Grace Ashiru
The Ecobank Group has banking operations in 33 countries across Africa; therefore, the competition will undoubtedly be fierce for both early-stage and established start-ups taking part in the Ecobank Group’s fintech challenge, which has a prize pool of $50,000.
To be considered for a partnership with Ecobank, a pan-African banking behemoth, start-up companies have until Friday, September 16, 2022, to submit their applications. The competition is in its fifth year, and African entrepreneurs who founded fintech companies are strongly urged to submit applications.
Using the official website, fintech start-ups and developers from Africa’s 54 countries, as well as global fintech with an emphasis on Africa, are eligible to submit their applications for consideration in the competition.
Following the conclusion of the finals and the awards ceremony, which will take place in October 2022, ten finalists will be allowed to participate in the Ecobank FinTech Fellowship.
In addition, each fellow will have the opportunity to explore the following prospects with the Bank and its partners, provided they meet the requirements. This is going to consist of
- The rollout of multinational products: a chance to integrate with Ecobank and maybe launch products in all or part of Ecobank’s 33-country ecosystem in Africa.
- Partnerships with service providers: Ecobank may choose some fintech companies to work with on a pan-African scale as service partners within the Bank’s ecosystem.
- Access to Ecobank’s Pan-African banking sandbox: Ecobank’s application programming interfaces (APIs) will be made available to Fellows to test and refine their solutions for the pan-African market.
- Exploration finance with priority access to Ecobank’s venture capital partners
The Ecobank Group’s CEO, Ade Ayeyemi, stated that the bank “believes that the only way to transform financial services in Africa is for Pan-African banks like Ecobank to support continuously and partner with innovative Fintechs and start-ups.”We are pleased to extend an invitation to Africa’s most innovative financial technology companies to collaborate with us on the 2022 Challenge.
Dr. Tomisin Fashina, an operations and technology executive at Ecobank, said, “The challenge is unique in that it is open to both early-stage and established companies.” and aims to match them with partnership opportunities at Ecobank that are right you for their different levels of maturity.”
The Ecobank FinTech Challenge was conceived in collaboration with the multinational consulting firm Konfidants. It is backed by partners from all around Africa and the rest of the world. Since its inception in 2017, the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship has been able to accept a total of 46 candidates into its fellowship program.
