Digital transformation: a business priority
On the last day of the 4th edition of Fintech Week – Mozambique Fintech Week 2023, the transition to the digital ecosystem in the insurance sector was discussed, in order to accompany the transformation that has been taking place in this segment, globally, and to strengthen the competitiveness of companies in the sector internally, benefiting customers with faster and more effective access to all kinds of (new) services, a “decisive” step to complete the process of financial inclusion in Mozambique.
The concept of “digital” is, from time to time, and in an increasingly accelerated manner, one of the prerogatives for people and organisations that want to be increasingly efficient, and it is essential for companies to consider the digital transformation.
According to Francelina Sitoe, director of the Insurance Supervision Institute of Mozambique (ISSM), it is necessary to “understand exactly what this transformation means, what its impact on society is and how to apply it in business processes”. To this end, the question that should be asked is: “how much will digitalisation cost, rather than whether or not to digitalise?
On this last day of the conference, it became clear that companies formed before the emergence of the Internet currently face a major challenge: many of the rules that guided the progress of business in the pre-digital era no longer apply. In this sense, the panelists agreed that companies “clinging to paper” are obsolete and that this traditionalist view makes access, agility and mobility impossible.
Francelina Sitoe noted that digital transformation “starts by being a process of change of mentality in companies that start using technology to meet the objective of becoming more modern, improve their performances, increase market reach and extend technological advances with an impact on the country’s development and growth. “In other words, “it radically changes organisations and guarantees them a place in the future,” he adds.
It is a change in the structure of organizations, from which technology starts to have a central strategic role, and not just a superficial presence. A process that takes time and consumes resources, which is why it is vital, in the view of Tauanda Chare, founder of insurtech MóvelCare, to bet on infrastructures. “They are the ones that indicate to us the real investment that is being made in technological development, thus illustrating the effective growth of economies,” he added.
Francelina Sitoe reinforced this premise, reiterating that “without digitalisation, there is no progress, and for that we have to embrace innovation and place all sectors in the digital ecosystem, in order to attract new customers, under penalty of losing competitive weight in the market”.
Tauanda Chare highlighted, in turn, that “this is the right time to make offers using mobile money, without neglecting the rural community, creating digital services that are not only focused on financial gains, but on social transformation and improving services. Hence the idea of creating more and more platforms without depending on the internet and that can operate through any mobile phone or computer, in order to bring the rural population closer to financial services such as insurance.
The young entrepreneur also noted that in order to see an effective financial inclusion, it is fundamental to invest in education to fight “the lack of knowledge about access to financial services, especially digital insurance”. The latter, he continues, “are a crucial part of financial inclusion. The lack of financial education undermines the digital, financial development and of the country itself and priority should be given to this issue globally.”
Regarding recommendations to increase the usability of digital insurance, Francelina Sitoe suggested “approving a specific regulation for digital insurance in the next revision of the legislation”, while Tauanda Chare reinforced the need for “partnerships between regulators and insurers, with the creation of a KYC platform in order to streamline processes as well as reduce risks and financial crimes”.
FINTECH present solutions
In the final stretch of the last day of the 4th edition of Fintech Week, the five companies competing in the Fintech.MZ Innovation Awards’23 also presented some of their technological solutions.
Tablu Tech presented the benefits of MoDI, an e-KYC solution that allows customer documentation to be validated and shared securely and privately between financial institutions.
Nidjula, meanwhile, explained how it is developing a Digital Identity Service making it easier to carry out the KYC/CDD process securely, quickly and effectively. In the case of StockPro, it brought a management software that aims to help SMEs increase their productivity and efficiency through automation.
Additionally, Kamaleon’s main focus is to contribute to the reduction of digital exclusion, improve the quality of training and empower rural communities with mobile digital infrastructure powered by solar panels, having created the Community Tablet for this purpose.
Finally, SmartRisk presented its financial inclusion platform dedicated to microcredit, ensuring the sharing of credit status information and a borrower’s history simply, quickly, and securely.
And the winner of the second edition of the “Fintech.Mz Innovation Awards” is…
And to close a week full of debate, innovation and solutions that promise to serve as leverage for the development of digital financial services in Mozambique, in the second edition of the “Fintech.Mz Innovation Awards” the big winner of this year’s edition was the MoDI solution, developed by Tablutech.
