Category: News

UTA–RukaPay Digital Platform Opens New Route for School Fees and Business Transactions — Fred Ssenoga

Union Transport Alliance says digital finance can ease school-fees pressure while opening new opportunities for Uganda’s small businesses

By Brian Mugenyi

[email protected]

KAMPALA, UGANDA — For a parent staring at a school-fees deadline without enough cash in hand, the mobile phone could increasingly become more than a communication device—it could become a financial lifeline.

That is the vision being advanced by Fred Ssenoga, Chief Executive Officer of Union Transport Alliance (UTA), as the organisation expands its partnership with RukaPay into digital commerce, financing and everyday economic services.

Ssenoga says the emerging digital ecosystem is designed to make it easier for Ugandans to access money, pay for services and participate in commerce without depending entirely on physical cash.

“In an era where the majority of Uganda’s 45 million people can access money digitally, there should be no more worries for a scholar or a businessman planning to have his or her children in school by paying school fees digitally using a phone,” Ssenoga said.

He said eligible users can register on the Union digital platform and access financial services through the available payment channels, including merchant-code arrangements for school-fees payments.

The development comes as UTA positions itself beyond conventional transport, seeking to build what Ssenoga describes as a complete economic cycle connecting transport, finance, commerce, education and other everyday needs.

School fees enter the digital economy

School fees are among the most persistent financial pressures facing Ugandan households.

For a parent whose income arrives in cycles, a school deadline can arrive before the next payment, salary or business proceeds.

Ssenoga believes digital finance can help bridge that gap.

According to him, parents and students can access school-fees financing through a merchant-code arrangement, enabling the required payment to be made digitally under the Union ecosystem.

The significance is not merely that money changes hands electronically.

It is that a traditionally cash-dependent obligation—paying school fees—can become part of a broader digital financial relationship.

A parent can register, access an eligible financial product, make the payment and later meet the repayment obligation according to the applicable terms.

RukaPay’s partnership with Union is central to this process. The company says eligible customers can access Union loan products through the RukaPay platform, including school-fees loans for parents and other financing products.

For families, the attraction is convenience.

For businesses, the implications could be even wider.

From transport to a digital marketplace

UTA was originally built around organising transport workers, but Ssenoga now sees the network as an economic platform.

The organisation describes its model as an umbrella ecosystem bringing together boda bodas, taxis, buses and truck operators while connecting them to commercial products and digital services.

That gives the transport sector a new role.

A boda boda rider is not only a transporter.

He or she is also a consumer, potential merchant, distributor and customer.

A taxi operator interacts daily with passengers, traders and businesses.

Those daily interactions create an enormous economic network.

UTA’s ambition is to connect that network to digital commerce.

The road becomes the distribution channel. The phone becomes the marketplace. The digital payment becomes the bridge.

RukaPay powers the transaction

The UTA–RukaPay partnership is therefore central to Ssenoga’s digitalisation strategy.

RukaPay provides payment infrastructure supporting the Union digital ecosystem, while eligible customers can access Union financing through the platform.

This is particularly important because digital commerce cannot grow on advertising alone.

A customer must be able to discover a product, make a decision and complete the transaction.

That is where payment infrastructure becomes the engine of online commerce.

The partnership has also supported the launch of Union Online Duuka, a digital marketplace offering customers access to products, promotions and financing options.

The model effectively links marketing, commerce and finance in one cycle.

A new audience for Ugandan businesses

For small and medium-sized businesses, the emerging ecosystem could provide something that traditional advertising does not always guarantee: access to an organised economic community.

A business can promote a product.

A consumer can discover it online.

The customer can make a digital payment.

The transaction can then become part of the customer’s relationship with the business.

This changes the meaning of online marketing.

It is no longer simply about putting an advertisement in front of a potential buyer.

It becomes about creating a complete journey from visibility to transaction.

That is particularly relevant for businesses targeting transport workers and their families, who collectively form a large consumer market.

Digital records could change small-business financing

Another potential benefit of digital transactions is the creation of commercial records.

Many informal businesses operate successfully without extensive formal documentation.

But the absence of records can make it difficult to demonstrate the size and consistency of a business when seeking financing or other commercial opportunities.

Digital transactions can begin creating a history of economic activity.

A trader can track sales.

A stockist can monitor purchases.

A distributor can understand customer demand.

And a financial provider can potentially use transaction information alongside other eligibility criteria when assessing customers.

This is where Ssenoga’s vision moves from simple digital payments towards financial inclusion.

The objective is not merely to move money faster.

It is to connect economic activity to a digital infrastructure that can make commerce more visible and accessible.

