Dorothy Kabarozi mentoring the participants
On day two of the 2023 Women in FinTech hackathon, the participants presented their refined problem statements and business cases.
The day started with a deep dive into both the mobile money ecosystem and the Mojaloop open-source software presented by HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya and Paul Baker, the principle product manager at INFITX respectively.
According to Dorothy Kabarozi, a full-stack software engineer and facilitator of the Women in FinTech hackathon, this year’s edition has a variety of fresh innovations compared to the previous edition.
“On day two, we got to know an in-depth description of the solutions that the participants are trying to build for their different communities. There are several interesting solutions this year that we did not have in the previous hackathons. There are several innovations in areas such as taxation, forex trade, village loans and savings, rural women and refugees’ empowerment,” Kabarozi said, adding;
“The participants are really getting down to serious work now with special focus on the pain points affecting their target audience. They are more engaged and willing to improve the solutions, which is a positive for them and the project.”
Furthermore, Franklin Ssozi, a senior software architect took the participants through the product development journey highlighting the need for all innovators to pay close attention to the KYC (know your customer) principle as it usually determines the success of any solution.
The late afternoon session took a different direction with the participants being trained on fundraising and prudent financial management; two topics that are at the heart of potential success and possible failure of any business. This training was delivered by Vivienne Iga Kikoni, a digital finance professional.
In her mentorship session, Kikoni noted that good fundraising starts with good financial management. In very simple terms, she noted that financial management means planning, organizing, directing and controlling the financial activities.
“To succeed in business, you need to be specific. Your goal must be well-detailed with clear targets for a month, 3 months, 6 months, one year and five years, etc. Put all this on paper and diligently follow it. Whatever you intend to bring to the marketplace needs to generate income because fixed and operational costs will be incurred, leaving you with a margin of which taxes are paid to leave you with what actually goes into your pocket,” Kikoni said.
She further noted that there are several pillars of fundraising such as strengthening relationships and support, raising awareness about your cause, providing donors and sponsors recognition, and building your donor base; which, if well executed, will pave the way for fundraising and other engagements.
Running for the 4th consecutive year, the hackathon is part of HiPipo’s broader women in fintech initiative that also includes a summit and incubator program. The 2023 Women in FinTech hackathon will culminate in the Women in FinTech summit on August 18, 2023.
Source: The Observer
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