Maria Nakiganda, 26, has been a leader at so many levels. She has previously represented the School of Physical Science in the Students’ Guild at Makerere University. She is now a woman councilor in Kajjansi Town Council, a position she has held since 2021.
About two years ago, she came up with an idea of creating a community self-help initiative.
Initially, she says: “I considered establishing a tailoring school, given my prior experience”, but it never worked because many of the people she had attempted to recruit lacked interest.
Thus, after community engagement, it was apparent that waste management and widespread youth unemployment were the most serious concerns.
Thus, Recycle Pay, a platform that fuses the two concerns through paying for social services such as education, in exchange for waste, was birthed.
What is Recycle Pay?
Recycle Pay is a mobile application designed for plastic collection, offering rewards in the form of redeemable points, in which participants earn points by collecting plastics and depositing them at designated collection points.
The points earned can then be used to access essential services such as education and healthcare.
Recycle Pay also provides participants with a digital card called Your Digital Environment Card, which displays a participant’s name, a QR code for scanning, and an ID number.
The card can be used to input corresponding points for plastics that have been collected.
The point system is directly linked to monetary value, which for example, earns a participant UGX 400 for every kilogramme of plastic collected.
The system also allows participants to easily track their progress, with the potential to earn significant sums.
Recycle pay for education and health
The points earned are then converted into money and then used for essential services such as education.
Initially, Recycle Pay, was just a pay for per collected plastics system, however, as Nakiganda explains, an opportunity to upgrade it to what it is today presented itself in 2022 when HIIL Uganda announced a competition seeking solutions to land disputes.
“Given my role as a councilor, I frequently engaged in addressing land disputes, some of which stemmed from issues like waste dumping. After I weighed the alignment of my project, we decided to participate and emerged victorious,” she says.
The win, she notes, was the launchpad that enabled her and group of others to get some prize money that was used to buy essential project resources and develop the Recycle Pay app.
Currently, Recycle Pay has close to 50 participants on its books, with close to 15 children in school and paying their school fees through system.
“I speak with the schools that some of the children go to. When the children collect plastics and accumulate points worth UGX 20,000, the school collects its money. We have now grown. Some people collect as much as 30 kilogrammes in just five days in a week,” she says.
Recycle Pay works with recycling plants that directly sell all the collected waste.
Despite the ready market, Recycle Pay has to deal with the challenge of price fluctuation.
In 2022, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) disclosed that Uganda generates 600 tonnes of plastics daily, but only 40% of the plastic waste is collected, which creates an opportunity for the likes of Recycle Pay.
Through the system, more than 3,000 kilogrammes of plastic waste have been collected. inception.
Carol Kakooza: Breaking barriers in fintech
Carol Kakooza is all about daring, doing unconventional things and stepping beyond the limits of risk.
She believes that while there is a risk that comes with innovation, there is plenty to harvest if someone commits to push to the last end.
With 18 years of experience in information systems management, monitoring and evaluation, and microfinance, Kakooza is a leader in information and communication technology for development.
She holds bachelors in Mass Communication, a master of Science in Information Systems, and an MBA in Strategic Information Systems in data forensics.
She is the executive director of Axiom Zorn, a stop data anchor offering data and IT-enabled solutions to institutional clients and service providers to drive their businesses.
Together with her team, they are driving data transformation through services such as digital mapping, and financial inclusion solutions.
Kakooza first graduated in 2004 and got married in the same year. This taught her early planning and the “work-life balance” at a young age.
“Whatever you choose will work for as long as you work hard at it. Work-life balance is very important, and you can’t drop the ball on either because when you drop the ball, you lose the other,” she says.
After her graduation, she joined World Vision, but she witnessed firsthand the financial challenges faced by farmers while working in Ecuador, where she says that “my mission to empower farmers through data-driven solutions was born at the time”.
By documenting their agricultural activities and using this information to secure banking services, farmers could thrive and enjoy the farming business.
This approach marked the genesis of her commitment to bridging the financial divide at the base of the pyramid.
And when she returned to Uganda, she created Axiom Zorn, a company at the forefront of data management and innovative technological solutions.
It provides Data as a Service (DaaS), tailoring data solutions to meet clients’ needs, covering everything from collection to analysis and visualisation.
Financial inclusion is a big part of Axiom Zorn’s mission. They develop credit scoring methods, risk tools, and digital payment systems to extend financial services to underserved communities.
“Our expertise in Digital Mapping and Geographic Information Systems helps us create interactive maps and gain insights for various sectors like agriculture and disaster management,” Kakooza says.
Axiom Zorn also offers Soil Optimization and Agronomic Tips, using data analytics to improve productivity and sustainability.
“Our Digital Market Linkages connect producers, suppliers, buyers, and consumers through online platforms, facilitating efficient trade and boosting local economies,” she says.
