The Sun Exchange wins at African FinTech Awards

Crowd-lending solar energy project startup The Sun Exchange placed first in the Bitcoin & Block Exchange category at the African FinTech Awards (AFTA).

Three finalists per category were given only seven minutes to pitch why their company deserved the respective award. Companies had to touch on their innovation, brand, user interface, performance and results to win the judges over.

Finalists were then chosen by judges, as well as by public vote. BitPesa snagged the Public Award in the same category.

The panel of judges comprised industry professionals such as the chief digital officer of Wealth Migrate, Jay Thomson; CEO of Meniga, Georg Ludviksson and CEO of Curve, Fred Baumhardt.

It also consisted of other big names such as CEO of Bettr, Tobie van Zyl; managing director of Jumo, Johan Bosini; CEO of PeachPayments, Rahul Jain and CEO of Yoco, Katlego Maphai.

The full list of AFTA includes:

• Baobab Microcred – Retail Banking
• The Sun Exchange – Bitcoin & Block Exchange
• Easy Equities – InvesTech
• Cellulant – Payments & Transfers
• Ovamba – Lending & Financing
• FNB – Incumbent Banks
• Easy Equities – Overall Winner