{"id":18,"date":"2017-11-03T16:50:40","date_gmt":"2017-11-03T16:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/test\/?p=485"},"modified":"2021-10-05T09:47:17","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T09:47:17","slug":"qa-with-robert-ssemakula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/?p=18","title":{"rendered":"Q&#038;A With Denis Ruharo \u2013 CEO D-Mark Company"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"row\"  id=\"row-1957837669\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-388125433\" class=\"col medium-6 small-12 large-6\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\t<div class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\" id=\"image_2013865608\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"img-inner dark\" >\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1020\" height=\"680\" src=\"https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Denis-Ruharo-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Denis-Ruharo-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Denis-Ruharo-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Denis-Ruharo-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Denis-Ruharo-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Denis-Ruharo.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#image_2013865608 {\n  width: 100%;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\t<div id=\"col-2082282628\" class=\"col medium-6 small-12 large-6\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n<h4>Denis Ruharo<\/h4>\n(C.E.O Dmark Company Limited)\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\" style=\"max-width:64px;background-color:rgb(78, 151, 84);\"><\/div>\n\nI am a servant leader who works to solve problems for my staff. I have an open door policy where people work anytime for their own reasons be it day or night to meet the company\u2019s goals.\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion\" rel=\"1\">\n\n<div class=\"accordion-item\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title plain\"><button class=\"toggle\"><i class=\"icon-angle-down\"><\/i><\/button><span>What are the key elements in your management style as a manager?<\/span><\/a><div class=\"accordion-inner\">\n\n<p>I am a servant leader who works to solve problems for my staff. I have an open door policy where people work anytime for their own reasons be it day or night to meet the company\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion-item\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title plain\"><button class=\"toggle\"><i class=\"icon-angle-down\"><\/i><\/button><span>What is your assessment of the performance of Uganda\u2019s telecommunications sector in the line of value added IT service providers?<\/span><\/a><div class=\"accordion-inner\">\n\n<p>We have an operation around the region; in South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Kenya and Rwanda. And this has exposed us to different levels of talent across the region.As a result, we have come to a conclusion that Uganda has special talents in the area of information technology, specifically, product development or software engineering.Many products have been created in this country that have later on gained international recognition.For instance, as Dmark, we are pioneering creators of technologies like the mobile terminate technology which is a reverse billing technology on mobiles but that has since been adopted across the world by mainstream telecommunications companies. There are also many Ugandan entrepreneurs in the technical space working in several other countries, which makes this country\u2019s talent exceptional in this area.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion-item\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title plain\"><button class=\"toggle\"><i class=\"icon-angle-down\"><\/i><\/button><span>What is your strategy for your products to gain acceptance in the local market?<\/span><\/a><div class=\"accordion-inner\">\n\n<p>Quality is key. If we develop high quality products locally, then, their acceptance will not be an issue. Local firms as well as multinationals will then prefer to buy Ugandan ICT products.\n<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion-item\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title plain\"><button class=\"toggle\"><i class=\"icon-angle-down\"><\/i><\/button><span>How is the new Fintech application, Axess, work?<\/span><\/a><div class=\"accordion-inner\">\n\n<p>Axess is a new mobile money based platform that enables savings and internal lending in communities especially in savings and credit cooperative societies (SACCOS) and investment clubs. This platform works in a way that transactions are done remotely using mobile phones.For instance, a local SACCO made up of farmers or teachers spread across the district can carry out a financial transaction via their mobile phones enabling members deposit money into the scheme anywhere anytime.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion-item\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title plain\"><button class=\"toggle\"><i class=\"icon-angle-down\"><\/i><\/button><span>What impact has it created in the operation of SACCOs and investment clubs?<\/span><\/a><div class=\"accordion-inner\">\n\n<p>So far, we have registered over 50 SACCOs countrywide and now tracking their turnaround. This is because their biggest source of revenue is issuing internal loans to borrowers in return for a small fee paid as interest. The system has also eased SACCO\u2019s of debt collections resulting to a decline in operational costs.