Transport workers at the centre

Ssenoga’s model places the transport worker at the centre of the ecosystem.

A rider needs fuel.

A driver needs working capital.

A family needs food.

A child needs school fees.

A household may need healthcare.

A business may need stock.

Instead of treating each need as a separate transaction, Ssenoga wants technology to connect them within one economic cycle.

“We are joining and hoping to digitalise our system,” Ssenoga said, describing UTA’s ambition to connect transport workers, families, consumers and businesses through one ecosystem.

The philosophy is straightforward: organise the people, connect the services and digitise the transactions.

Union Online Duuka widens the marketplace

The launch of Union Online Duuka gives the model another dimension.

The platform has been designed around the idea of making everyday products accessible digitally, with financing available to eligible customers.

This means a parent can potentially use the same broader ecosystem for household shopping and school-related financial needs.

A retailer or stockist can access financing.

A consumer can buy goods.

A transporter can participate as a customer or distributor.

And RukaPay facilitates the digital payment journey.

The pieces begin to fit together.

Beyond the payment

The most important question surrounding digital finance is therefore not simply whether Ugandans can send money by phone.

It is what they can accomplish after they gain digital access to money.

Can a parent keep a child in school?

Can a small business restock?

Can a transporter access working capital?

Can a trader reach more customers?

Can a consumer purchase goods without travelling to a physical shop?

Can transactions generate useful commercial histories?

These are the possibilities that UTA and RukaPay are seeking to explore.

A complete economic cycle

Ssenoga describes the Union ecosystem as a complete cycle because its ambition extends across several sectors.

Transport provides the network.

Digital technology provides the connection.

Online commerce provides the marketplace.

RukaPay provides payment infrastructure.

Financing responds to eligible household and business needs.

And digital transactions create a record of economic activity.

The model is therefore no longer simply about transporting passengers.

It is about using an existing transport network to connect people to products, services, finance and markets.

The bigger opportunity

Uganda’s digital economy is entering a stage where access alone will not be enough.

The bigger challenge will be turning digital access into productive economic participation.

For Ssenoga, the transport sector could provide one of the strongest pathways into that future because it already touches millions of daily economic activities.

If the model succeeds, a boda boda rider could be more than a passenger carrier.

A taxi stage could be more than a waiting point.

A mobile phone could be more than a communication device.

And a digital payment could be more than the end of a transaction.

It could be the beginning of a commercial relationship.

That is the larger proposition behind the UTA–RukaPay partnership: to turn Uganda’s organised transport network into a digital economic highway where people, products, payments and opportunities can move together.

For the parent facing a school-fees deadline, the transformation could be as simple as accessing an eligible financial service through a phone.

For the small businessman, it could mean reaching customers and accessing financing digitally.

For the transporter, it could mean becoming an active participant in a wider economic ecosystem.

And for Uganda, it could mark another step in the journey from a largely cash-driven informal economy towards a more connected digital marketplace.

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The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) has closed its digital inclusion programme in Uganda, highlighting both the scale of digital onboarding achieved and the much smaller number of people who went on to use the services actively.

Officials, partners and regulators gathered at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel to mark the conclusion of Leaving No One Behind in the Digital Era, also branded Connect Rural Uganda, a programme that sought to expand access to digital and financial services among underserved communities.

According to an August 2026 UNCDF draft report and close-out presentation, the programme registered more than 3.4 million users, but only about one million were classified as active users, representing roughly 29 per cent of those registered.

UNCDF said the experience demonstrated that technology alone was not enough to guarantee sustained digital adoption.

What the programme aimed to achieve:

The programme initially targeted at least one million people, with women expected to account for at least 40 per cent and young people 60 per cent of beneficiaries.

By the end of the programme, more than 3.4 million users had been registered, including more than one million active users and over 500,000 women who were actively participating.

UNCDF said the programme supported digital solutions in agriculture, health, education, digital public services and finance. Its target groups included women, young people, refugees, smallholder farmers and small businesses.

The programme also recruited more than 21,000 digital agents and community enablers to support onboarding and the use of digital services.

However, phone ownership, internet connectivity, digital skills, the cost of devices and the availability of local support continued to determine whether people could use the services beyond initial registration.

UNCDF said onboarding and field support had demonstrated commercial value but remained too expensive to sustain solely from revenue generated through small loans.

One agent’s journey:

At the close-out event, Ensibuuko presented the experience of Drichiro, a Digital Community Entrepreneur who helped savings groups digitise their records through the company’s Chomoka application.

Drichiro was also a member of the Oraku Women’s Community Savings Group.

According to Ensibuuko, the group received an initial UGX 3.5 million loan, with support from Uganda Development Bank, which it invested in collective farming. A second group loan of UGX 6.7 million followed.

