Bank of Uganda’s Michael Atingi-Ego and Tugende Uganda have been awarded for fostering financial inclusion at the African Banker Awards 2022 Gala ceremony held on Wednesday. 

The award ceremony gathered over 300 key personalities in Africa’s financial services sector at the Kempinksi Hotel in Accra, Ghana. A total of 22 Awards were presented at the African Banker Awards 2022.

Michael Atingi-Ego, the Deputy Governor Bank of Uganda, won Central Bank Governor of the Year. Earlier this year, his predecessor, Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, Ugandan economist and Governor of the Central Bank of Uganda, passed away, leaving a void which will not be easily filled.

Bank of Uganda was one of the star performers this year, having managed to stave off inflation and achieve currency stability in an extremely challenging environment.

Group photo of the winners of the African Banker Awards 2022.

In his speech, Omar Ben Yedder, chair of the African Banker Awards organising committee and publisher of African Banker magazine, said that it is time we focused our efforts on strengthening our domestic capabilities to finance growth.

"We need strong institutions and we need to start with our commercial and development banks. If we have learnt anything from the past two years, and even more so these last two months, it is that we need to achieve financial sovereignty if we are to own our growth agenda," Ben Yedder said.

Tugende Uganda scooped the Award for Financial Inclusion at the event. Tugende is tackling the credit gap for small businesses in Africa by enabling informal entrepreneurs to own income‑generating assets, build a verifiable digital credit profile, and earn future growth opportunities through the Tugende digital platform.

Biije Franz, senior branch leader at Tugende said, “From financing to value-added services to new opportunities, we are building a long-term ecosystem for MSMEs to grow and thrive with us as their partner.”

Standard Bank Group accepting the award for African Bank of the Year.

Two African women (Vera Esperança dos Santos Daves de Sousa, Minister of Finance, Angola and Dr Vera Songwe, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa) won two of the most prestigious awards: Finance Minister of the Year and the African Banker Icon respectively.

They were awarded for their tireless efforts in providing governments with the fiscal ammunition to deal with the impact of COVID-19.

The winner of the African Bank of the Year, for the second year running, was awarded to the Standard Bank Group, the continent’s largest bank by assets and also by tier one capital.

Others winners include Interswitch, which won the fintech of the year award, African Trade Insurance Agency for Infrastructure Deal of the Year and Citi bank for the Equity Deal of the Year, among others.

African Development Bank presided as the awards patron, alongside other sponsors including the African Guarantee Fund, Bank of Industry (Nigeria) and the Trade Development Bank as well as Access Bank.