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 price of $50,000 at the Grand Finale, which will be held at the Ecobank Pan African Centre in Lomé, Togo, on Friday, 28th 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), and Touchand Pay (Nigeria).
Tomisin Fashina, Ecobank Group Executive in charge of Operations and Technology, expressed satisfaction with 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.”
Tomisin Fashina
Gavin Tipper, CEO of Arise, partner and co-sponsor of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2022 competition, also noted that 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.”
Gavin Tipper
The 5th edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge
This 5th 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 numerous opportunities. Some of these include 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.
The finalists will also have access to the Group’s Pan-African Banking Sandbox to test and develop their products in the Pan-African market. Additionally, they will be given priority access to Ecobank’s venture capital partners to explore funding opportunities.
The Ecobank Fintech Challenge is designed to identify innovative fintechs that are ready to grow. Ecobank will then partner with these fintechs, mentor and give access to its 33 African markets, so that they can realize their potential and become Pan-African success stories.
This competition is in line with Ecobank’s Fintech strategy of building partnerships with African fintechs to help transform digital finance and banking.
The Ecobank Fintech Challenge is organized 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.
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