\n<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion-item\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title plain\"><button class=\"toggle\"><i class=\"icon-angle-down\"><\/i><\/button><span>Commercial banks regularly purchase software to improve their record keeping which is not the case with SACCO\u2019s. How do you plan to ensure that SACCO\u2019s too embrace this technology innovations?<\/span><\/a><div class=\"accordion-inner\">\n\n<p>Records indicate that many SACCOs still use hand written records because they cannot afford softwares that banks use.We have now come up with indigenous softwares that we shall give out free of charge to all SACCOS that join Axess through the support from the marching grant facility from Private Sector Foundation Uganda.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion-item\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title plain\"><button class=\"toggle\"><i class=\"icon-angle-down\"><\/i><\/button><span>You recently introduced the financial literacy course. What is it about?<\/span><\/a><div class=\"accordion-inner\">\n\n<p>At the time we introduced the Axess product, it was so convenient for people to borrow to the extent that some would borrow carelessly with just a dial on their phones.We therefore felt that it was worth to have some good breaks and therefore developed a financial literacy course that we extend to the people\u2019s phones.We developed it in eight different languages from all the regions of Uganda and users receive a financial literacy tip by short message text or small video that doesn\u2019t consumer too much data bundlesonce a week for two yearsto simply educate the public on how to manage their finances.\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion-item\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title plain\"><button class=\"toggle\"><i class=\"icon-angle-down\"><\/i><\/button><span>Reports have fronted Africa as a mobile-first continent. What opportunities does this present to app developers like Dmark?<\/span><\/a><div class=\"accordion-inner\">\n\n<p>Mobile technology is efficient enough to bring about opportunities, which are enormous in an era where human beings spend a huge percentage of time on their screens as a way of life. People can ably do diagnosis on their phone.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion-item\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title plain\"><button class=\"toggle\"><i class=\"icon-angle-down\"><\/i><\/button><span>What is your outlook of Dmark\u2019s operations in the next few years?<\/span><\/a><div class=\"accordion-inner\">\n\n<p>We are going into the space to develop open source applications and we intend to allow other developers not just in Uganda to develop on top of that. This will make us a relevant player in the financial inclusion debate. There are tens of thousands of SACCOS in Uganda as the common man\u2019s bank and so if we bring all these SACCOs on board or just 10% of them, we shall have more than tripled the number of Ugandans whose financial records are visible to the world, regulators, developers and the financial world<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion-item\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title plain\"><button class=\"toggle\"><i class=\"icon-angle-down\"><\/i><\/button><span>Financial literacy<\/span><\/a><div class=\"accordion-inner\">\n\n<p>Aside from the app, Dmark has developed a financial literacy course which they are giving out freely to all the members of SACCOS that are using Axess software.\u201cWe developed a one-minute video on financial literacy, which we send once in a week for two years to all members who are using the Axess technology. It is informative and teaches users about saving, among other simple applicable things. The videos are in eight languages,\u201d Ssemakula says.So far, DMark has reached over 10,000 users and is looking at reaching 100,000 users by June next year.\nAfter acquiring the Quality mark, the demand for Nakayenga\u2019s products increasedThe Axess app is expected to come with multiple benefits.Due to the convenience and speed of mobile transactions, there will be more loans and faster deposits.<\/p><p>There will also be easier collections of loan repayments and member contributions and SACCOS will make more profits from increased members\u2019 transactions.<\/p><p>\u201cWe are grateful to the Matching Grant Facility for subsidising on the cost of developing the Axess application. Without this grant, there are higher chances that the app would still be in its initial stages. And upon completion, I am sure it would have cost a lot of money, leaving out many SACCOS that would not have afforded the fee,\u201d Ssemakula says.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am a servant leader who works to solve problems for my staff. I have an open door policy where people work anytime for their own reasons be it day or night to meet the company\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dmark-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":960,"href":"https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions\/960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmarkmobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}