International Technical Meetup on “FinTech and Startup”

The IT Department of College of Computing and Information Sciences affiliated to the University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Ibri (UTAS-Ibri) in association with UTAS-Ibri ACM Student Chapter successfully organized an international technical meetup with IT experts who are working on financial technologies (FinTech projects). The event was conducted in an online mode (MS Teams), as an interactive session on the real ecosystem of software firms. The event was held on December 13, 2022 from 12.00 pm to 2.00 pm. A total of 373 participated the said event including students, teachers, and industrial experts from more than 20 different organizations and universities inside and outside Oman.

Lubna Humaid Rashid Al Shabanoti, the student host presented the theme and objectives of the event. In her introduction, she stated that “In everyone’s life, there should be a “Turning Point” for reaching success. We, the students are looking for a Turning point, Motivation and Technical Awareness. Yes, that is “FinTech and Startup”. This technical meetup is going to motivate us and hoping to inspire us for the successful career in financial technologies and startups. The main objectives of this session are: to provide technical insights on financial technologies; to provide motivation on IT startups and entrepreneurship; to build partnerships with industrial experts and alumni of UTAS; and also to associate with international professional body ACM - Association of Computing Machinery.

Dr. Wilfred Blessing N.R, the event coordinator and lecturer of IT department welcomed all guests and participants for the technical meetup themed “FinTech and Startup”. He mentioned that, “it is a great day for students and community to inspire, learn and innovate FinTech projects. This technical meetup will help the students in innovating new ideas through their projects that would be beneficial for financial organizations and groups”.

Issa Juma Musabah Al-Yahyaai, student representative introduced the guest speakers. He explored the achievements and FinTech project experiences of the guest speakers.

Speaker 1: Topic: FinTech Awareness Ms. Anood Mohammed Al Maqrashi, (Analyst / Programmer, CRM Division, Bank Dhofar, Muscat and Alumni of UTAS-Ibri) was the first speaker. She stated that, FinTech is largely changing economy around the world. Fintech is referring to software, mobile application and other technologies created to improve and automate traditional forms of finance for businesses. She said, “FinTech simplifies financials transactions for customers and businesses making them accessible and generally more affordable. It can also apply to companies and services utilizing Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and encrypting blockchain technology to facilitate highly secure transactions”. Then she focused on how safe is FinTech. Finally, the speaker gave awareness about the IT technologies that offer services to financial sector. She elaborated the advantages of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things, Open source, SaaS (Software as a Service), No-code and Low-code, and Hyper automation.

Speaker 2: Topic: FinTech Projects Ms. Anie Malar (Senior Product Analyst, Juspay Technologies, Bangalore, India). She started with the idea of explaining what is Problem in an IT Project and how to solve the same. She presented few practical examples of FinTech projects including ticket booking application and payments application. This motivated the student community to focus FinTech for their course project developments. The flow of OTP (one-time password) reading demonstration was impressive. Then, she shared her industrial experiences on “Product Thinking, Problem, User Journey”. Finally, the speaker explored the projects awareness on P2P payment solution/ Peer to Peer solution, Saving Investment, Lending/Loan Apps, Mobile banking Apps and Digital wallets.

Speaker 3: Topic: FinTech Startups Mr. Arun Rajeev (Founder & CEO, FinOS, UAE) He started his presentation by explaining the success metric of a startup company and the ways to build a successful startup. He said, “Fintech is delivering financial services through technology. Financial institutions and banks enable saving account to have loans, deposit savings, fixed deposits and insurance”. He shared few examples by saying, “Apps for transactions and payments modes are developed by using the latest technologies block chain, machine learning and artificial intelligence”. He added, “these technologies are also supporting in establishing businesses and that shows an exponential growth within few years of time”. In his final sharing, the speaker said, “Team Work is important for a company’s growth. Students can run the company with the qualities great business model and funding support”. He also praised the Oman funding agencies and organizations whom provides funding supports for the projects and startups to young entrepreneurs. He concluded by saying, “most successful companies have wonderful timing. Time is necessary for the good growth of company”. He wished all the students and participants with his clear guidance and greetings.

Later, the participants have shown interest during the brainstorming session with the speakers.

Finally, Anwar Humaid Hamed Al Shamali, (Student Chair, UTAS Ibri ACM Student Chapter) thanked all the participants who joined from various institutions and universities inside and outside Oman. He also thanked the University management, the Chairman of the event and Head of IT Department Dr. Amal Bati Said Al Abri, Head of IT Section Ms. Fatima Said Al Shamli, DC members, Industrial experts, Alumni of UTAS-Ibri, lecturers and the organizers of the event. He extended his thanks to coordinators and members of UTAS-Ibri ACM Student Chapter, IT Society, OJT committee, Staff Development Committee and Research and Consultancy Committee.

The event was organized under the chairmanship of Head of IT Department and officer of ACM student chapter Dr. Amal Bati Said Al Abri. This meetup was coordinated by Dr. Wilfred Blessing N.R (Lecturer, IT). This online technical meetup was well collaborated by OJT committee, IT Society, Staff Development Committee, Research and Consultancy Committee and UTAS-Ibri ACM Student Chapter. The participants gave remarkable feedback for this event. The feedback score is 4.5 out of 5.