By overlooking the female economy opportunity, fintechs are leaving trillions on the table.

Accelerating the financial power of all women by working to champion the female economy and unlocking its full value has been the driving force of the Financial Alliance for Women.

In 2019, the Financial Alliance for Women identified the fintech sector as a significant business opportunity to address key issues in the financial inclusion of women globally, which the traditional sector has struggled with and instituted the Alliance Hackathon to develop scalable solutions that solve key female economy challenges.

This year’s edition, sponsored by Moniepoint Inc and HSBC, with the theme – Shaping Economies through Gender-Intelligent Fintech showcased cutting-edge solutions aimed at advancing financial inclusion and empowerment.

According to Inez Murray, CEO, Financial Alliance for Women,

“we make the business case for women’s economic advancement and help them drive profits, grow their programs through key platforms. We received a record number of entries to our annual Alliance Hackathon this year, with more than 200 fintechs from around the world applying to take part. After pouring over the applications, the field narrowed to 15 exceptional finalists selected to compete in the hack throughout early August, fine tuning their tech-based solutions to facilitate women’s financial inclusion.”

With a call to fintechs around the world to pitch creative and innovative tech-based solutions that expands women business owners’ access to finance; provides non-financial services that accelerate their business growth; supports women to invest and build wealth; and support women to mitigate and adapt to climate change, the shortlist of 15 fintechs that made the final include Penny, Pilou, Rusyve, DREX, QuickLegal, MICROWD, Halal Money Transfer (HMT), Finan Co., Ltd, Warmi, Kitspay Private Limited, HiSofi, Futa, Famunera Limited, and 6C’S Skill’s Exchange.

The shortlisted fintechs received one-on-one mentoring from a highly experienced mentor cohort featuring leaders like Moniepoint’s VP, Corporate Affairs, Edidiong Uwemakpan.

They also took part in peer learning clinics focused on building a successful women-centered strategy, and got the chance to pitch in front of a panel of high-impact executives from global financial services institutions.

Creating a solution that helps develop mass market women’s investment capabilities, Pilou, a by-women, for-women platform offering women in Latin America personalized financial education and investment tools alongside low-cost, diversified investment portfolios managed in a transparent manner has emerged first place winner as the Female Economy FinTech of the Year in the 2024 Alliance Hack.

DREX, a renewable energy financing platform dedicated to funding small to medium-sized renewable energy projects and link women-owned businesses in Ecuador in with women-owned solar farms that could cover 100% of their energy requirements took second place as Female Economy Silver Fintech Award winner and Futa, which supports small businesses in Francophone Africa by using payroll data to provide their employees with fast and fair access to financing received the Female Economy Bronze Fintech Award as third place winner.

Tosin Eniolorunda, CEO, Moniepoint Inc, acknowledged that women’s financial inclusion is not just a matter of equality – it’s a powerful catalyst for economic growth and societal progress.

“At Moniepoint, we’re committed to playing our part in unlocking the full potential of the Female Economy. This is why we chose to sponsor the Alliance Hackathon. We believe that by fostering innovation in fintech, we can accelerate the development of solutions that address the unique financial needs and challenges faced by women around the world. From expanding access to finance for women entrepreneurs to providing tools for wealth building and climate action, the challenges tackled in this hackathon align perfectly with our vision for a more inclusive future where societies can experience financial happiness and their dreams are powered,” Eniolorunda said.

Furthermore, Eniolorunda, who also served as a judge on the Hackathon said,

“To the winners, you’ve shown us that with the right tools and support, we can make significant strides in bridging the gender gap in financial services and making a real difference to improve women’s lives across the globe. Moniepoint remains committed to supporting this journey, and we look forward to seeing the impact these solutions will have in the years to come.”

Recognizing the contributions of the sponsors, Moniepoint Inc and HSBC,  Financial Alliance for Women noted that “today, five years later, we are proud of the great impact we are creating. Not only are we raising awareness within the fintech ecosystem, but we are also witnessing fintechs becoming increasingly gender-intelligent. We would like to thank you for your high-level engagement and commitment to the Alliance Hack. Without your contributions, the hackathon wouldn’t be possible.”

The participants were carefully selected after undergoing a highly competitive process. The President of the Students’ Union, Mr. Jesunifemi Asoore aka TenTen, while responding to media inquiries, stated that the program aims to provide all the necessary support for students who have already demonstrated great potential within the digital ecosystem.

According to him, “FUTA is one of the best universities in Nigeria and, indeed, the best university of technology in the country. If FUTA must maintain its leadership in advancing technology in Nigeria, the Students’ Union, as an institution, must step up to rally all possible support for its members to thrive.

“Providing all the necessary support was the reason the union entered into a strategic partnership with the FUTA Tech Hub – so that our members could work in an environment that fosters innovative thinking and growth. Today marks the first milestone in that vision.”

