What do FinTech companies do?
FinTech is the abbreviated form of Financial Technology is a range of financial services software that is used by companies to automate traditional financial methods. For instance, for us as Yo! Uganda Limited, our services include merchant payments, bulk payments, branchless banking, mobile banking, mobile VAS, and custom software development.

How FinTech Companies Help a Startup Grow?
FinTech companies develop technologies that allow business owners to manage and control actions like accepting payments, paying bills, and using other financial services to their advantage. Earlier with the lack of these technologies and other facilities provided by FinTech, startups didn’t have many ways to grow their businesses.

Furthermore, they only had banks as a source of capital which was used to look for the credibility and the scope of these companies in the future market. This made the process more complex and difficult for a company that is in its initial stage. With the FinTech solutions in the market, startups now have more options and ways in which they can work towards growth.

Importance of FinTech Companies
However, it is hard for startups to grow and make a reputation in today’s world with all the competition and a large number of startups launching every year. Hence, it is important for them to opt for ways that bring ease to their functioning and help them grow effectively/efficiently. FinTech companies play a major role in this. Mentioned below are some of the importance of the presence of FinTech solutions in the (modern) market;

• Anyone having an internet connection can access FinTech solutions all over the world
• FinTech solutions are comparatively cheaper than their counterparts
• Moreover, the usage of various technologies makes the process in a company automated
• Furthermore, these systems are flexible in nature as they do not demand too many documents and they provide lending to new and very small businesses
• Also, the use of modern technologies adds to the reason startups choose them
• Henceforth, FinTech companies provide a better customer experience

Conclusion
FinTech companies ease the process of managing a business by using automation technologies, less documentation, providing lending, expense tracking and invoicing, usage of various tools, and by providing a range of FinTech products and services. These services help startups to grow.

Yo! was the first company to launch and profitably operate a multipurpose mobile payments aggregation service in Uganda, Yo! Payments, in 2010, and has continued to be at the forefront of developing financial technology solutions for business.

Through its Yo! Payments platform, the company provides full support for Mobile Money services including integrations with several banks, utilities, and customers wishing to make and accept payments through all mobile networks currently active in Uganda. Apart from mobile money, other mobile platforms leveraged include SMS, USSD, and IVR enabling businesses to accept payments through Point of Sale devices, Mobile Applications (Apps), and web transactions.

Yo! Uganda offers a range of services which include the following;

Merchant Payments
In Uganda and across the world, online payments, and credit and debit card payments are becoming popular every other day, while cash and checks are continually decreasing in value. A merchant or any payment system that allows account holders to accept payments in numerous ways (usually debit or credit cards) can help you add value to your business.

We enable businesses of all sizes to securely accept Mobile Money payments for their goods and services through any channel of their choice, depending on their needs. Several hundreds of merchants rely on us for the Mobile Payments processing.

Bulk Payments
A bulk payment is a system that allows a company/individual to make debit payments to multiple beneficiaries. For instance, payouts. Meanwhile, a bulk list is the list of beneficiaries that the creditor intends to pay from a single account. The creditor’s bank statement reflects this bulk transfer as a single payment.

Fintech players like Yo! Uganda have more user-friendly solutions for bulk payment processing. They are faster, highly scalable, and offer higher security. Many businesses use bulk payments on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

Numerous organizations are using our Bulk Payments service to securely and conveniently disburse funds directly to the mobile money wallets of multiple beneficiaries. Our platform supports some of the most sophisticated security features.

Branchless Banking
We are enabling Financial Institutions to reduce costs by accepting deposits from their customers directly from their Mobile Money wallets as well as transmitting withdrawals directly to their Mobile Money wallets.

Mobile Banking
Now more than ever, it’s essential to be able to conduct some tasks remotely, such as banking, instead of visiting a physical location. So, whether you are new to mobile banking or not, chances are you can learn something from this look at the benefits of mobile banking.

Financial institutions using our Mobile Banking product are realizing numerous benefits such as reduced cost of engagement, additional revenue streams, and increased customer loyalty.

