All 10 finalists were officially inducted into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship programme to explore commercial partnerships with the pan-African banking giant
Ecobank Group has announced the winners of its Ecobank Fintech Challenge after an exciting virtual event streamed live from Accra.
Nokwary Technologies edged out the other finalists to emerge winner of the competition. The first and second runner-up spots were taken by Ukheshe Payment and Solutions Growth Factor Technologies respectively. The 1st to 3rd place winners will receive cash prizes worth US$10,0000, US$7,000 and US$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 with which they are familiar while using popular social media channels like Whatsapp.
South Africa-based Ukheshe, which came in second, provides a bridge between the card and cash economies. It has created the world’s first card acceptance platform that allows unbanked merchants/traders to accept and make digital payments.
In third place, 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 products and pitches we saw in the final this year were amazing. Clearly, it is evident that Banking in Africa is moving into 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”.
Dennis Asamoah Owusu, CEO and Cofounder of Nokwary Technologies, commented on his victory: “I was beyond excited. Our company is rather young, and to be recognised like this on such a stage was really exciting as well as a validation for our focus on creating inclusive technology right from the start. It is also very encouraging to note that a major bank like Ecobank places such a premium on inclusion and is willing to back and promote innovative and cutting-edge technologies toward this purpose. We are looking at working together with Ecobank to bring an AI-first digital banking platform over WhatsApp, as well as other innovative solutions to Ecobank’s customers”.
This year’s finalists made it through an extremely competitive pool of over 600 applicants across Africa, Europe, North America and Asia. All ten (10) finalists have been officially inducted into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship – a one-year programme that 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 on the continent.
