On behalf of the FITSPA Board, allow me to share New Year regards with you and also invite you to the 3rd editon of the FITSPA newsletter where we share highlights from across the industry.
FITSPA has gained experience and learnings in building a member-based community, delivering value for its community, and keeping members engaged.
FITSPA is a hub for all regulators of Uganda’s Fintech community. We continue to work with industry regulators because we believe the regulatory framework will foster local and international partnerships, investment opportunities for the sector and continue to spur innovation. The Association aims to create a conducive environment to stimulate innovation in the financial services sector. We also work to increase access to affordable financial services through ICT and the promotion of financial inclusion in a sustainable way.
Last year, our objective was to ensure that Fintechs and their partners operate in a safe and regulated environment. We are happy to report that we have covered good milage regarding regulation, cyber security and other policy advocacy work. To date, we have up to 21 regulated fintech businesses and many more are on the journey to being licensed by the Bank of Uganda.
Among our core values is to bring together the diverse parts of the community to encourage open dialogue, collaboration and co-creation while building an innovative ecosystem that operates in the most conducive environment.
According to the State of the Fintech Landscape Report published by FITSPA last year, it was noted that 57% of the Fintechs in Uganda are sustained by self-funding. For a key enabler, this is too high, and we would like to diversify and improve the sources of funding for fintechs operating in Uganda.
Weetracker recently reported that investment into the African continent had risen by up to 134%. Indicating that as per 30th June 2022, a total of $2.78 billion had flowed into the continent compared to last year when only $1.19 billion had been raised.
We have, therefore, decided to explore ways in which we can discuss and position our businesses both Ugandan founded and multinational, to find out how we can benefit from the investment flowing in and how we can create viable partnerships for the benefit of the ecosystem.