Kawu helping parents to remotely manage children’s pocket money

As a parent, Innocent Luwagga had always struggled to keep track of his children’s on-school expenditures.

He would regularly receive phone calls from them lamenting about how their pocket money is used up and in urgent need of a fill-up. Concerned, he would immediately send some money, even without accounting for the money he had sent earlier. However, the recent introduction of Kawu Smart Cards at Buddo SS, where Luwagga’s children go, has pulled him out of this conundrum.

“Our children were suffering but this card makes it possible for one to send in more money and track its expenditure. It is free of charge for the child [receiver] to get the money. The economy is changing but this card has made it more adaptable and user-friendly,” Luwagga says, with a tone of satisfaction.

“You just need to download the application using your smartphone. This helps you to link up with your child’s card number.”

What is Kawu Smart Card?

Kawu is a local slang which literally means being broke. It is commonly used in Ugandan schools to refer to that period when a student has spent all her/his pocket money and only surviving on school-provided meals.  

According to Gerald Ssebunya, a co-founder of Kawu, this service was specifically built for students, like Luwagga’s children, to save them from potential financial challenges. 

Ssebunya says this automated digital financial services platform allows parents and students to conveniently manage pocket money. A parent deposits the student’s pocket money onto the Kawu wallet and the student uses the Kawu Smart Card to make transactions while in school.

It has a mobile application that parents can download from Play Store or App Store and start sending and monitoring the expenditure of their children.

“For a long time, there has been a challenge with students mostly those in the boarding section who were unable to keep their pocket money and facing challenges to getting top-ups from parents. This is where Kawu comes in,” Ssebunya says.

He further explains that this service has attracted much attention because it is easy to use.

“When activating this smart card, we take their photo, name, and parent’s phone number. Those [parents] who are tech-savvy, they download the application either from App Store or Play Store,” he adds.”

“Once you download and sign up using the number that the student gave us to activate their card, the app automatically links to the student’s card. A parent now has the ability to send money from their mobile money account straight to the child’s smart card. We allow them to set up a five-digit password that they use to secure their card.”

Ssebunya adds that in cases where a child is not exhibiting good financial discipline, a parent has the ability to control how much a child can take out of the account in a given period of time. They can set withdrawal limits either weekly or monthly.

REAL IMPACT

For a parent like Luwagga, this smart card is a sign of a changing world, brought about by the technological advancements that are slowly shifting us to a cashless economy in all facets of life.

‘I advise all parents to take time and get this application and the rest with be a click of the button. This will make the child’s stay at school more enjoyable,’ he said.

Nakubuye Salmah Nadia, a senior one student of Buddo SS, is equally impressed.

“When I want more money, I don’t ring my mother but she looks at the app and sends money directly to my card. I would like to tell students to register and get the card because it is safe and convenient. When the card is lost, they can replace it and your money remains safe,’ she says.

Ssebunya on the other hand reveals that in less than three years, they have reached over 200 schools with 54 of them coming on board.

“We have managed to activate over 10,000 students where around 9,000 or more are actively using the smart card. We also have 15,000 parents that have activated and downloaded the application,” he says.

40 Days 40 FinTechs

Kawu is part of the fourth season of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative organised by HiPipo to showcase innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. This initiative is run in partnership with the Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner and Crosslake Technologies with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Ssebunya confesses that Kawu’s success story is heavily linked to their participation in the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative which introduced them to the fintech community, with the mentorship of HiPipo CEO Innocent Kawooya. On his part, Kawooya says that with such impact stories as Kawu’s, the initiative is indeed bearing fruit. 

“This year we are paying keen attention on the actual impact of each featured innovation across East Africa. For three years, we have shone a light on marvellous innovations but now we want to see how they have benefited the intended users,” Kawooya noted.