Hilda Moraa has been appointed as the eTrade Women Advocate for the English-speaking African area to the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Moraa founded Pezesha and is CEO of the fintech startup. From 2024 to 2025, the acclaimed businesswoman will act as an advocate.
Moraa shares her intention
Following the appointment, Hilda Moraa shared her excitement through a LinkedIn post, “As an advocate during my tenor, I am looking forward to serving and representing the voice of Africa’s SMEs and Fintechs at a global level.”
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Sharing with the eTrade for Women program, she said she can only hope that through programmes like eTrade for Women, she can encourage and empower even more women to take the lead in STEM-related purposeful entrepreneurship so that women can finally put an end to existing disparities.
What qualifies Hilda Moraa
With a background of more than 15 years in the tech and startup industries, Hilda Moraa is an expert in the financial technology (Fintech) space. Her 2015 acquisition of WezaTele, her first startup, for $1.7 million (or around Ksh 154 million at the time) is noteworthy. For Kenya, this was the first major acquisition up until then.
Together, her venture capital and local bank investments total more than $15 million. Hilda’s fintech, Pezesha, received $11 million in 2022 from Women’s World Banking Capital Partners II (WWBCP II), which was the lead investor in the pre-series A round. The small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Kenya, Uganda, and Ghana can take advantage of Pezesha’s business-to-business (B2B) online lending infrastructure.
As an advisor for the ICT Ministry, Hilda has worked on a number of innovation projects, one of which was Konza City. Earlier in her career, she oversaw research and innovation strategy at i-Hub and worked as a data and innovation analyst for Coca-Cola.
Hilda has recorded a long list of accolades and accomplishments during her extensive career. In addition to being chosen for the 2023 Bloomberg LP New Economy Catalysts class, she was recently honoured with the 2024 Forbes Woman Africa, Tech & Innovation Award. Hilda is an advocate for African entrepreneurs and has joined the Harambean Entrepreneurship Alliance. Among her other accomplishments, she was named one of Kenya’s top 40 under 40 and named the best female fintech CEO in 2024. From Strathmore University, Hilda earned a degree in Business Information Technology.
Why women should be involved in Fintech
Women need to be involved in fintech for multiple reasons:
More creative and inclusive financial solutions are the result of women’s diverse perspectives, which are enriched by their distinct experiences and insights.
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To promote gender equality: When more women work in financial technology, it helps close the gender gap and level the playing field.
Inclusion in the financial sector: Women are more inclined to create financial services and products that target marginalised groups.
Female role models: The many successful women working in financial technology can serve as role models for other women interested in a career in the sector.
Decisions made by gender-diverse teams can better account for all relevant factors, ultimately resulting in long-term, cost-effective solutions to financial problems.
We can build a financial sector that works for everyone by increasing the number of women in fintech.