Ecobank Group Announces the Top Five Finalists for the Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2021

The finalists for the 2021 Ecobank Fintech Challenge have been announced by the Ecobank Group.

The fourth edition of the challenge is meant to assist Fintechs with Africa-focused products in partnering with Africa’s biggest pan-African group to bring breakthrough financial services to Africans.

Five finalists were chosen from diverse African countries for this year’s final.

The finalists will compete in a virtual Finale next month after emerging from a competitive pool of roughly 900 Fintechs that entered the 2021 Fintech Challenge.

The following are the 2021 Finalists:

• Anadata Limited from Nigeria – developed Chota, an automated Address Verification System that uses Big Data Analysis to accelerate the process while improving accuracy.
• Motito from Ghana  – 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 from Mali – offers new-generation index insurance to smallholder farmers, that are mobile-based and include access to affordable loans, weather alerts, and farming tips.
• Fourthline Limited from Kenya – 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 Finalists will present their products to a panel of judges, who will choose the top three most promising products.

The top three finalists will each earn a monetary reward of $15,000, $12,000, or $10,000.

All of the finalists will be accepted into Ecobank’s Fintech Fellowship, where they will spend six months investigating cooperation prospects with companies such as:

• Multinational Product Roll Out: An opportunity for eligible Fintechs to pursue collaboration with Ecobank and possibly launch products in Ecobank’s 33 African markets.
• Service Provider Partnerships: A chance to partner with Ecobank on pan-African products and services roll out and undertake other joint ventures.
• Mentoring and Networking Support: Access to networking and mentoring opportunities within the Ecobank Group and its vast network of global and African partners.
• Digital Offering integration: An opportunity for Fintechs to potentially integrate with Ecobank’s existing digital offerings.

“The five finalists in this year’s event have displayed remarkable goods from a competitive group of approximately 900 submissions,” said Tomisin Fashina, Group Executive, Operations & Technology, Ecobank Group.

I’d want to congratulate them personally and share my delight at the prospect of working with them to bring their creative ideas to life.”

The Ecobank Fintech Challenge was created in collaboration with Konfidants, an advisory firm, and is sponsored by partners from all around Africa and the world.

Additional information is available on the Programme’s website.