LOMÉ, To walk — The six finalists were chosen after extremely strong competition from over 700 fintechs from 59 countries; The Grand Finale will be held on 28 October at Ecobank Group ( Pan African Center in Lomé, To walk; The finalists will compete for the top prize of $50,000 and admission to the ‘Ecobank Fintech Challenge Fellowship’ programme.
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 the Congo, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and To walk.
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 at $50,000 at the Grand Finale, which is held at the Ecobank Pan African Center in Lomé, To walkon Friday 28 October 2022.
The finalists for the 2022 edition, in alphabetical order, are:
– Cauri Money, Senegal
– DizzitUp, To walk
– MaishaPay, The Democratic Republic of the Congo
– Moni Africa, Nigeria
– Payment code, South Africa
– Touch and pay, Nigeria
This 5th edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge, which is sponsored by Arise, will allow all finalists to benefit from Ecobank’s Fintech mentoring program. During this program, Ecobank will help them 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 whole or in part 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.
Tomisin Fashina, Ecobank Group Executive, Operations and Technology, said: “I am impressed with the growing number of applications for the Ecobank Fintech Challenge. Applications have grown from approximately 412 applications in 2018 to over 700 in 2022. This shows a clear paradigm shift within the African continent, with the desire of Africans on transforming technological innovation into a real lever for socio-economic development. We thank all applicants for their participation and applaud the very impressive quality of their contributions. We look forward to working with them on their pioneering digital financial solutions to our continent’s unique challenges and to help promote economic inclusion on the continent.”
Gavin TipperCEO 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 promote financial inclusion on the continent and offers opportunities for mutual synergy with our balanced investment portfolio.”
The Ecobank Fintech Challenge is designed to identify innovative fintechs ready to grow that we can partner with, mentor and provide access to Ecobank’s 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 to build 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.
For more information on the competition, visit www.EcobankFintechChallenge.com
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ecobank.
Media contacts:
Christiane Bossom
Communications manager for companies
Ecobank Group
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +228 22 21 03 03
Internet: www.ecobank.com
Zeenat Parker
Head of Communications
Arise
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +27 81 248 2801
About Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (‘ETI’ or ‘The Group’):
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (‘ETI’) is the parent company of Ecobank Groupthe leading independent pan-African banking group. Ecobank Group employs around 13,000 people and serves over 32 million customers in the consumer, commercial and corporate banking sectors in 33 African countries. The group has a banking license in France and representative offices in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Johannesburg, South Africa; Beijing, China; Londonit Great Britain and Dubaiit United Arab Emirates. The group offers a complete suite of banking products, services and solutions, including bank and deposit accounts, loans, cash management, advisory, trading, securities, wealth and asset management. ETI is listed on the Nigerian stock exchanges in Lagosit Ghana Stock Exchange in Accraand Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières i Abidjan. For more information please visit www.Ecobank.com
About Arise:
Arise is a leading African investment company working with sustainable, locally owned financial and non-banking institutions in sub-Saharan Africa. The company was founded by several cornerstone investors, namely Rabobank Partnerships, NorwayNorFinance and FMO and currently manages assets beyond USD 1 billion (www.Ariseinvest.com).
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