M-Kadi is digitizing wedding contributions, fundraising and invitations. 40 Days 40 FinTechs Tanzania Day 14
Weddings in Africa are major social events. Families and friends plan for months on how to give a befitting ceremony to those intending to wed and the hundreds of guests that will bear them witness. These elaborate plans involve lots of funds; a fact that makes wedding contributions and pledges a key element of these events.
Since time immemorially, wedding contributions have been done physically and managed by the event finance team. But like in other activities, cash is prone to misuse. On many occasions, those in charge could divert part of the collected monies to other causes.
Nonetheless, technology is now being used to address these shortcomings. In Tanzania, a team of forward-thinking entrepreneurs have since developed M-Kadi; a digital platform that manages events’ invitations, pledges and contributions.
According to its developers, “M-Kadi is a platform, which brings solutions to challenges facing events organizers such social, corporate and government in terms of communication, distribution and sharing of information. The platform also facilitates and manages pledges, which at times involve contributing on an instalment basis.”
“We provide two main services. One is an invitation cards service; M-Kadi through mobile phones. On smartphones, invitation cards are delivered with a QR code. For feature phones, the invitation cards are delivered as a short message with a password. The second service is m-pledges where you can collect funds and financial support from your friends, relatives and the general public to support your events and projects,” Maarufu Muyaga, the Founder and CEO of M-Kadi Technologies Limited explained.
He added: “While on our platform, you register your event and a unique link is created. You can then share this link with your target audience who then will get the details of the event and start contributing. On the platform, you can pledge and then contribute in instalments through mobile money or bank cards. These contributions go directly to the person that set up the event/public cause with the platform on retaining a very minimal commission.”
Maarufu notes that the biggest challenges to African start-ups are unfair regulations and very high licensing fees which make it impossible to compete favourably with already established players. Even so, he notes that the Tanzanian government has tried to address these obstacles thus giving start-ups like M-Kadi a chance to thrive.
M-Kadi interacted with HiPipo on Day 14 of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative for Tanzania. First implemented in Uganda, 40 Days 40 FinTechs is an annual FinTech Innovation initiative presented by HiPipo to recognize and celebrate individuals and organizations who are making significant strides in promoting financial inclusivity through the use of technology.
It is aimed at promoting innovation and collaboration among FinTechs in Africa. The initiative is designed to provide FinTechs and startups with mentorship, training, exposure, and networking opportunities to help them grow and scale their businesses.
Maarufu noted that the 40 Days 40 FinTechs platform is transformative as it gives start-ups a chance to scale up and serve more people.
“40 Days 40 FinTechs is playing a great role. It gives us a chance to be visible to so many people; customers, policy makers and potential investors. Last year we received so many calls from people who watched our story from this initiative. It helps start-ups a lot,” Maarufu said.
40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Tanzania is part of HiPipo’s broader Include EveryOne Program that is generously supported by the Gates Foundation and implemented in partnership with Level One Project, ICTC Tanzania, Ideation Corner, Cyber PLC Academy, INFITX, NG Films, Founders Academy and Mojaloop Foundation.
The Include EveryOne program is a beacon of acceleration of FinTech Innovation, empowerment for Women in FinTech and a catalyst for investment and development in the ICT sector. Minus 40 Days 40 FinTechs, other initiatives under the Include EveryOne Program are the FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit and Incubator, Digital Impact Awards Africa and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit. HiPipo is recognized as a premier advocate of digital Innovation and financial inclusion champion, a fervent proponent of the #LevelOneProject. HiPipo has been at the forefront, actively promoting digital innovation, Instant, Inclusive Payment Systems (IIPS), and DFS across Africa. With a legacy of advising, mobilizing, and facilitating the adoption of inclusive financial services, HiPipo’s efforts have been nothing short of transformative! For almost two decades, HiPipo has successfully facilitated the inclusive adoption of these crucial services.