Justifying the choice of Mr. Abdulhamid Owoseni as the guest speaker, the president stated that FUTA alumni has shown great leadership in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem, and Mr. Owoseni is among those who have made and continue to make remarkable contributions to the industry.

“I have been following his career progress in tech, I have watched him on TV, and I have read several of his articles in national dailies. There is no doubt that he is a force in Nigeria’s digital economy. Having someone of his caliber – not just as a former student but also as a former executive of our union – is a thing of pride. No one could connect with our students better than him,” he stated.

In his speech, Mr. Abdulhamid Owoseni acknowledged the significant influence FUTA had on his career and saw this meeting as a way of giving back to the institution that shaped him.

“FUTA is my alma mater; I graduated from here. When I first received the invitation, I already had prior engagements scheduled, but I said no – I must honour this invitation, not for anything else, but for the simple fact that I was moulded here. This is exactly where it all started. It gives me so much joy to return and inspire you. You are the frontiers of innovation. The fact that you are here proves your remarkable potential in this field,” he declared.

Olusola Adetunmbi, a Professor of Computer Science at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) and Visiting Scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Boston, United States of America, stated this while delivering the 143rd inaugural lecture of the university on Tuesday 25th January, 2022.

He said such a system should replace the current physical verification model in use for attendance purpose in most places in the country.

“The challenge posed by ghost workers and absenteeism has made the need to involve finger print based attendance approach for the verification of attendees at meetings and in offices critical,” Adetunmbi stated.

The FUTA Don said from research and experiments carried out, the system is highly efficient in the verification of user’s fingerprints with an accuracy of 97.4 percent.

He urged State governments, federal institutions and other related organizations to deploy the system in checking the incidence of ghost workers and absenteeism at work.

He described the system as fool proof as nobody can assume the fingerprints –biometric identification- of another saying physical signature can easily be copied.

Adetunmbi also urged security agencies to begin the use of footprints in crime suspects’ detection and identification.

According to him, criminals find it almost impossible to avoid leaving a shoeprint or footprints behind at crime scenes .

He said features from the shoe prints or barefoot can be used in determining certain information relating to suspects using state of the art digital technology.

He said when the footprints are carefully preserved and the image processed, this can be computed using certain devices and digital technology for crime detection.

The FUTA Don advised security agencies to continue to leverage on the many advantages of digital technology in the ongoing fight against banditry and terrorism.

He also canvassed for accurate and adequate deployment of data in major sectors of the Nigerian economy saying this will enhance the nation’s growth and development.

Adetunmbi who spoke on the topic, “Language: A Veritable Recipe for Universal Problem-Solving,” said “the prowess of the global world is data.

According to him, “The nation needs to wake up and do the needful in the art of data acquisition, data preservation, data utilization and data deployment in major sectors of the economy like education, agriculture, health, finance, and manufacturing, to mention a few.

There is the need to harness the existing data and also increase the quality of data gathered in the nation for our overall well-being.” He said the acquisition of data and its deployment accurately will enhance development and planning in all sectors of the Nigerian economy.

The don, who developed a FUTA ’s Timetable software and designed Fibre Optics Networks laid across the campus, said that the advances in telecommunication technology provide a platform to exploit languages for national integration and economic advancement in a peaceful neighborhood.

Speaking on the importance of language to national development he said “language is vital to the creativity of the present global society and required in problem-solving domains across the global network.”

He added that the ability to interact, express feelings, moods, ideas and exchange information with one another either by speaking, writing or through gestures is what makes human unique.

The same language, according to him is germane to social interactions and the well-being of the human race because in the contemporary world, metalanguage has become so vital to the extent that it constitutes the major components of the fabric that binds the entire world together as a global village.

Adetunmbi, a former Director of the Computer Resource Centre, FUTA said most metalanguages from different professions are transformed by programming languages in order to create a problem solving domain as may be required by the compelling exigencies at hand.

According to him, a typical computer programme, which is a metalanguage, has become a universal language that can be used to capture any human language adequately for solving problems in any area of human endeavor.

Thus, all natural languages are metalanguages and all programming languages are metalanguages.

Therefore, the metalanguages undoubtedly are the converging points in the transformation of the various professional and natural languages to implementable computing programming languages.

The don stressed the need for use of local content for infrastructures in order to promote technology and resource, calling on educational institutions to imbibe the culture of creative thinking in learners through problem solving skills, using available local contents/resources.

He said,“For a vibrant economy, there is the need for all sectors of government establishments to design a common template for resolving challenges with clearly endorsed unity of purpose and coordinated problem solving initiatives.”

In his remarks, Professor Joseph Fuwape, chairman at the event, the Vice Chancellor, said Adetunmbi has distinguished himself as a scholar of repute in his area of specialization having mentored many young academic in his department.

He praised the excellent delivery of the lecture which revealed that language can become recipe for universal problem-solving domains.