Ecobank, an independent Pan-African banking organization that has its business in 36 African nations (primarily in the West and Central African regions) has revealed 20 finalists who will participate in its fintech contest.
Introduced at the beginning of the year, the competition is geared toward picking the best three startups in an Innovation Fair & Awards display that will be held at the organization’s primary offices in Lomé, Togo. During the ceremony, all participating startups (20) will be recognized for their efforts in outing technological solutions aimed at providing financial services, in addition to their induction to Ecobank Fintech Fellowship.
The twenty startups will display and pitch their financial solutions and products to judges who will gauge their offerings. Ideally, this is a merit-based competition, and the top three startups will be awarded cash prizes; $10,000 for the first spot, $7,000 for the second and $5,000 for the second runner-up.
While it is obvious that all finalist will hone their skills to emerge at the top, there are some pluses that will benefit every participant, regardless of performance. For instance, the 20 competitors will partner with the Ecobank Group that offers global product roll-out support as well as major start-up funding. The former will benefit startups that have showcased commercial viability, for which the Group will support them in their pursuit to offer solutions to the 36 markets that Ecobank operates in; the latter will boost products that surpass Ecobank’s investment threshold with up to $500,000 funding.
Furthermore, the 20 participants will gain from partner deals, and those that will characteristically display exemplary abilities will partner with Ecobank’s ecosystem, technical and mentoring support that includes worldwide network of technology leaders, fintech and management experts, to mention but a few.
The 20 startups include:
- MobiTill, Kenya. Its product service is mobile point of sale devices, which aids one point sales data to be entered, processed and printed directly.
- TEAM SAFEPAY, Kenya. In particular, it enables seamless payment of bills, money transfer services as well as airtime top-up.
- Greenshoe, Kenya. It has an app, Saida, which analyses smartphone data (read, go through your information) to determine if you can score a loan – if you need one, that is.
- Shield Finance, Kenya – Similar to Saida, this is a loan app that wants to advance cash to full-time employees. Full-time employees. Ok.
- Circle Group Savings and Investment, Kenya. Functionally, this is a platform that encourages users to make a habit of saving money for those rainy days.
Others include Piggybank.ng (Nigeria), Digi Teller (Ghana), Wallettec (South Africa), Invest Mobile (Ghana), KUDI (Nigeria), Wayagear Innovations Lagos (Nigeria), Paylater OneFi (Nigeria), PAYVITE (Algeria), PurseNG (Nigeria), IroFit (Nigeria), Mi Nafa (Burkina Faso), General Merchant (U.S.), Social Lender (Nigeria), Electronic Settlement Limited (Nigeria) and Inclusive Financial Technologies (Ghana).
