Uganda’s Mobile-Money Growth Puts Disconnected Payment Systems in Focus

Nearly two-thirds of Ugandan adults used mobile money in 2023, yet saving electronically remained relatively uncommon. That gap highlights the challenge facing the country’s digital-finance industry: getting people onto a platform is not the same as giving them a service they can afford, trust and use regularly. Industry leaders want better connections between payment systems to help close that gap.

At the eighth FITSPA Annual FinTech Conference in Kampala, financial technology companies, regulators and development partners called for shared infrastructure and stronger data standards, according to Nile Post Uganda (direct). Their focus was interoperability—the ability of different systems to work together—rather than a growing collection of disconnected financial products. The FinScope Uganda 2023 Survey put adult mobile-money use at 64%, up from 56% in 2018.

Connecting the systems already in place

Diana Akullu Wanyama, acting digital economy lead at Financial Sector Deepening Uganda, argued that the country should make better use of existing infrastructure instead of building separate systems for every service. Clear rules governing access and operation would be essential, she said. She linked that infrastructure to Uganda’s Tenfold Growth Strategy, which aims to expand the economy from nearly $50 billion in 2023 to $500 billion by 2040.

Japheth Aritho, managing director of Airtel Money Uganda, said better connections could also make services more resilient: customers should be able to use another operator when one platform is unavailable. But he warned that cybersecurity threats and fraud required greater information sharing among telecom companies, banks, regulators and financial technology providers. FITSPA board chairperson and FutureLink Technologies CEO Vincent Tumwijukye said the industry had begun working on an anti-fraud initiative with the Bank of Uganda, Financial Intelligence Authority, Bankers Association and Payment Service Providers Association.

The conference identified common technical standards, systems for exchanging data and a well-governed national switch—a central system connecting payment platforms—as priorities. Speakers cautioned that connections alone would not ensure reliability. Shared infrastructure would also need strong security, clear oversight and pricing that allows smaller companies to participate. Participants sought wider use of regulatory sandboxes, controlled settings where companies can test products while authorities assess risks.

Trust, costs and capital

Racheal Vanessa Muhwezi, assistant commissioner for microfinance regulation and supervision at the Ministry of Finance, said the government supported financial technology providers because they could reach people poorly served by traditional institutions. That support came with expectations on consumer protection. She warned against predatory practices, urged responsible use of artificial intelligence and said the government was working towards measures that could lower payment costs.

Partnerships already underpin some services. Dennis Musinguzi, CEO of school-fees financing platform Furaha, said cooperation with telecom operators, banks and payment aggregators had helped the company expand education financing. He said its platform had supported more than 100,000 children to remain in school. Tumwijukye, meanwhile, called for industry-relevant training, capital willing to take higher risks and regional licensing arrangements that could help Ugandan companies reach larger markets.

Technology entrepreneur and PANI founder Ken Njoroge urged businesses to focus on solving customer problems rather than pursuing size for its own sake. Drawing on his experience building Cellulant across African markets, he challenged how investment was being directed.

“Africa does not have a capital problem; it has a capital-allocation problem,” Njoroge said.

The next test is whether those calls produce infrastructure that smaller providers can access and customers can trust. Watch for progress on shared payment connections, fraud-information exchange and transaction costs—the areas speakers identified as central to making Uganda’s next stage of digital finance more useful, not simply bigger.