Princess Shamirah Kimbugwe, Founder & MD of Pivot Payments, is Satisfashion UG’s Woman Crush Today

Princess Shamirah Kimbugwe is the founder and managing director of Pivot Payments Limited, one of the few female founded financial technology companies in Uganda. Through its mobile App, Pivotpay, the company is currently focused on providing financial services to the export labour force living in the United Arab Emirates for users who have typically been financially exploited or excluded.

“The person just needs to download our mobile application and they will be able to save, send or spend money. This application is good for the Kadamas (migrant workers), as they are known. When they access Pivot Payments; they can save their money there because we have got a wallet; they are able to spend because they can pay bills directly from wherever they are for the people back home such as water and electricity bills or school fees; they can as well send it to the bank or mobile money wallet,” says princess Shamirah Kimbugwe says in an interview with Hipipo as part of season 3 of #40Days40Fintechs series.

Kimbugwe holds a Bachelor’s of Laws degree from Makerere University and a certificate in Intellectual property from – World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). She also holds a Masters degree in Digital Finance plus several certificates from Uganda Bankers Association.

She tells Hipipo that after graduating with a law degree, she decided to pursue a different direction – financial technology, a career that was not much appreciated by her family – most of whom felt it was related to network marketing.

Her journey to start Pivot Payments was sparked by the desire to have more women lead in the software and fintech space leveraging on technology to build affordable digital solutions for the rural poor, unbanked and underbanked people.

Born during the Covid-19 pandemic, Pivot Payments has received tremendous uptake because of the increasing demand and adoption of digital financial services.

“We were born in Covid. So, we were born out of fire….Covid in a sense shaped our resilience as a company. You have to fight to get a customer. Covid gave us a way to address the digital needs of that particular customer. Most businesses are closing, downscaling…but we have had to strengthen, we are going into other markets. We are expanding. So, Covid has harnessed our business…” she says.

Her ambition is to make the company a Pan African Neo Bank- simply put, a digital bank using apps and online platforms to support its customers without any physical branches!

Pivotpay currently serves close to 170,000 people  with more  than 16,000 using the mobile application. The platform has so far handled about $14 million in transactions. Before starting Pivot Payments, the fintech guru amassed over 13 years’ experience and rose through the ranks in various organisations. She served most recently as the country director at Cellulant Uganda, a subsidiary of Cellulant Corporation based in Kenya, and also a business development manager for True African Uganda and Kenya.

Princess continues to show that woman can not only survive in Tech but also thrive, her persistence and innovative nature inspired by the need to help others is what makes her the perfect Woman Crush Today.

Watch interview with Hipipo below

Follow season 3 of the #40Days40Fintechs series here.

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