Raxio Data Center Joins the Fintech Community in the Annual FITSPA Conference

Raxio Data Center joined the Fintech community at the Annual FITSPA Confrence under the theme, “Building A Safe and Regulated Fintech Ecosystem.”

On 8th September 2021, Raxio Data Centre joined the FinTech community in the annual FITSPA conference under the theme “Building A Safe and Regulated Fintech Ecosystem.” The FITSPA Conference converged all leading players in business, government, technology, and world-class financial services solution providers in order to better navigate shifting landscapes, help businesses embrace and drive the transition to a digital future as well as unmask the power of technology.

As part of the sponsors of this annual event, Raxio Data Centre was represented by a team led by James Byaruhanga, Raxio’s General Manager who was also a panelist at the conference under the sub-theme “National IP Policy, Data Privacy and Data Storage”. Other panelists on this theme included Stella Alibateese (National Data Protection Director-NITA-U), Maxime Dieudonné (Co-Founder Safe Boda) and Mercy Kainobwisho (Registrar General, URSB)

“I am currently very curious about how we are getting there as a country and as an industry. A lot of the things that are going to be discussed here today play very much into the 4th Industrial revolution and am psyched to be here.”

James Byaruhanga, General Manager, Raxio

James further expressed the commitment that Raxio Data Centre has towards supporting sector players with Data Protection regulations which is critical for compliance with Data Protection Privacy Act

“We have built a carrier-neutral and cloud-neutral data centre which means that Raxio Data Centre itself does not provide connectivity and cloud services to customers directly but rather through partners however customers are in charge of equipment deployed in the data centre Raxio as a colocation facility simply provides them with power, cooling and a secure environment so that they can be able to locate their data.”

James Byaruhanga, General Manager, Raxio

This model is deliberate as it is the trend globally because customers want the flexibility to be able to do anything they want but at the same time, it de-risks the business from issues around Data Protection and Privacy.

In February 2021, the government released the Data Protection and Privacy Regulations that were necessary for the implementation of the Data Protection and Privacy Act. This seeks to regulate any person or company that collects and processes data. This act is very relevant to Fintechs as they largely rely on analyzing and utilizing information(data) to make decisions on the services they provide.

“We have seven principles that anyone, especially Fintechs, need to bear in mind when choosing to use clients’ personal data. Some of these include accountability, transparency, and security. Fintechs need to benchmark all their work against these principles in order not to fall on the wrong side of the regulation.”

Stella Alibateese (NITA-U)

“As Raxio Data Centre, we realized that part of the Act on Data Privacy pointed towards the direction of sovereignty is being able to keep data in the country. For Fintechs and financial enterprises to be able to comply with the changing times in regulation, data sovereignty is critical.”

“You need to be able to keep data in-country and the data kept in-country should comply with the regulations in the same geographical jurisdiction.”

James Byaruhanga, General Manager, Raxio

“At Raxio Data Centre, we want to be able to provide a home that businesses can use for data recovery, business continuity and to be able to comply with data sovereignty. Businesses ought to realize that the age and era we are going into is very data-centric and becoming less infrastructure-centric.”

“As Uganda Registration Services Bureau, we appreciate the growing number of Fintechs however, as many are coming up, very many are rushing into commercialization and forgetting about protecting their name and registration through data protection.

Registration is conclusive evidence of ownership and proof for any entity about legal ownership and rights to a business. Fintechs should know that their clients always seek to work with entities that are legally registered.”

Mercy Kainobwisho (URSB)

How data privacy is embedded in the overall product strategy and how error is reduced in data management and privacy in customer information was also discussed at length in the panel discussion.

“As a growing Fintech at Safe Boda, we ensure that our back-end data that includes most personal data of our clients is only accessible to a few of our trusted employees, tightened security on our back end so as to avoid hackers has also worked well for us so far. FITSPA should provide its members with a toolkit to follow on data privacy which is a complex concept that needs legal advice for both young startups and experienced scaled-up companies.”

Maxime Dieudonné (Safe Boda)

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