Inspiring innovations at the Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona. MWC19

The world mobile congress is an annual event that brings together most of the industry leaders in tech world. This year’s theme was intelligent connectivity an indication of how fast the mobile industry and technology has evolved and changed the once prominent mobile congress to embrace the new dimension of technology advancement that is bound to disrupt not only industries but also the way we live. The era of connectivity has seen the birth of 5g that is bound to disrupt the world of data and is increasingly pushing us toward a new deal for data.

The most prominent issue that seemed to be heard from every major industry leader was data privacy and control. With many suggestions on how to protect data and guarantee trust from the users of this data, to changes being made by service providers to ensure that their industries are at the forefront of data protection. New technologies such as blockchain and the Internet of Things (IOT) featured prominently in these discussions as possible solutions to ensure data privacy and secure digital identity. At the centre of this is the idea that trust is the new collateral.

Technology has and will continue to disrupt the way we live.

In different parts of the world, technology innovations are disrupting industries and the way we live through different technology startups some of which were showcased at the main MWC19 event – 25 – and the Four Years from Now 4YFN side event with over 5000 start-ups from all over the world and 12 countries represented from the African continent. Most of the startups are aligned with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals UNSDGs and thus seek to have sustainable impact in the different communities where they operate.

Particularly interesting was the fintech from emerging economies, which are experiencing an upsurge in faster and smarter networks that have triggered a wave of startups providing local solutions to local problems most especially to those communities that have traditionally lacked access to basic financial services due to their nature of classification as informal economies. Technology has given these communities an opportunity to automate access to finances and change saving habits through initiatives like Apollo Agriculture in Kenya which uses advanced satellite imagery to analyse farmers land in order to evaluate their credit worthiness for loans, the Cinnamon Club software application in Uganda which automates the process for investment clubs, and the PundiX blockchain-based point of sales service from Indonesia which allows customers to digitize any store and conduct crypto currency transactions using traditional fiat currency, bank cards, mobile wallets and the PundiX Pass Card, among many others in this field.

These startups are game changers in the field of financial inclusion and are occupying niche areas in communities that have the potential to exponentially grow and embrace their services because they are relevant to these contexts. It will be interesting to see what happens in this space four years from now 4YFN