In Mozambique, like in many other developing countries, it is crystal clear to young leaders of society that technology is a critical driver in eliminating poverty. These youthful innovators are seeking more technological initiatives by the government as a way to promote the inclusive economic growth of young people - and that's because 33.6 percent of the population in the country are aged between 10 and 24, according to the UN Population Fund in 2020.

These concerns were raised during the third edition of the nonprofit Mozambican Economic and Social Forum (MOZEFO) for Young Leaders, which took place this August from 10 to 16 online. MOZEFO selected about 30 themes and 86 speakers, both locals and foreigners, who spent six days discussing the challenges of Mozambican youth in leadership and transformation.

According to one of the delegates, Manoj Shanker, CEO and Founder of the company Techno Brain, each country has its own needs in terms of technologies. So, Mozambique needs to invest in training talented youth in the area of ​​technology to respond to local needs, he said.

A veteran with about 20 years working with youth across Africa, Shanker believes the continent has large numbers of youth with potential.

"What they need is exposure, mentoring and guidance, combined with an ecosystem favorable to the growth of entrepreneurship. For that, there must be policies, investment mainly for startups, a work environment mainly for startups, infrastructure and [reliable] Internet," said Shanker.

He's not alone in advocating for the inclusion of youth in the administrative policies in Mozambique to create greater space for technological innovations. Young tech activist Osman Coussing believes young people must be part of the political power.

"It is unacceptable that in a universe of 730 deputies in the national and provincial assemblies, only about 60 are youth. There is a need to open up more space for them to be part of the country's decision-making forums," said Coussing.

According to the list of the 20 poorest countries in the world, published by the International Monetary Fund in 2019, Mozambique occupies seventh place. Despite its wealth of natural resources, tourism potential and fertile land, the GDP per capita is only $1,300. With around 25 percent of the population unemployed, the majority of which are youth, Mozambique ranks fifth on the list of countries with the highest unemployment rate.

Fintech focus

From 2017 to 2020, Mozambique saw the emergence of around 40 tech startups, mostly belonging to young Mozambicans. All of the startups are involved in the development of platforms that promote financial inclusion of Mozambicans.

These companies emerged during the launch of the Fintech Challenge promoted by Financial Sector Deepening Mozambique (FSDMoç), a company focused on creating digital solutions for financial inclusion in Mozambique.

Giotto Vassoa, a 27-year-old young digital product designer, participated in the competition and considers this experience one of the high points of his life.

Working for the company Ability, Vassoa and his team of young Mozambicans developed a mobile application called Meu Txi (My Money in Mozambican slang), with the function of helping the user manage their money and create a savings plan. It enables interaction with banking services and mobile wallets.

What makes this project one of the highlights of Vassoa's life is the fact that in 2019, it won the "Excellence Award for using information and communication technology to create solutions with social impact" in an ITU (International Telecommunication Union) telecom competition in Hungary in 2019.

Recalling the victory, Vassoa said it was "mind blowing." "We had an idea for an app, that we then imagined, built, pitched and then sold. This was the highest moment in terms of acceptance of what we produced," said Vassoa.

Vassoa thinks there is still a wide gap in terms of higher education on technology at local colleges and that in foreign countries.

"As a proof of that, I can see the colleagues who studied with me [in Mozambique] still have a lot of difficulties in producing [products] and ensuring the quality of production. That's why I think that our academic curriculum should be aligned with real-world [technology] production processes," said Vassoa.

Regulations for fintech

Vera Manjate, a young law graduate, got involved with technology in an unambitious way and is now hooked to it. After working for a little over two years with fintech, she believes that technology is a path for the development of Mozambique.

Manjate is currently the representative of the multinational platform Mukuru in Mozambique, a digital system that transfers and receives funds internationally.

"I was not aware of what I was about to get involved in with the technology world when I joined Mukuru. I thought I was going to deal only with the regulatory aspects; but over time, I realized that it was inevitable to immerse myself in the tech side," said Manjate.

Until 2012, the year that Mukuru started operating in Mozambique, the country still had no fintech regulations. Because of that, their company had to join institutions that were already approved to operate, such as Standard Bank.

It was only in 2018 that through Bank of Moçambique, in partnership with FSDMoç, did Mozambique start designing regulatory strategies for fintech startups. Thanks to this initiative, Mukuru started to operate more openly.

"Currently, there is already a policy in place that regulates the transfer of money in Mozambique. We obtained the approval of Bank of Mozambique to operate independently, and now we are waiting for the [operating] license to be granted," she said.

Transforming young lives

In February this year, the Mozambican Association of Fintech (Fintech.mz) was launched. According to South Africa's Standard Bank, Fintech.mz has the support of Bank of Moçambique, FSDMoç and Standard Bank, and aims to bring together in a single step all companies and startups dedicated to technological innovation and creating payment solutions for banking and insurance companies.

This will contribute to the development of new technology-based services that allow increasing the digital financial inclusion of all Mozambicans.

This platform gives hope to young leaders and innovators in the fintech field in Mozambique, because it will "support, promote and defend all national and foreign entities which it interacts with or depends on. [This can be] obtaining financing, presenting products, or creating or changing laws and regulations," said João Gaspar, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fintech.mz.

This platform is a hopeful step for young innovators in the fintech field because it will greatly facilitate the process of creating regulations for the operation of financial companies, which is one of the things that is still lacking in the country.

The first step has already been taken by the Bank of Mozambique, and a law regulating the activities of the so-called aggregators and payment service providers is being promulgated.

"However, fintech [startups] require constant innovation and it is necessary for the regulations to keep up with this evolution as new supervisory paradigms are put in place for regulators. Fintech.mz can play an important role in mediating between companies and regulators, collaborating on proposals to change the current laws and in the elaboration and revision of new laws that will certainly be necessary," said Gaspar.

Young Mozambican leaders believe that their country still has a long way to go in the area of ​​technology; but with more effort from the Mozambican Government, the improvement of curricula in vocational training institutes and the emergence of investors who trust young people, the goal will be reached sooner rather than later.

Reporting from Mozambique

(Print Edition Title: Technology Shines a Light)

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