Drichiro later obtained an individual loan and invested in poultry and livestock.

Ensibuuko said the skills she acquired as a digital agent, including saving, budgeting and financial management, were as important to her progress as access to credit.

Four lending models tested:

The August report reviews four lending models that sought to digitise informal financial records, use the resulting data to assess credit risk, align repayment schedules with borrowers’ cash flows and connect borrowers to lenders.

Guarantees were used to absorb some of the initial losses, while cooperatives, savings groups and digital agents played roles in identification, onboarding and loan collection.

Ensibuuko:

Ensibuuko applied the model to village savings and loan associations (VSLAs).

The report says more than 11,000 VSLAs have been digitised, although only about 1,000 currently have access to credit, reaching roughly 25,000 people.

Ensibuuko reported repayment rates of above 97 per cent on loans priced at 15 per cent a year.

An initial Uganda Development Bank facility of UGX 500 million, listed as $136,240 in one section of the report, later increased to about UGX 1.5 billion, equivalent to approximately $409,000.

UNCDF also reported that monthly VSLA lending rates declined from about 5 per cent to 3.5 per cent as monitoring improved.

UGAFODE:

UGAFODE Microfinance Limited used a first-loss portfolio guarantee from UNCDF to provide group loans to refugee and host-community businesses around the Nakivale settlement.

The report records 790 borrowers who received more than $100,000 in loans, comprising 497 refugees and 293 members of host communities.

The institution reduced documentation requirements and opened a branch in Rubondo. However, taxpayer identification requirements and credit-bureau rules remained challenging where group documentation could not be verified.

UGAFODE said Opportunity Bank and EBO SACCO later introduced similar products.

Emata:

Emata used farm and delivery data from cooperatives, agribusinesses and processors to assess seasonal loans, typically ranging from $15 to $400, with a reported median of about $200.

UNCDF said 73 cooperatives used the management system, while 36,000 farmers were registered.

More than 3,000 borrowers received approximately 10,000 loans valued at $3.2 million.

A separate figure in the report records more than 3,000 loans disbursed at a total value of about UGX 2.25 billion, equivalent to roughly $620,000.

Data protection emerges as a key lesson:

Uganda’s Personal Data Protection Office used the event to emphasise that digital growth must be matched by public confidence in how personal information is collected, used and protected.

The office called on participating firms to ensure lawful and transparent processing of personal data, maintain accurate records, provide strong security measures and offer accessible mechanisms for redress.

It said these safeguards are particularly important for rural communities and people with limited digital literacy.

Entities already registered with the office were also encouraged to move beyond registration and embed data protection safeguards into every stage of their digital services.

What comes next?

UNCDF recommends that future programmes use grants or performance-based support to finance initial onboarding and market testing before attracting concessional or commercial capital once lending portfolios demonstrate sustainable results.

The report also calls for clearer identification and reporting requirements for group borrowers, as well as stronger due diligence of partners involved in collecting personal data and loan repayments.

The next major programme named by UNCDF is FinWise, its 2025–2028 initiative focused on last-mile financial health and business finance.

Its success will ultimately depend on whether it can convert digital registration into sustained use, publish comparable portfolio performance figures, strengthen accountability around borrower data and avoid repeating the implementation and partner challenges identified during the six-year programme.

The experience of Leaving No One Behind in the Digital Era suggests that Uganda’s digital inclusion challenge is no longer simply about connecting people to technology. It is about ensuring that people have the devices, skills, trust, support and affordable services needed to keep using it.

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Selena Gomez is facing fresh accusations over her role in the mental health company Wondermind, with an attorney representing investors claiming her fame played a central role in bringing money into the business.

According to the lawsuit, Wondermind presented Selena as the company’s “head of marketing” and expected her to use her enormous social media reach to promote the platform.

Now, attorney Jeffrey Neiman, who represents the investors suing Selena, her mother Mandy Teefey and former business partner Daniella Pierson, has accused them of using public trust in mental health to attract investment.

Mental health is not a marketing strategy, and should never be used as a vehicle for personal financial gain.

Neiman argued that Selena’s celebrity status went far beyond simple association with the company.

Selena wasn’t simply associated with the pitch. She was the pitch.

The investors claim Selena’s name, influence and promised role helped convince them to put money into Wondermind, only for her to later distance herself from the company after it secured funding.

Selena has denied the allegations.

Her attorney previously described the claims as “completely meritless, both factually and legally.”

The case now puts Wondermind, a company built around mental health, at the centre of a legal battle over whether Selena’s star power helped sell investors a vision that failed to materialise.