Kampala Blockchain Summit 2025 Hosts MTN Uganda CEO Sylvia Mulinge for Fireside Chat on Digital Finance

The session, which served as a centerpiece of the summit held on November 25, 2025, at the Four Points by Sheraton, was positioned as a “bigger, bolder conversation on the future of digital finance” and underscored Uganda’s accelerating push toward a blockchain‑enabled financial ecosystem.

The summit brought together policymakers, telecom operators, fintech startups, and investors to explore the practicalities of integrating distributed ledger technology into the country’s payment infrastructure. Mulinge’s participation signaled the telecom giant’s deepening interest in blockchain‑based solutions, a move that aligns with MTN’s regional strategy to expand mobile money services beyond traditional SMS‑based platforms.

Reginald Tumusiime, the President of the Blockchain Association of Uganda, moderated the dialogue, while Dr. Atingi‑Ego provided the regulatory perspective. The Bank of Uganda has been active in shaping the sector, having recently highlighted the need for a "rapid but carefully calibrated" regulatory framework for virtual assets to position the nation as a hub for African digital finance innovation.

Mulinge’s remarks touched on MTN Uganda’s robust mobile money platform, which now serves approximately 21.6 million customers and processes over $36 billion in transactions annually. In recent updates, MTN has highlighted partnerships with local fintechs to pilot blockchain‑based remittance products, aiming to significantly reduce cross‑border transfer costs. The fireside chat served as a platform to discuss further collaborations that could leverage the Bank of Uganda’s regulatory sandbox environment.

Industry observers noted that the summit arrived at a pivotal moment for the East African region. With Kenya’s evolving crypto regulations and Rwanda’s open‑banking initiatives setting competitive benchmarks, neighboring markets are accelerating their own digital finance agendas. Uganda’s mobile money market—with an estimated active user penetration rate of over 50 percent—offers fertile ground for blockchain applications ranging from secure identity verification to tokenized assets.

The event also drew attention from international investors, with venture capital interest in the region recovering. Recent data indicates that African startup funding rose 78 percent year‑on‑year in the first half of 2025, a trend the Kampala summit capitalized on by showcasing homegrown talent alongside established players like MTN.

The inclusion of both a corporate leader and a central bank governor signaled a rare convergence of private‑sector ambition and public‑sector oversight—a combination that stakeholders hope will accelerate the deployment of interoperable, low‑cost digital payment solutions across the region.