Born in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, MpaMpe is Uganda’s solution to crowdfunding and bridging the gap between donors and beneficiaries. During an interview with Maria Luzinda, the CEO of MpaMpe, she shared insights on MpaMpe’s birth, successes, and challenges.
MpaMpe is a word in the local Luganda dialect that can be loosely translated into English to mean “give me I give out.” Two years ago, during the Women in Fintech event organized by Hi-Pipo, the idea of digitizing crowdfunding in Uganda through MpaMpe saw the light of day. In the midst of economic tensions and devastating financial challenges, many people took to social media, the streets, Churches, Government agencies, and NGOs to seek help.
It was the various stories filled with devastation and the need to get a helping hand that drove the quartet, Maria Luzinda, the C.E.O., Namuganga Emily, the Tech lead, Angella Bukirwa, the product manager and Ronald Atuhaire, the C.F.O., to start MpaMpe, a web-based crowdfunding platform.
Crowdfunding is a way of raising funds for a project or venture by soliciting small contributions from a large number of people. It is a popular alternative to traditional methods of fundraising, such as seeking investment from venture capitalists or borrowing from a bank. Crowdfunding campaigns can be used to raise money for a wide range of purposes, including launching a new product, supporting a social cause, funding a creative project, or financing a business.
Maria Luzinda shares steps on how you can use the MpaMpe website to launch a crowdfunding campaign:
- Select the campaign option on the MpaMpe dashboard
- Start a campaign
- Fill out a form that records the details of the campaign you are running, such as your name, contact information, and the type of assistance you require.
- You may include photographic or video evidence with your submission. Your campaign will be shown as pending until it is verified to be genuine.
To verify the authenticity of the campaign, the team conducts an interview with the beneficiary and third parties that are deemed to have information about the campaign. In some instances, documentation is needed to prove the cause for which a campaign is launched.
Once a campaign is up and running, a transparent process is maintained to ensure that both parties can keep track of how much money has been raised and what is left. At the end of the campaign, receipts are issued as evidence that the aim of the campaign has been fulfilled.
Oscar Nyegyema, MpaMpe’s first and biggest successful campaign beneficiary is a second-year student at Makerere University pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree of Arts in Economics and Management Sciences. The campaign was geared towards enabling Oscar to clear his fees balance of UGX 3.8 Million so that he could sit for his examinations.
Several platforms were used to popularize the campaign including social media. According to Oscar, MpaMpe’s influence in the running of the campaign helped to secure the balance of the fees he needed to sit for his examinations.
Having received $3,000 in seed funding from the MTN MoMo API Hackathon, the team has been in position to officially register MpaMpe as a crowdfunding platform, carry out market research, and will be officially launching.
MTN was looking for companies, entrepreneurs, and developers across the continent to innovate and leverage mobile money to accelerate financial inclusion and digitize payments. In Uganda, MTN MoMo Uganda Limited in partnership with Outbox Hub invited developers and entrepreneurs from Uganda to participate in the MTN MoMo API Hackathon.
The MpaMpe team learned about the MTN MoMo API Hackathon through social media and participated in the program which entailed an info-session, idea submission, shortlisting of ideas submitted, top 12 event, prototype submission phase, and the pitch day during which MpaMpe was awarded $ 3,000 in seed funding as the first runner up.
Throughout this process, Maria admits that Outbox played a central role in nurturing their idea and modifying it so that they not only stand out but are also better suited to cater to the needs of both the beneficiaries and donors.
Among their future prospects, MpaMpe hopes to expand its reach and impact to other regions of Uganda, and the world at large. With the support and mentorship that MpaMpe requires, there certainly is no limit to how far the team can go.
