Stanbic Bank among top sponsors for Africa blockchain talks

May 15, 2019 in Business, Companies, Finance, Financial Services by Editor

This is the second edition for the conference and organizers are optimistic for a bigger turn-out as the attractions of blockchain become more evident.

May 15—Stanbic Bank Uganda (SBU) is once again backing the annual Africa Blockchain Conference slated for July 3 and 4 in Kampala.

President Yoweri Museveni is expected to officially open the event in the company of his Sierra Leone counterpart, President Julius Maada Bio.

“As a leading financial provider in Uganda, we are proud to be associated with Africa Blockchain Conference which seeks to discuss new opportunities presented by technological advances and how to leverage the Fourth Industrial Revolution to not only improve our banking processes but also reduce our cost to serve,” Herbert Olowo, the chief Information officer at SBU said during a media briefing early this week.

Blockchain is a system in which a record of transactions made in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency are maintained across several computers that are linked in a peer-to-peer network.

In recent years, it is being touted as the most convenient payment system that guarantees security and convenience because it also offers complete transparency.

The conference is being organised by Blockchain Association of Uganda and CyptoSavannah together with the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance under the theme ‘Africa 4.0: Preparing Africa for the 4th Industrial Revolution’.

According to John Karanja,  the founder of BitHub based in Nairobi said,  “Blockchain technology has the potential to provide even more access to essential services for people living in the most remote areas.”

Discussions will focus on what the implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIR) and what opportunities it presents to Africa’s growth and development.

FIR is characterized by a fusion of technologies that are blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres, collectively referred to as cyber-physical systems.

CryptoSavannah CEO, Kwame Rugunda said,” The 4th industrial revolution is already upon us. Its upon us to take advantage of it and use it to better our lives.”

He said the conference will give new insights into FIR and the available Blockchain technologies that Africa and Uganda in particular can take advantage of to enhance service delivery.

Julius Torach, Commissioner in the ICT ministry said the government is ready to create an enabling environment for new emerging technologies to strive.

“We recognize that these technologies are very critical in advancing our development agenda, however we also understand there are risks associated with new technology and hence we have put in place measures to safeguard such.” he said.

Some 3000 participants are expected to attend made up of representatives from international technology companies, entrepreneurs innovators, government officials and businesspeople from a several sectors of the economy.