The leading independent Pan-African banking group, Ecobank has announced 9 African fintech start-ups and two international ones for the 2nd edition of the annual Ecobank Fintech Challenge.
The challenge is a competition for Africa-focused technology start-ups and it is aimed at supporting FinTech start-ups through commercial partnerships to grow and scale into successful Pan-African and global businesses.
The 11 start-ups are; Lypa (Kenya), Wallet.ng (Nigeria), Nala (Tanzania), Litee (Benin), SESO Global (South Africa), InvestED (Sierra Leone), Eversend (France), Secapay (Nigeria), Virtual Identity (South Africa), MojiPay (Togo), Awamo (Germany).
An Innovation Fair & Awards ceremony will honour the start-ups on August 30, 2018 at the global headquarters of Ecobank in Lomé, Togo.
At the ceremony, the start-ups will exhibit and pitch their products to a jury for the Prize, which will eventually be awarded to the top innovator and two runners-up.
The top three innovators will win cash prizes worth US$10,000, US$7,000, and US$5,000 respectively.
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After the Awards ceremony, Ecobank will enroll all 11 finalists into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship.
The Fellowship will run for a period of six months during which Ecobank Fintech Fellows will benefit from an opportunity to further explore partnerships with the Ecobank Group that includes: Multinational product roll-out support, service provider & ecosystem partner deals and technical & mentoring support.
According to the Group CEO of Ecobank, Ade Ayeyemi, “At Ecobank our digital strategy is spectacularly successful and has changed the landscape of African banking, so it goes without saying that we see fintech as a vital component for the economic transformation of the continent and the prosperity of its citizens.
“We want to do all we can to encourage the next generations of fintech entrepreneurs as they will be a driving force in propelling Africa into a globally competitive power in commercial services, enjoying significantly increased market share.”
Eddy Ogbogu, Ecobank Group Executive for Operations and Technology stressed that, “Africa has a proud history of innovation, and today’s fintech start-ups are the potential giants of tomorrow.
The Ecobank Fintech Challenge is designed in partnership with the advisory firm Konfidants and is supported by partners across Africa and the world.