Payday lending startup Shield Finance came out on top against five other teams at the DEMO Africa pre-pitch event held in Nairobi, Kenya on Friday, becoming the second startup to book its place at the main event in Lagos, Nigeria in September.
Disrupt Africa reported last week pre-pitch events took place in Accra and Nairobi, with further ones scheduled for Cairo and Harare later this month. Ghana’s Flippy Campus was the first startup to book their spot after being named the winner of the Accra event.
Shield Finance beat off competition from Lipco, Kuhustle, ENT mobile, Chippp and Briglobe at the mini-event, which brought together startups from across East Africa to pitch in front of a panel of judges comprised of Martin Obuya, Mbugua Njihia, Andrew Karanja, Josephine Mwangi, Veronica Ogeto and Mecella Sinda making up the selection panel.
Shield Finance’s payday lending solution enables employees to access loans directly into their mobile phones and mobile money accounts. Chief technology officer (CTO) Josephat Njui said he was excited at the chance to pitch on the DEMO Africa platform.
“I look forward to pitching in Lagos, I am positive that investors will be confident about investing in startups like us given the level of creativity that I have witnessed today,” Njui said.
DEMO Africa’s Nairobi event director Njihia said he was enthusiastic about the quality of technology products emerging across Africa.
“The level of creativity is out of this world, I am now sure that Africa is able to produce world class products that can be easily scalable,” he said.
Applications for DEMO Africa are open until June 30. In April, Disrupt Africa published advice for how to make the perfect application for the competition.
