Denis Opudo
The organizers of DataHack for Financial Inclusion (DataHack4Fi) have selected at least 45 startups for the second edition. The selected data scientists and technology innovators will all receive online training. After the training, only 25 of them will again make it to the final. The final stage will take place in May 2018 in Kigali. All the six countries which participate in the program will bring their finalists in the grand finale. The theme for 2018 competition is ‘Unlock Your Data’s Potential.’
DataHack4Fi competition aims at seeking solutions to problems that face financial and business sectors by encouraging data analysists and tech savvies. The first DataHack4Fi involved people with ideas for innovation. However, the 2018 competition only requires operational startups. The organizers arrived at this decision considering that operational startups will have bigger impacts. Moreover, these startups must employ either statistics, mathematics or programming in their operations.
According to the head of Application Lab at ‘Insight 2 Impact‘, Nkosinathi Ncube, the continent needs innovative minds. He also said that the best way to address problems facing businesses and financial requirements of low-income in the society involves the use of data analysists. Moreover, he said that we need to have the society with innovative minds.
According to the vice chairman of the ICT chamber, Robert Ford, companies that invest in data revolution need support. However, he said that the government and regulators acted as a stumbling block for these startups. He cited an instance where regulators required an innovator to deposit millions before proceeding. In such cases, you may realize that to realize his success, the innovator only needed 10% of what he was asked to pay.
The CEO of Liquid Telecom, Alexis Kabeja said that Malawi needs to promote data innovations. Additionally, he stated that data has become crucial for the efficient running of economies hence the government should invest much.
