Financial technology companies (Fintechs) operating in Uganda have been urged to harness the power of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain to enhance financial inclusion.
The Deputy Director of the Department of National Payment Systems at Bank of Uganda (BoU), Mr James Ivan Ssentimba, said while Fintechs have already demonstrated their capacity to promote financial inclusion by enabling micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) access to several services, more needs to be done.
“According to the FinScope Uganda survey of 2023, financial inclusion stood at 81 percent compared to 77 percent in 2018. So we see increasingly people accessing financial services. But this increase in financial inclusion was largely driven by the uptake of mobile money services,” he said.
“By leveraging these technologies MSMEs can improve access to credit enhance operational efficiencies, and ultimately contribute more significantly to Uganda's economic growth and development. So as Fintechs, you have a very, very big role to play, given the huge credit gap that exists between what MSMEs need as financial services and what they do receive from traditional banking services,” he added.
He was speaking in Kampala on Tuesday at the MSME - FinTech Workshop organised by Sustainable Business for Uganda (SB4U) in collaboration with the Financial Technology Association of Uganda (FITSPA). SB4U is a partnership between the Government of Uganda, the Private Sector Foundation (PSFU), and the European Union.
