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This article is sponsored by Ecobank
Ecobank Group, the leading private pan-African banking group, has announced the six finalists for the fifth edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge. The finalists come from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Togo.
The six fintechs stood out from a highly competitive pool of over 700 applicants from 59 countries in and outside Africa. The six finalists will compete for the top prize of $50,000 at the Grand Finale, which is being held at the Ecobank Pan African Centre in Lomé, Togo, on Friday 28 October 2022.
The finalists for the 2022 edition, in alphabetical order, are:
• Cauri Money, Senegal
• DizzitUp, Togo
• MaishaPay, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Moni Africa, Nigeria
• Paycode, South Africa
• Touch and Pay, Nigeria
The fifth edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge, which is sponsored by Arise, will allow all finalists to benefit from Ecobank’s Fintech Mentoring Programme. During this programme, Ecobank will help them to explore opportunities including:
• Rolling out their products on a pan-African scale: an opportunity to further integrate with Ecobank and potentially launch their products or services in all or part of Ecobank’s 33-country pan-African ecosystem.
• Access to the Group’s pan-African Banking Sandbox to test and develop their products in the pan-African market.
• Priority access to Ecobank’s venture capital partners to explore funding opportunities.
Paradigm shift
Tomisin Fashina, Ecobank Group Executive, Operations and Technology, said: “I am impressed by the growing number of applications for the Ecobank Fintech Challenge. Applications have grown from about 412 applications in 2018 to over 700 in 2022. This demonstrates a definite paradigm shift within the African continent, with Africans’ desire to transform technological innovation into a real lever for socio-economic development. We thank all applicants for their participation and applaud the highly impressive quality of their entries. We look forward to partnering with them for their groundbreaking digital financial solutions to our continent’s unique challenges and to help promoting financial inclusion on the continent.”
Gavin Tipper, CEO of Arise, partner and co-sponsor of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2022 competition, said: “Fintechs play a central role in creating innovative digital solutions that improve customer experience, deliver value propositions and reduce costs. Our investments in fintechs are based on collaborative partnerships that advance financial inclusion on the continent and offer opportunities for mutual synergies with our balanced investment portfolio.”
The Ecobank Fintech Challenge
The Ecobank Fintech Challenge is in line with Ecobank’s Fintech strategy of building partnerships with African fintechs to help transform digital finance and banking. It is designed to identify innovative fintechs that are ready to grow which Ecobank can partner with, mentor and give access to its 33 African markets, thereby allowing them to realise their potential and become pan-African success stories.
The Challenge is open to all fintechs on the African continent. Interested fintechs can apply by sending details of their product with a demo. These products must address one or more of the specific pain points announced before each edition.
The selected finalists participate in the Ecobank Fintech Challenge Grand Finale. The ultimate winner for 2022 will be awarded a cash prize of $50,000. All finalists are inducted into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship, which gives them the opportunity to explore deals, integration and commercial partnership with the Ecobank Group. This year’s cohort will be the fifth since 2017.
The Ecobank Fintech Challenge is organised in collaboration with partners across Africa and the world, including Arise, gold sponsor of the 2022 edition, Global Finder, TechCabal, Africa Fintech Network and Konfidants.
For more information on the competition, visit www.ecobankfintechchallenge.com
