Banking on digital future

August 12 marks the International Youth Day.

This year’s theme was ‘From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development’.

To 34-year-old innovator Eliot Kalenga, it reminds him how he transformed an idea to a digital solution that benefits organisations and schools, creating jobs for the youth.

The computer scientist, who graduated from the University of Malawi, was inspired to develop a fees collection management system (Fecomas) solution by challenges he encountered early while teaching.

Currently, the solution is being used by various schools and organisations, thanks to the support from National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc’s Innovation Jam in partnership with ICT Association of Malawi (Ictam).

When Kalenga pitched the idea at the Innovation Jam, he won a K1 million starter-pack in the Open-

Source category. This boosted the project idea to a tech-solution company.

Kalenga runs Fecomas Tech Solutions Company with two of his colleagues. They have recruited three employees across Malawi.

“We weren’t sure if it really would solve problems since the application had not yet been used, but winning the competition gave us the energy to go for it fully,” he says.

What started as a fees collection tool has become a trusted school information management system which brings efficiency to school administration.

It saves up to 90 percent of the time spent on generation of school reports and sends messages to parents and guardians via WhatsApp and emails.

Besides, it has simplified the borrowing and returning of library books and stock management.

Fecomas is working with Sanwecka Tech in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu as well as Logos and Springfield academies.

“We have signed contracts with many other schools and we are aiming for 200 schools to adopt this solution by 2027,” Kalenga states.

He says NBM Innovation Jam offered youthful innovators a platform to sell and implement their ideas.

“Many companies doubt local solutions, but NBM is among the few working hand-in-hand with Ictam to show that local solutions can help develop the country,” Kalenga says.

He encourages young innovators to believe in themselves and turn their dreams into reality.

“With passion and determination everything is possible,” he says. “As everything is going digital, we need to leave the old ways of keeping files.”

The Malawi 2063 agenda calls for a skills revolution in science, technology and innovation.

Fecomas IT technician and co-partner Emmie Kantokoma is one of the parents who have experienced school fees collection woes through missing receipts.

She says the digital solution eliminates problems that arise due to loss of proof of payments, especially bank receipts.

Sanwecka Tech companion Central Region manager Dorcas Kwisongole says Fecomas also solves communication problems between the school’s branches and the head office in Blantyre.

“Every detail uploaded in this application concerning our training courses, the students enrolled, fees collected and balances and courses can be accessed at the head office without problems,” she says.

The application, which can be accessed anywhere, allows instant printing of receipts and reports, making it convenient.

Kwisongole commends NBM for giving the innovations a boost.

“The bank’s decision to support local solutions by the youth really is a plus. There is a need for continued support of other young minds with innovative ideas like these for the country to develop,” she says.

Ictam president Clarence Gama says the Innovation Jam has produced several life-changing innovations.

“Through these competitions, several winners have transformed their innovations into thriving tech businesses like Fecomas. They include iMosys, Lync Systems and MlimiPay,  just to mention a few.”

The Innovation Jam empowers the youth to demonstrate their innovativeness and capabilities to key stakeholders. It also encourages local innovation and builds confidence in emerging talents.

Gama says: “It is inspiring the youth to push their ideas further through the start-ups that NBM plc provides, working as a springboard to develop and scale ideas into successful enterprises which in turn foster economic growth, addressing local challenges and building a knowledge-based economy.”

He says this is in line with the Malawi 2063 agenda to be an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant industrialised upper-middle-income country by 2063.

NBM plc marketing and corporate affairs manager Akossa Hiwa says: “The bank recognises the need to empower the youth through various innovations that bring about growth economically not only to them but the country as a whole.”

Last November, NBM set aside K345 million for innovation incubator hubs to turn innovation ideas into real solutions.