Mobile VAS (SMS, USSD, IVR)
Value Added Services (VAS) refer to the non-core services offered in the telecom sector. All services apart from standard voice calls and fax transmissions are considered VAS. These services can be used to promote an operator’s primary business.

VAS spurs mobile subscribers to increasingly use their mobile devices in order to allow the operator to pull up their average revenue per user.

For more than 10 years, hundreds of organizations in and outside Uganda have relied on our stable, dependable, and scalable SMS, USSD, and IVR aggregation services to power country-wide and localized for-profit and social campaigns.

Custom Software Development
Custom software development is the process of designing, creating, deploying, and maintaining software for a specific set of users, functions, or organizations.

Innovation is our lifeblood. We never shy away from the challenge of creating the status quo or inventing the next “state of the art”. We actively seek opportunities to assert our status as the leading innovators in Uganda.

FINTECH INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
Fintech is a portmanteau of the terms “finance” and “technology” and refers to any business that uses technology to enhance or automate financial services and processes. The term encompasses a rapidly growing industry that serves the interests of both consumers and businesses in multiple ways. From mobile banking and insurance to investment apps, fintech has a seemingly endless array of applications.

The industry is huge — and will continue to expand for years to come. One driving factor is that many traditional banks are supporters and adopters of the technology, actively investing in, acquiring or partnering with fintech startups because it is easier to give digitally-minded customers what they want, while also moving the industry forward and staying relevant.

WHAT IS A FINTECH COMPANY?
Fintech companies integrate technologies (like AI, blockchain and data science) into traditional financial sectors to make them safer, faster and more efficient. Fintech is one of the fastest-growing tech sectors, with companies innovating in almost every area of finance; from payments and loans to credit scoring.

How does fintech work?
Fintech is not a new industry, it’s just one that has evolved very quickly. Technology has, to some degree, always been part of the financial world, whether it’s the introduction of credit cards in the 1950s or ATMs, electronic trading floors, personal finance apps and high-frequency trading in the decades that followed.

The guts behind financial technology varies from project to project, application to application. Some of the newest advances, however, are utilizing machine learning algorithms, blockchain and data science to do everything from process credit risks to run hedge funds. In fact, there’s now an entire subset of regulatory technology dubbed “regtech” designed to navigate the complex world of compliance and regulatory issues of industries like, you guessed it, FinTech.

As fintech has grown, so have concerns regarding cybersecurity in the fintech industry. The massive growth of fintech companies and marketplaces on a global scale has led to increased exposure of vulnerabilities in fintech infrastructure while making it a target for cybercriminal attacks. Luckily, technology continues to evolve to minimize existing fraud risks and mitigate threats that continue to emerge.

FINTECH EXAMPLES & USES
FinTech uses
Though the industry conjures up images of startups and industry-changing technology, traditional companies and banks are also constantly adopting FinTech services for their own purposes. Here’s a quick look at how the industry is both disrupting and enhancing some areas of finance.

Banking
Mobile banking is a large part of the fintech industry. In the world of personal finance, consumers have increasingly demanded easy digital access to their bank accounts, especially on a mobile device. Most major banks now offer some kind of mobile banking feature, especially with the rise of digital-first banks, or “Neobanks”.

Neobanks are essentially banks without any physical branch locations, serving customers with checking, savings, payment services and loans on completely mobile and digital infrastructure.

Investment & Savings
Fintech has caused an explosion in the number of investing and savings apps in recent years. More than ever, the barriers to investing are being broken down. While these apps differ in approach, each uses a combination of savings and automated small-money investing methods, such as instant round-up deposits on purchases, to introduce consumers to the markets.

Payments
Moving money around is something FinTech is very good at. The phrase “I’ll send you the money now” is now a replacement for “I’ll pay you later.”. Payment companies have changed the way we all do business. It’s easier than ever to send money digitally anywhere in the world.

Conclusion
FinTech has totally changed how people carryout transactions and will continue to evolve overtime. Keep watch.