KCB, Oracle drive new digital banking solutions in Africa

NAIROBI, KENYA: KCB Bank and global technology giant Oracle have signed a deal to develop new solutions that will drive the lender’s digital banking agenda of the future.

KCB Bank and Oracle on Tuesday hosted over 200 technology developers drawn from across Africa for a one week long Hackathon Challenge to create cutting edge solutions for the Bank.

As part of the challenge, the developers will be required to create a solution that will help scale up KCB 2Jiajiri, the Sh50 billion job creation programme launched earlier this year.   The Bank will select the best solutions for roll out as it seeks to create a new platform to connect the thousands of 2Jiajiri beneficiaries –who are being trained under the programme—with business and job opportunities.

The partnership, said the Bank’s Chief Executive and Managing Director Joshua Oigara is part of the deliberate investments it is making in deepening its digital banking agenda which is a key lever of its future growth.

“The goal of this project is to enhance entrepreneurship competencies to create jobs and reduce poverty. We have therefore envisioned a program along these lines that will facilitate growth of each business and create additional employment opportunities.” Said Mr Oigara during the opening ceremony adding, “The future of banking is digital and we are deliberately aligning ourselves to this.”

Senior Oracle executives attended the event and offered insights on developing the solutions.

Oracle Kenya Country Director, Dr. Gilbert Saggia said: “Innovation is the heart of everything we do at Oracle and our cloud solutions are already at the forefront of driving digital transformation across Africa’s public and private sector organizations”.

“The Developer Day event is a manifestation of Oracle’s commitment to encourage innovation; support local businesses and tech entrepreneurship in Africa, with the aim of empowering them to create Made in Africa solutions to address local challenges on the continent”, added Dr. Gilbert.

This contest will also be a platform for the developers who will hail from Oracle’s ecosystem of customers, partners, independent software vendors, user groups and innovation hubs to showcase their Information Technology prowess in problem solving and development. The developers will engage in intensive and comprehensive sessions with experts on Oracle Public Cloud Services, hands-on demo sessions and a hackathon challenge to test knowledge gained.

The contestants will be provided with a problem statement on the evening of 4th October after which they will be given a day to provide a solution and build a feasible prototype. Following this, a panel of judges consisting of experts from both Oracle and KCB will evaluate the entries.

The developers who will be chosen to proceed into the next stage will be given an extra day to develop their program into a viable product that can be applied into the business. The program will then be submitted to the judges for deliberation.

The winning group’s solution will enter into a non-committal agreement with KCB Bank to develop their solution and launch it into the market. KCB Bank expects to derive a sustainable business module out of the winning fully fledged prototype that will become a platform application for the 2jiajiri trainees to gain employment.

The initiative is aligned with the ? ?2jiajiri programme which is a transformative entrepreneurship plan geared towards developing a new cadre of youthful entrepreneurs within the informal sector to eradicate the country’s unemployment crisis.

“KCB Bank envisages that the result of the Hackathon contest will provide a lasting solution to the challenge of businesses succeeding as part of the Group’s commitment to help develop enterprises in our communities and offer support groups that address barriers to enterprise success in the region,” continued Mr. Oigara.