in information technology, particularly in the areas of value-added services and Content digital distribution. He owns MCOMM Ltd (Median Mobile Communications Limited, A Value Added Service Content Provider) and D' Kings Men Media Limited (a 360 Media Company), which are responsible for his major digital moves in recent times.C.R.E.A.MIn August 2016, D'banj's D'Kings Men Media partnered with MTN Nigeria and the Bank of Industry to launch THE CREAM PLATFORM, a creative talent platform that was set up to help discover young creative minds across Nigeria by just dialing a USSD code on a mobile phone. It is reported that the platform, as at December 2016, had over 2 million paying subscribers and has discovered hundreds of talents from the music category alone, with tens of music videos and millions of Naira given out to winners. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Pour la première de cette 3ème saison de DigiClub, nous avons choisi la thématique de la rentrée scolaire. Et pour cause : Pour la première fois, le ministère de l'Education vient de rendre l'inscription en ligne obligatoire ainsi que le paiement des frais scolaire. Ce dernier peut se faire également via téléphone par code USSD. Pour en parler, nous avons invité Wala Turki, chargée de mission au ministère de l'Education, et Khaled Betaieb, DG de Monétique Tunisie, qui a lancé pour la première fois avec le ministère de l'Education, la possibilité de payer les frais scolaire même avec une simple carte bancaire. Plus de détails dans ce 73ème épisode de DigiClub powered by Topnet. Producteur : Walid Naffati Ingénieur son : Ghazi Neffati Production : StreamingHD Merci particulier à la B@Labs (www.biatlabs.com)

TechCentral — In this episode of the podcast, Duncan McLeod interviews Neil Hamilton, vice president of a new Internet of things (IoT) provider in South Africa called Thingstream. Thingstream, which is part of a Swiss group, is leveraging the GSM networks of Vodacom, MTN and Cell C to provide IoT products and services that leverage the operators' USSD, or unstructured supplementary service data, protocol to communicate with low-power IoT devices. Thingstream, which is expanding into South Africa via a local partner network, delivers a global IoT connectivity platform that connects via GSM networks using a combination of the MQTT and USSD messaging protocols. Sectors showing particular interest include vehicle tracking firms looking to update and reduce the cost of their existing systems; the manufacturing sector; and supply chain and logistics firms seeking enhanced security and more efficient supply chain and asset management. It's a new entry into what is quickly becoming a highly competitive IoT market in South Africa. Don't miss the interview!

Sam Gikandi is the CEO and co-founder of Africa’s Talking, a pan-African mobile technology company empowering developers across the continent. Prior to Africa’s Talking, Sam worked for Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, in the US and Hong Kong. In the Asia office, he helped build the high frequency trading platform and led a team trading hundreds of millions of dollars per day. In 2010, intrigued by the burgeoning tech scene in his home country of Kenya, he set up with a co-founder Africa’s Talking. While it started as a side hustle, two years later, Sam took on a full-time COO/CTO role in the company, developing the software developer-facing part of the business. As demand for business APIs in Kenya exploded with the strong growth of tech startups and mobile money payment solutions, Africa’s Talking software developer business took off. The company turned profitable after only 1 year of operations. Africa’s Talking helps the growing software developer community across the continent integrate into the telecoms infrastructure by simplifying the required processes and technologies. It offers APIs for short codes, payments, and communications, including bulk SMS, USSD, and voice. Africa’s Talking is in seven African markets with its hub based in Nairobi, Kenya. Last April, Sam and his team closed a $8.6mn fundraising round that was led by the IFC’s venture capital arm which Africa’s Talking will use to further its expansion, especially into Francophone West Africa. I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Sam who’s a real thought leader in Africa’s tech space. Make sure you listen to our entire chat. He explains why he’s bullish on Ethiopia, why capital is overrated in the early stages of a startup, and why he advocates sharpening your toolkit before diving headfirst into entrepreneurship. Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Sam Gikandi.

Episode 005 of Young African Entrepreneur features Van Jones, co-founder and head of strategy of Hello Tractor. You can connect with Van at @HelloTractor on Twitter. I first learned about Van and Hello Tractor after chatting with my best friend who works at a multinational trading house. She told me there’s this innovative company working in Nigeria that is like the Uber for tractors. Smallholder farmers can request tractor services using a USSD code on a feature phone. The tractor owner comes over, performs the service. Boom. The farmer saves time and money and improves yields through mechanized plowing. The tractor owner is capitalizing his asset. Brilliant idea, right? Van has a really cool story. In 2008, he graduated from college in Ohio and left for China to pursue his career staying for 4 years. In 2012, he returned to the US to complete an MBA at the University of Chicago. Shortly thereafter, he connected with future cofounder Jehiel Oliver who had the idea of creating a tractor rental service app for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. They developed the business plan, won a prestigious competition for seed funding, and headed off to Nigeria to test their idea. Only to find out it didn’t quite work the way they had thought in their business plan. Hello Tractor is a really fascinating business, making a real difference with smallholder farmers in Nigeria. It was great chatting with Van. We talked about his early career in China, how Hello Tractor accidentally fell into being a conventional tractor company and how they successfully pivoted to being a pure tech company, and why research and reciprocity are fundamental to networking. Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Van Jones.

Outside the United States, about 4.5 billion people use prepaid wireless phone services. We check in with Augie Fabela, co-founder and CEO of FastForward.ai, which aims to reinvent the prepaid customer experience. Along the way, Phil Libin, Jessica Collier, and Blaise Zerega offer “Advice to Politicians” about social media and the recent U.S. indictment of 13 Russians for interference in the 2016 election. Your hosts also explore the connection between artificial intelligence and issues of race, gender, and inequality. Show notes Advice to politicians: Get off Facebook and Twitter (2:10) 13 Russians Indicted as Mueller Reveals Effort to Aid Trump Campaign (New York Times) After Florida School Shooting, Russian ‘Bot' Army Pounced (New York Times) Part one of our conversation with Augie Fabela, co-founder and CEO of FastForward.ai, and Chief of Police at the Cook County Sheriff's Department (15:45) Augie Fabela (LinkedIn) VEON Motorola brick phones from the early 1990s (Wikipedia) FastForward.ai USSD codes and menus for prepaid calling services (Wikipedia) Sample USSD codes for Thailand   Prepaid card market expected to reach $3,653 billion by 2022 (Allied Market Research) Listener comment and question Why do you focus so much on the issues of race, gender, and inequality? (38:46) We want to hear from you Please send us your comments, suggested topics, and questions for future episodes: Email: hello@all-turtles.com Twitter: @allturtlesco with hashtag #askAT For more from All Turtles, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website.  

CliffCentral.com — Andrew McHenry deliberates about what USSD tech in the future will look like. He focuses on the uptake, its growing adoption in Africa and emerging mobile markets, as well as mobile growth and opportunities. Then, as if that wasn't enough tech advice, Ygor Francisco from the Newness also joins in on the conversation.

The SABC in partnership with the Department of Basic Education has launched the 2015 Matric Results service. Matric students can now register to receive their results through SMS and USSD lines as soon as they are released. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to SABC Education Digital Media Project Manager, Eric Muragana...