Ecobank Group on Thursday announced the 2021 finalists for its fourth edition annual Fintech Challenge, a competition for Africa-focused technology start-ups.
The bank made this announcement at a virtual press conference.
The challenge was designed to help fintechs with Africa-focused products join forces with the leading pan-African lender to provide Africans with groundbreaking financial services.
The bank said this year’s final saw five finalists selected from various African countries.
Finalists emerged from a competitive pool of nearly 900 fintechs that entered the 2021 Fintech Challenge.
“All the finalists will be enrolled into Ecobank’s Fintech Fellowship where they will spend six months exploring partnership opportunities, including multinational product roll-out, roll-out provider partnerships, mentoring and networking support and digital offering integration,” the bank said.
“The Finalists will pitch their products to a jury which will select the top three most promising products. The top three finalists will receive cash prizes of US$15,000, US$12,000 and US$10,000 respectively,” the bank said.
Speaking at the event, the group executive, operations & technology, Ecobank group, Tomisin Fashina, said “The five finalists in this year’s edition have shown impressive products from a competitive group of nearly 900 applicants. I would like to personally congratulate them and express my excitement at the opportunity to work with them to bring their innovative ideas to fruition.”
The 2021 Ecobank Fintech Challenge Finalists are; Anadata (Nigeria), Fourth line (Kenya), Motito (Ghana), Oko Finance (Mali) and Trove Finance (Nigeria).
Anadata Limited developed Chota, an automated address verification system that uses big data analysis to accelerate the process while improving accuracy.
Motito promotes financial inclusion in Africa through their “buy now pay later” platform which allows small businesses to offer interest-free credit at the point of sale.
Oko Finance offers new-generation index insurance to smallholder farmers that are mobile-based and include access to affordable loans, weather alerts and farming tips.
Fourth Line Limited developed Pollen which is designed to be a USSD ecosystem for conducting cross-telecom payments and savings for the unbanked.
Trove Finance, from Nigeria, built software (APIs & Tools) that allows African Individuals and financial institutions (Banks, Brokers and Fund Managers) access and trade US & Global stocks.
The Ecobank Fintech Challenge is designed in partnership with the advisory firm Konfidants and is supported by partners across Africa and the globe.
