Nigeria-based fintech company wins $50,000 in Ecobank Fintech Challenge

Ecobank Group announced on Friday that ‘Press and pay‘, a Nigeria-based fintech won the 2022 edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge.

The announcement was made at the Grand Finale of the program held at Ecobank’s headquarters in Lomé, chaired by HE Cina Lawson, Minister of Digital Economy and Transformation, Republic of Togo.

Touch and Pay took home a $50,000 cash prize, the largest free fintech cash prize in Africa, an Ecobank statement said on Friday.

The fintech company processes microtransactions across Africa, such as paying for bus travel, with over 2 million users helping 500,000 people with payments every day.

The winner and the other five finalists were also inducted into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship – a unique program that gives Fintech Fellows the opportunity to explore potential commercial partnerships with the bank, such as integrating with Ecobank’s pan-African banking platforms and scaling their fintech businesses. across Ecobank’s 33 African markets.

The other five finalists for the 2022 edition are Cauri Money, Senegal; DizzitUp, Togo; MaishaPay, Democratic Republic of Congo; Moni Africa, Nigeria; and Paycode, South Africa.

Congratulating the finalists, Ade Ayeyemi, Managing Director of Ecobank Group, said: “This year’s six finalists have set the bar high at this Grand Finale. Their innovations are revolutionizing the financial payments landscape in Africa and promoting financial inclusion. It is an honor for Ecobank Group to partner with them and jointly transform the financial landscape on our continent.” Mr Ayeyemi also expressed Ecobank’s “deep gratitude to all our partners, especially Arise, the gold sponsor of the 2022 Challenge, as well as to the jury who worked tirelessly to evaluate the finalists and select the winner.”

Gavin Tipper, CEO of Arise, a gold partner and co-sponsor of the challenge, said: “Arise congratulates the finalists and the winner for the creativity and innovation they demonstrated. The Ecobank Fintech Challenge has become an important platform to support fintech innovators and encourage bold solutions to promoting financial inclusion in Africa. The talent on offer in this year’s pool of finalists once again exceeded expectations and we look forward to seeing how the various products transform financial services on the continent.”

Expressing great satisfaction at winning the Fintech Challenge, Oluwole Michael, Managing Director of Touch and Pay commented: “We at Touch and pay (TAP) are excited about the opportunity we have been given to work with Ecobank, a pan-African bank operating across across Africa. This feeds into our vision to help 250 million Africans process cash-based transactions digitally, making them truly cashless and providing true credit facilities for merchants, retailers and customers.”

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In addition to the pitch from each of the six finalists and a keynote speech by HE Cina Lawson, highlights of the Grand Finale included panel discussions on “Sustaining and deepening investor interest in African fintech in the face of global economic crisis: what should investors, Fintech companies and governments do it?and “Ensuring Fintech-friendly regulations that accelerate startup growth and maturity: what’s the best way forward for Africa.”

Almost 4,000 start-ups have participated in the five editions of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge since it was launched in 2017.

Since then, 52 Fintechs have been inducted into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship. The 2022 Challenge was supported by partners including Arise, Konfidants, Tech Cabal, Africa Fintech Network and ALX Ventures.