In fintech, we talk a lot about #Inclusion. It’s a headline theme; on panels, in strategy decks, in every second funding announcement. But sometimes, the gap between the conversation and reality is wider than we think.
I recently attended a global tech conference, an event filled with delegates from across the world, a matchmaking app to schedule meetings in advance, and plenty of talk about building systems that leave no one behind.
And yet, on the very first day, I was locked out, digitally.
At check-in, I pulled out my phone to access the QR code the app had generated for my badge. I couldn’t load it. So I asked the lady at the desk for the WiFi password. Her response:
“There’s no WiFi.”
I blinked. “How am I supposed to access my badge?” She asked for my name and organisation, typed it manually, and printed it out. Problem (sort of) solved.
But the real problem came next.
I had four meetings lined up that day, pre-arranged through the event app. With no WiFi, I had no way to message, reschedule, or even find where people were. One of my meetings was with a speaker, so I waited for his panel to end and then awkwardly intercepted him as he walked off stage. Another was with someone from an exhibiting organisation; I stood at their booth until he eventually showed up. The other two meetings? Missed entirely.
It was frustrating, sure. But more than that, it was deeply ironic.
Because exclusion doesn’t always show up as poverty or illiteracy. Sometimes, it’s just bad infrastructure or in this case, a questionable decision not to provide connectivity at a conference built on digital tools.
Inclusion isn’t about good intentions or glossy event branding. **
** because if we can be excluded at the centre, at a high-profile, internationally recognised tech event, what does that say about the people at the edges?
In rural Uganda, when someone can’t get online, they’re not just inconvenienced. They’re cut off. From credit. From markets. From opportunity. If inclusion fails in well-lit auditoriums, it’s certainly not thriving in the villages.
That experience, minor as it might seem, reminded me why our work at Kanzu Finance Limited matters. We’re not digitising for the sake of it. We’re building infrastructure for people who are excluded every day, not for an hour, but as a way of life.
Inclusion isn’t something we talk about. It’s something we prove through access, reliability, and design that holds up even when things go wrong.
And if we truly believe in #FinancialInclusion, then we need to build for everyone, not just the ones with signal.
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