Axiom Zorn has now developed the Digital Empowerment Card (DEC), allowing farmers and SMEs to make digital transactions for services and payments.
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The company has over 600 farmers, with the hope to one million soon., with each farmers’ entity charged $15 (UGX 54,935.56).
For privacy and data protection, Kakooza ensures that the farmers consent to sharing their data, and in case they don’t, the data is not collected.
“There are two ways,” Kakooza explains. “Firstly, there is consent through a short video where the farmer agrees to share their personal information. Secondly, authentication is done with the card, ensuring that data can only be used when the farmer has agreed to share it.”
Kakooza and her team have also created the Digital Agriculture Reference Bureau (DARB).
The Challenge
However, the journey has not been without challenges, with gender dynamics in the tech and financial sector remaining a significant test.
According to Kakooza, unequal treatment and opportunities afforded to people based on their gender often disadvantages women and girls.
“Women founders often struggle to access funding and investment opportunities compared to men,” Kakooza says, adding: “This lack of access can hold back the growth of their fintech ventures.”
Beyond this, biases and stereotypes in the fintech sector have created doubts about women’s technical abilities and leadership skills.
Overcoming these biases, she says, requires resilience, confidence, and a strong support network.
Kakooza encourages young people who want to grow to not allow themselves to be discouraged: “Take yourself through the process of ‘let me understand it, do it because you want it,’ not because you want to compete.”
Sandra Awilli: The innovator transforming data accountability
For years, traditional data collection methods have been slow, difficult to track, and environmentally unfriendly due to excessive paper use.
But this could soon change with Sandra Awilli’s innovation that seeks to revolutionize data tracking on online.
“The lack of reliable data has enabled mismanagement because people can manipulate information. However, with technology-driven initiatives, beneficiaries gain some control,” she says.
As the leader of ShareCARD, Awilli and her team are committed to building technology that enhances data management to support business performance.
A natural-born leader
Despite facing financial challenges that prevented her from pursuing higher education, Awilli never allowed circumstances to limit her aspirations.
She carved her path by gaining experience in digital marketing, which laid the foundation for her career.
After years of working for others, she felt compelled to address some of the societal issues she witnessed growing up.
One of those was the struggle young girls in rural communities faced in accessing necessities like sanitary pads.
Awilli’s firsthand experiences fueled her determination to find a solution and during Covid, she envisioned pads as a form of currency and sought ways to streamline their distribution through technology.
“I wanted to minimize the time between a girl needing pads and receiving them while ensuring transparency in the process,” she says.
To bring her vision to life, she developed a mobile app that empowered community agents to efficiently distribute menstrual health packages. Using identity-linked cards, girls could access the products seamlessly.
“I wanted to send pads to my cousins in the village to be as easy as sending mobile money to my grandmother. By decentralizing access points, we could save girls from walking miles just to get essential support,” she explains.
While PadShare improved menstrual aid distribution, Awilli and her team realized a broader issue; how could they ensure direct accountability from beneficiaries?
This question arose from the challenges they faced in forming partnerships, as many organizations struggled with accountability, leading to widespread mistrust.
“Auditing resource distribution and ensuring donor accountability was difficult. Traditional paper-based processes were inefficient and riddled with loopholes,” Awilli notes.
To address this, they started developing a system that verifies identities and ensures real-time transparency in aid distribution. Through a simple mobile app, agents could scan a recipient’s card, deliver packages, and uphold privacy and dignity.
ShareCARD: A game-changer for data management
After encountering the struggles organizations face in tracking resources, Awilli saw an opportunity to expand their innovation beyond menstrual aid.
PadShare evolved into ShareCARD, a platform that enhances data management for impact-driven projects.
By offering organizations visibility into their initiatives, ShareCARD helps ensure that projects—whether related to menstrual health, hygiene, or agriculture—are backed by reliable data.
“Proper data management is key to the success of any impact project. Without it, organizations risk losing credibility and funding,” Awilli explains.
ShareCARD empowers organizations to efficiently track their activities, demonstrate impact to funders, and build trust within their communities.
The platform, developed by Africans for Africans, is designed to strengthen grassroots organizations that often struggle with accountability structures.
“Many international organizations hesitate to fund grassroots initiatives due to poor accountability structures. Our goal is to change that by providing organizations with a tool that ensures transparency and impact tracking,” she says.
Currently, ShareCARD is piloting with two companies, and Sandra remains committed to expanding its reach.
“I always wanted to start my own company, but I wasn’t sure what to do. When I discovered technology and the internet, I knew this was my path. Today, I run a data intelligence company focused on making impact-driven initiatives more transparent and effective,” she says.
Awilli is empowering organizations to showcase and trace their impact in the simplest way possible. Her innovations continue to pave the way for a more transparent and efficient future for aid distribution and social impact projects across Africa.