Denis Opudo
The Data Hack for Financial Inclusion (Data Hack 4FI) in Rwanda took place at Kigali Convention Centre (KCC). This is a regional award winning the competition which assembles ventures in data from Africa. The businesses came together to get solutions that advocate for finance inclusive. The 2018 competition saw GO Limited emerging as the overall winner. The competition is organized by Insight2Impact (i2i). It did that through the partnership with ICT Chamber and Liquid Telecom. The competition is taking place for the second time since the launch.
GO Limited took home $5,000 through the help of its project AgriGo. AgriGo helps in informing farmers about a range of prices that they can use to sell their farm produce by the use of analytics and data. Different criteria were deployed to get the winner among the participants. One was the proven ability of startups to change more people, analytics, and data usage, demonstrated capacity building, and the degree to which they were talking the issue of financial inclusion.
There were a total of six teams during the competition where AgriGo emerged the winner. AgriGo also assists in expanding farmer’s market area by linking them to buyers. Maize, rice and Irish potatoes farmers are able to use the platform to note down their activities. The data may help them in planning. Furthermore, the system addresses challenges that many farmers in Rwanda are facing according to the judges.
A grand finale that will assemble together best startups from 6 countries from East Africa will come after the end of the local competition. The main aim of the competition is to support the usage of data in delivering profitable financial services according to the i2i program director, Hennie Bester. Bester said that Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Ghana and Uganda finalists will join Rwandan finalist amid the Transform Africa Summit. This will take place in May 2018. The program goes in line with Rwanda’s overall goal to promote digital according to chief innovation officer working for Rwanda Information Society Agency (RISA), Antoine Sebera.
The Women and Youth category of the competition was won by Exuuus startup. The startup took home $2,500. The startup came up with a data management platform that helps savings groups to handle their data and various financial sector data.
