Meet the ten fintech startups selected for CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa in Dubai

The LHoFT Foundation has chosen ten African fintech startups to participate in CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa: Special Edition in Dubai, which aims to encourage companies focused on financial inclusion.

CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa, created by the LHoFT Foundation, aims to make a real difference in Africa’s financial inclusion by providing education, insight, and connectivity to participating firms while leveraging Luxembourg’s experienced ecosystem of entrepreneurs, finance professionals, and financial inclusion and impact specialists.

This special edition of CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa will take place in Dubai and is sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign & European Affairs – Directorate for Development and Humanitarian Affairs, with support from the Alliance for Financial Inclusion and other key strategic partners including ADA, AFI, InFine, DIFC FinTech Hive, PwC, Luxembourg Microfinance and Development Fund, Luxembourg For Finance, Dubai UAE Expo 2020, and Compellio.

During the three-day program, expert speakers and mentors from Luxembourg and the UAE will assist the selected firms in developing their businesses and achieving their inclusion goals, while also fostering collaboration among them, partners, sponsors, investors, microfinance institutions, and public financial institutions (PFIs).

Three of the selected startups are from Nigeria: Social Lender, which assists financial institutions in offering financial services based on social reputation to underbanked individuals; MamaMoni, which provides micro-loans to low-income female entrepreneurs; and Halal Payment, an all-inclusive digital payments service platform that leverages the Islamic banking system to provide shariah-based financing for SMEs.

Two are from Zimbabwe: eAgro, which uses data analytics and machine learning to create low-cost financial credit products tailored to the needs of unbanked and underserved farmers, and VIRL Rural & Social Financial Services, which lends to smallholder farmers, micro and small businesses.

Ghana’s Motito, a “buy now, pay later” platform that offers interest-free credit at the point of sale; South Africa’s Akiba Digital, an alternative scoring platform that powers credit for small businesses; and Ivory Coast’s Damansah, which is building an alternative credit scoring infrastructure that connects credit providers to small businesses and other thin-filed consumers, round out the cohort.

“We are thrilled to be delivering our Catapult programme in Dubai, alongside incredible local partners like the DIFC and Fintech Hive, as well as our key Luxembourg sponsor, The Directorate for Development and Humanitarian Aid.” We have a fantastic group of participants chosen from over 130 applications, and we are excited to work with them and learn about their businesses.

This is a great demonstration of international collaboration between the UAE and Luxembourg, and we believe all mentors and stakeholders involved will benefit from the ecosystems coming together through the Catapult programme,” said Nasir Zubairi, CEO of the LHoFT.