Safaricom has challenged the innovators in the telecoms and financial sector to tap into the fintech industry in Kenya which is expected to top Ksh100 billion next year. This was at the Singapore FinTech Festival.
The Singapore FinTech Festival, which is in its fourth year, is currently the biggest FinTech event in the world providing a global platform for the FinTech community to connect, collaborate and co-create. It attracts over 60,000 delegates among them visionaries and thought leadership executives from financial institutions, fintechs, venture capital firms, central banks and regulators and academia.
According to the telco, increased Internet penetration and access of mobile telephony have opened numerous opportunities for businesses to deliver more innovative digital products and services. Among the success stories that were highlighted was M-TIBA, a mobile healthcare wallet which have led to an investment topping $2 Million dollars in the health sector benefiting millions of Kenya through sustainable solutions in healthcare.
During the Festival, Kenya’s micro insurance firm for small scale farmers Pula insurance won the award for its innovative model of delivering agriculture insurance products to rural smallholder farmers. The firm, which is one of Digifarm by Safaricom partners develops and distributes index-based insurance products by bundling them with agriculture inputs such as seeds, fertilizer and credit.
Safaricom Chief Financial Services Officer Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, had this to say, “At 83 per cent, Kenya is leading in the share of mobile phone internet traffic overtaking Nigeria, which was at the top in 2017. With over 100 FinTech products in the country, the FinTech industry in Kenya has attracted huge investments and is estimated to be worth around 1Billion USD by year 2020.”