In the morning of this event, two Firetalks were held involving 10 participants from different organizations. The first theme was: Fintech’s and financial services. Disruptive competition versus evolutionary collaboration. This conversation was moderated by José Samo Gudo (TabluTech) and was attended by Salomão David (ARECOM), Sara Fakir (Ideialab), João Freire de Andrade (Portugal Fintech), Ivo Vilhena (Millennium BIM) and Fei Manheche (Robobo) .
The second theme was: Green Fields of opportunity for Fintechs. The moderator was Helder Buvana (FSDMoc) and was attended by Abneuza Estefania (MozDevz), Claudio Banze (Standard Bank), Sarah Corley (DFI) and Mulweli Rebelo (Ologa).
The debate created around these two themes, generated a set of interesting points for reflection and recommendations that must be deepened and implemented by the various organizations in the sector. The following relevant notes stands out:
- Fintechs must be more open to collaborative processes than they want to be in competition with incumbents in the sector. On the other hand, these (incumbents) must open the doors to Fintechs in order to work together to change more “legacy” processes and to implement innovative catalytic solutions for greater financial inclusion.
- At the incumbent level, a “Champion of innovation” figure should be created that is the point of dialogue and opening with the fintech startups to evaluate partnerships. However, these incumbents must avoid the process of absorbing Cadres from Fintechs by emptying companies that depend on them and thus limiting innovation outside large organizations.
- It is necessary to invest in the creation of talents in this area of digital financial services and DFI has been an organization that enhances this knowledge, with several people in Mozambique with new skills in this area. However, organizations that benefit from these highly trained staff also have to create mechanisms that allow retaining this talent within companies, namely small Fintech startups that live supported by a small staff and where changing these can lead to risks in the continuity of services provided .
- It was also considered important to create an ecosystem for the development of Fintech startups involving all stakeholders such as incumbents, operators, regulators, legal skills, mentoring, coaching and other specialists. In this respect, the explanation of the Fintech House model presented by João Freire de Andrade and implemented by the Portugal Fintech Association in Lisbon was relevant.
In the second part of the morning we had a presentation by Dr. Arlindo Lome, Director of the financial inclusion office and responsible for the Regulatory SandBox of the Bank of Mozambique, where the procedures for accessing the SandBox were explained, and presented the work the Bank is doing in this area of regulation of the new providers of financial services.
Profª Esselina Macome then presented the Report of the Fintechs of Mozambique 2020 which will be published shortly. This report has a historical overview of the path developed fundamentally by FSDmoc since 2016 in boosting startups and launching Fintech / Insuretech solutions culminating in the creation of FINTECH.MZ. The report will be produced in Portuguese and English and has testimony from several individuals in the financial sector as well as a presentation by the companies Fintech and Insuretech operating in the country. The challenge to FINTECH.MZ was also launched to continue this annual report, being responsible for its production from 2021.
Then, Engº João Gaspar, FINTECH.MZ president, made the official presentation of the Mozambique Fintech Association where some actions already underway and future plans were listed, both in terms of initiatives to be carried out and the challenges of organization and support of the Association.
At the end of the presentation, FINTECH.MZ board members were presented.
