‘FINTECH BUSINESS APPROACH IMPERATIVE’

EZULWINI - Digital skills are no longer an option, but a necessity to fill the gap of unemployment and service delivery in the country.

Tertiary institutions locally need to upgrade their curriculum, to accommodate digitalisation to their courses so they can promote innovation amongst the youth. Organisations like the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP) need to increase their funding and commitment towards digital and innovative skills. For the past two years, the county has seen progress in sugar and forestry exports, which call for change in the manner of business approach. To fill the gap, more attention should be paid towards innovation, as MTN Eswatini will soon be introducing the 5G network to its customers, which aims at reducing effort in service providing.

Interview

In an exclusive interview with this publication on Friday, MTN Eswatini’s Wandile Mtshali said financial technology is imperative to the business sector as most services are now digitalised. FinTech (financial technology) refers to software, mobile applications, and other technologies created to improve and automate traditional forms of finance for businesses and consumers alike. It could include everything from straightforward mobile payment apps to complex blockchain networks housing encrypted transactions. Mtshali said businesses and most companies now use technological means to communicate amongst other things.“Digital skills incubation and enablement is a critical area of great improvement and with the step change in the MTN Business model, this is an area we are focusing on going forward,” he said.

The CEO added that MTN Eswatini had changed the communications landscape of the kingdom by ensuring the availability of the best technology, enabling businesses to play at a global scale. “Our step change says, we want to lead in the digital transformation of Eswatini. Our customers have become digital in nature, with COVID- 19 quadrupling this acceleration over the past two years. Our focus has shifted from being a mere telecommunications service provider, to becoming a platform for business, providing and enabling platforms for the many digital business opportunities that exist and require the appropriate technologies to operate,” he said.

Mtshali also mentioned that MTN Eswatini had placed much emphasis on innovation over the past few years because they realised that their power in remaining relevant is in innovation. “Innovation is an area now embedded in even our performance management system and has yielded many positive results over the past few years. “We have a staff innovation policy in place which encourages ‘no box’ thinking, simplifying processes and procedures,” he said. The CEO added that whilst they focus daily on providing innovative products and services, their fundamental focus has been innovation in customer experience. He said much focus was on simplification, bringing productiveness and providing various options for customers to reach them when they require assistance. “I would like to emphasise on the digital skills for digital jobs. The future is digital and traditional skills are being converted to online versions. Schools have gone digital, work is digital, shops are online.

Committment

This is where the world is playing, and we are committed to take emaSwati along with us by ensuring that we have the best technologies in place for them to play in the new digital world,” he concluded. The Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) President Mduduzi Gina said the only way digital skills could be enabled is to review salaries or the wage Bill. The Royal Science and Technology Park said they are currently working on development to link education and training with the field of work with emphasis on research and development to support FinTech. They said their objective is to lay the foundation for the development of a knowledge economy. “We seek to develop infrastructure to facilitate the development of science, technology and innovation through research and development in the economy,” they said. RSTP added that they will foster the conception of inventions and facilitate their patenting and will help knit various elements of the (research and development) R&D cluster together.

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