HOW UGANDA IS EMBRACING MOBILE TRANSACTIONS DURING THE PANDEMIC

HOW UGANDA IS EMBRACING MOBILE TRANSACTIONS DURING THE PANDEMIC

By Eleni Giokos, CNN

Reports from Uganda shows that mobile money

transactions totalled nearly five billion dollars in

the last quarter of 2019.

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic,

Uganda has embraced the digitalisation of the

economy. In a society traditionally run by cash,

people across the country have flocked to e-

commerce platforms for contactless payments

and purchases. Xente Tech is one of the firms

providing these essential services.

In an interview with Giokos, Xente Tech CEO

Allan Rwakatungu explains the initial

challenges in getting customers to convert,

“Before the pandemic, we honestly had a bit of

a struggle, convincing businesses, the need for

them to go digital as a matter of priority. A lot

of them were still getting most of their sales

and still would get most of their sales from

walking customers who pay cash. But now they

realise that it is an emergency. They need to

move now.”

As coronavirus lockdown restrictions began

impacting businesses across Uganda, Xente

Tech saw a huge jump in growth, with

companies from every sector looking to use

their platform. Rwakatungu discusses how the

business model works,

“Buyers go to Xente and they have access to

now over 40,000 different products, everything

from ad time to groceries, to fashion, to

electronics, they can buy from that marketplace

and they can pay instantly using mobile wallet

or their bank.”

One of the companies that approached Xente

Tech was medical supplier Rocket Health.

Managing Director Davis Musinguzi speaks

about the collaboration,

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot of people

have been relying on ecommerce to get

essential services delivered to them. Xente has

tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of

users, and what we are now is making all of

those healthcare services available for people

on their platform. So, we’ve seen a 500 percent

rise in the number of people that rely on

telemedicine and ecommerce purchases for

healthcare services.”

The coronavirus crisis has provided a unique

opportunity for traditional economies to pivot

towards digitalisation. Companies like Xente

Tech are using the situation to drive their own

business while facilitating change across the

economy.

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