Bowmans and Citi bank have today [06/07/2017] held their second fintech conference. It took place at Skyz Hotel in Naguru, Kampala. The conference was largely attended by bankers, lawyers and other players in Uganda's fintech space.
It sought to build on the momentum generated from last year's conference. Which focused on "a general introduction of what fintech is" according to Brian Kalule, a partner at Bowmans Uganda.
"This is the second time we are having it," Brian told me. Adding that "it is an annual conference but last time we did it as Bowmans alone."
Held in partnership with FSD Uganda and Citi, this year's focused on the ongoing trends in financial technology. Including cybercrime and data leakages.
"This year we went a little deeper into discussing the relevant trends like cybercrime. There's been a lot of data leakages and financial information leaking going on. So we wanted to it relevant instead of giving a general outlook," - Brian Kalule.
The conference had panel discussions tackling topics like fintech developments in Uganda and beyond, fintech and banking - whether they are friends or foes - and how to drive the digital economy. Part of the discussion also centered around cryptocurrencies and blockchain.
Speakers included Kenneth Legesi from Deloitte, David Mushabe from SMSOne and School Pay, Kevin Lubega from EzeeMoney, Kwame Rugunda from Crypto Savannah and more.
Though a fintech event, a detour was made to give room for a presentation about kira. An AI solution that Bowmans invested in this year. It is currently being tested to carry out the tedious work of document review.
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It will mainly be used to "improve efficiencies in certain key legal processes, primarily in the mergers and acquisitions, private equity and compliance areas."
According to Cathy Truter, from Bowmans South Africa, Kira can review over 2000 documents in under 30 minutes. A task that can take a human lawyer over a week to do, according to Brian Kalule.