Six Fintech companies from Africa emerge as finalists in the Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2022

The six finalists were chosen after extremely strong competition from over 700 fintechs from 59 countries; The Grand Finale will be held on October 28 at the Ecobank Group ( African Center in Lomé, Togo; Finalists will compete for the top prize of $50,000 and entry into the ‘Ecobank Fintech Challenge Fellowship’ program.

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 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 will be held at the Ecobank Pan African Center 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
• Touchand 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 Programme. During this programme, Ecobank will help them explore opportunities including:

• Rollout of 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 financing opportunities.

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 approximately 412 applications in 2018 to over 700 in 2022. This demonstrates a clear 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 very impressive quality of their submissions. We look forward to working with them on their pioneering digital financial solutions to our continent’s unique challenges and to helping to promote 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 fintech are based on collaborative partnerships that promote financial inclusion on the continent and provide opportunities for mutual synergies 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 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.

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 Group, the 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; London, United Kingdom and Dubai, 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 Exchange in Lagos, the Ghana Stock Exchange in Accra and the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières in 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, Norfund, NorFinance and FMO, and currently manages assets of over USD 1 billion (www.Ariseinvest.com).