From across the Democratic Republic of 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. 

They will compete for the top prize of $50,000 at the Grand Finale, which will be held at the Ecobank Pan African Centre in Lomé, Togo, on Friday 28 October 2022.

The finalists for the 2022 edition, in alphabetical order, are:

1. Cauri Money from Senegal  
2. DizzitUp from Togo
3. MaishaPay from the Democratic Republic of Congo
4. Moni Africa from Nigeria
5. Paycode from South Africa
6. Touchand Pay from Nigeria

The 5th edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge is sponsored by Arise and will allow all finalists to benefit from Ecobank’s Fintech Mentoring Programme. During this programme, Ecobank will help them to explore opportunities including:

• Rolling out 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 funding 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 about 412 applications in 2018 to over 700 in 2022. This demonstrates a definite 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 highly impressive quality of their entries. We look forward to partnering with them for their groundbreaking digital financial solutions to our continent’s unique challenges and to help promoting 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 fintechs are based on collaborative partnerships that advance financial inclusion on the continent and offer opportunities for mutual synergies with our balanced investment portfolio.”

The Ecobank Fintech Challenge is designed to identify innovative fintechs that are ready to grow, that we can partner with, mentor and give access to Ecobank’s 33 African markets, so that they can realise 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 organised 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.

The goal is to contribute to the growth of these innovators, with scalable ideas and receptive to support and opportunities which would help their growth.

Designed in partnership with international advisory firm, Konfidants, Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2022 is supported by partners across Africa and globally. 

Benefits 

The winner of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2022 will receive a cash prize of $50,000, as well as an opportunity to partner and scale their solutions across Ecobank’s 33 African markets.

Ten finalists will be inducted into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship after the finals and awards ceremony which will take place in October 2022.

In addition, all Fellows will qualify to explore the following opportunities with the Bank and its partners:

• Multinational products roll out: an opportunity to pursue integration with Ecobank and potentially launch products in all or part of Ecobank’s pan-African 33-country ecosystem
• Service provider partnerships:  Ecobank may select some Fintechs as pan-African service partners within the Bank’s ecosystem
• Access to Ecobank’s Pan-African Banking Sandbox: Fellows will be given access to Ecobank’s APIs to test and improve their products for the pan-African market
• Priority Access to Ecobank’s Venture Capital partners for funding exploration

Eligibility

The challenge is designed for fintech companies and developers originating from any of Africa’s 54 countries, as well as global Africa-centered Fintechs.

Ade Ayeyemi, Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Group, said: “Ecobank believes that the only way to transform financial services in Africa is for Pan-African banks like Ecobank to continually support and collaborate with innovative Fintechs and start-ups. We invite and welcome Africa’s best Fintechs to work with us through the 2022 Challenge.”

Dr. Tomisin Fashina, Operations and Technology Executive, Ecobank Groupalso commented: “The uniqueness of the Challenge is that it welcomes both early stage and mature start-up Fintechs alike and seeks to align them with different kinds of partnership opportunities within Ecobank that match their differing levels of maturity.”

How to apply

Apply to scale your innovative solution before the deadline on Friday, September 16, 2022.