Ten Southern African startups have received awards for their solutions to bridge the gap in financial access for underserved communities as part of a challenge supported by the World Bank.
The Fintech Challenge was part of the ecosystem development initiatives under the Southern Africa Innovation Bridge Portal supported by the World Bank to crowd-source new and impactful ways to utilise the latest innovations in fintech.
The initiative is aimed at providing low-cost and appropriate savings and de-risking products for the low- and middle-income market and lending solutions for SMEs. In all, 10 Southern African startups were each awarded US$5,000 to get their businesses investment-ready at a recent awards event.
South Africa was home to six of the winning startups, namely abela, Bento Technologies, Fintr, Moya Money, Sum1 Investments, and Thumeza. Two are from Lesotho – Chaperone and Prime Capital – while there was one each from Botswana (Ipachi Capital) and Namibia (FundRoof).
“The region’s most innovative and impactful fintech companies unveiled their solutions to enable greater financial access to the poor, after an eight-week investment readiness program which included masterclasses and mentoring,” said Marie Francoise Marie-Nellie, World Bank Country Director for Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa. “Of the 15 participating startups, 10 were awarded financing. These businesses are investment ready and now eager to engage further with interested investors.”
