Tech innovators fight to minimise contact with cash

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported that Africa would see coronavirus cases rise within three to six months.
While in most African nations, governments have undertaken extreme health measures such as sensitisation campaigns, lockdowns, curfews, and the production of test kits and masks, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector has not been left behind in developing digital solutions to meet the unprecedented challenges of the coronavirus.
Africa’s tech innovators offering low cost and more advanced tech solutions have taken the lead in developing solutions that curb the spread of the virus.
Chipper Cash, which enables customers to send and receive money across the African continent at no fee, has joined other innovations such as the Safaricom’s M-Pesa, Airtel Money and T-Kash to reduce the physical handling of cash.
The government in March identified handling of cash as a weaker link in the fight against Covid-19. To reduce contact with cash, the State worked out an arrangement with the telecommunication firms to knock out barriers limiting the use of mobile wallets.
Developed in the heart of Silicon Valley in San Francisco by Uganda’s Ham Serunjogi and Ghana’s Maijid Moujaled, Chipper Cash was inspired by the need to offer fast and cheap mobile payment solutions in Africa. Serunjogi and Moujaled launched Chipper Cash in October 2018.
The Co-founder and CEO of Chipper Cash, Ham Serunjogi noted, “Our education and life experiences abroad drove us to think of ways we could leverage growing up on the continent to create a major impact, hence Chipper Cash was born.”
In Kenya, seen as a world leader in digital payments and where mobile payment penetration is estimated at over 70 per cent, Chipper Cash has taken off by offering a payment solution that is targeted at people living and working across the African continent.
“Chipper Cash is enabling Africans to transfer and receive money across Africa in a fast, free and easy way right from their mobile phones. We hope to expand this untapped opportunity in Kenya and continue bringing Africa together, one transaction at a time,” Mr Serunjogi added.
So far, Chipper Cash has its foothold in Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria and South Africa and has over 1 million downloads from the Android Play Store. Besides, over 3 million transactions have completed since its inception.