Ugandan fintech, Ethiopian bank partner to build digital solutions
Mr Kamugasho (L) signs the partnership in Ethiopia, Addis Abbaba recently. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- The partnership, will create a comprehensive information management system that assigns each student a unique payment code and a business intelligence module that generates customised reports for schools.
Service Cops, a Ugandan financial technology (fintech) firm has partnered with Awash Bank, an Ethiopian financial services provider, to realise the bank’s digital strategy.
The partnership, according to a statement yesterday, will seek to create a variety of digital payment solutions in different service sectors.
Mr Mathias Kamugasho, the Service Cops’ managing director, in a statement, said the partnership, which was signed in Ethiopia Addis Abbaba last month, will require Service Cops to build and provide solutions that will support payments such as schools fees in the education sector, API and channels management, among others.
“[This] is the beginning of a long term partnership that will support the bank’s digital strategy,” he said, noting that Awash is the second bank to sign up for Service Cops’ technology solutions in Ethiopia, which is a testimony of the value of its digital proposition.
Key among the innovations will include the e-school or school suite solution, an enterprise version of the school pay, which creates a central data management system that allows parents to pay school fees through different channels that include banks and mobile money.
Ethiopia becomes the fourth African country to launch the e-school solution after Uganda, Zambia and Rwanda.
The partnership, will create a comprehensive information management system that assigns each student a unique payment code and a business intelligence module that generates customised reports for schools.
Service Cops, is one of the few fintechs to operate outside Uganda and the first to enter Ethiopia, which is one of Africa’s 10 largest countries by gross domestic product, and the second-most populous country thus offering good returns on investment.
Significant presence
According to Mr Joseph Ndiho Kiiza, the Service Cops’ executive chairman, who also attended the signing ceremony, said their long term growth plan is to have a significant presence in all emerging economies in Africa and Asia, targeting major economic blocs such as East African Community, Southern African Development Community, Economic Community of West African States and Association of Southeast Asian Nations, among others.
“We already have a major presence in the EAC and are at formative stages in the rest of these markets,” he said.
