Ecobank Group on Monday announced thr winners of its 2020 Ecobank Fintech Challenge from a virtual event that was streamed live from Accra, Ghana. Prior this, Ecobank earlier this month had revealed its 10 finalists emerging from seven countries to compete for a share of USD$22,000.
Nokwary Technologies, edged out the rest of the finalists to emerge winner of the competition winning a cash prize of USD$10,000. The first and second runner up spots were taken by Ukheshe Payment and Solutions Growth Factor Technologies respectively each receiving a cash prizes worth of USD$7,000 and USD$5,000 respectively.
Nokwary, from Ghana, is a fintech that uses AI to promote financial inclusion. Its AI Powered banking solution offers an opportunity for users to carry out transactions in a language to which they are familiar to using popular social media channels like Whatsapp.
South Africa’s Ukheshe, is bridging the gap between the card and the cash economy creating the world’s first card acceptance platform that allows unbanked merchants/traders to accept and make digital payments.
Finally, Growth Factor is a fintech company that provides trade financing solutions designed for Micro-Small/Medium Entities (MSMEs) in order to encourage financial inclusion and growth. Its Nvoicia solution solves cash flow issues caused by delayed payments for SMEs, by enabling them to get paid in 24hrs when dealing with credit clients.
Ade Ayeyemi, Ecobank Group CEO congratulated the winners for their innovation and welcomed all the 2020 fellows: “The quality of the products and pitches we saw in the final this year were amazing. Clearly it is evident that Banking in Africa is moving onto a new dimension with these Fintechs leading the way. That is why we are so proud to have had them in this year’s competition and are excited to engage further with them over the next year. It is our expectation that we will build a few lasting partnerships which will help improve the lives of Africans all over the continent.”
Meanwhile, all the ten finalists have officially been inducted into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship, a one-year program which will give them the opportunity to explore opportunities for commercial partnerships with the Ecobank Group, and to possibly launch and scale products across Ecobank’s 33 country markets in the continent.
