$50k up for grabs in Ecobank’s new fintech challenge

With banking operations in 33 African countries, competition will certainly be tough for both early-stage and mature start-ups participating in the Ecobank Group’s fintech challenge with $50 000 prize money.

Start-ups have until Friday, 16 September 2022 to apply to partner with Ecobank, a pan-African banking conglomerate. The challenge is currently in its fifth year, and African fintech founders are encouraged to apply.

Fintechs that are aligned with the bank’s strategic objectives stand a chance to win an overall cash prize of $50 000 for the top winner as well as the opportunity to partner and scale their solutions across Ecobank’s African markets.

Fintech start-ups and developers originating from any of Africa’s 54 countries, as well as global Africa-centered fintechs, are eligible to enter the challenge using the official website.

Ten finalists will be inducted into the Ecobank fintech fellowship after the finals and awards ceremony which will take place in October 2022.

In addition, all fellows will qualify to explore the following opportunities with the bank and its partners. This is set to include:

• multinational products roll out: an opportunity to pursue integration with Ecobank and potentially launch products in all or part of Ecobank’s pan-African 33-country ecosystem.
• sService provider partnerships: Ecobank may select some Fintechs as pan-African service partners within the Bank’s ecosystem.
• access to Ecobank’s Pan-African banking sandbox: Fellows will be given access to Ecobank’s APIs to test and improve their products for the pan-African market.
• Priority Access to Ecobank’s venture capital partners for funding exploration.

Ade Ayeyemi, chief executive of the Ecobank Group, said tha bank “believes that the only way to transform financial services in Africa is for Pan-African banks like Ecobank to continually support and collaborate with innovative Fintechs and start-ups. We invite and welcome Africa’s best Fintechs to work with us through the 2022 Challenge.”

Dr Tomisin Fashina, operations and technology executive at Ecobank, said, “The uniqueness of the challenge is that it welcomes both early stage and mature start-up fintechs alike and seeks to align them with different kinds of partnership opportunities within Ecobank that match their differing levels of maturity.”

The Ecobank fintech challenge was designed in partnership with international advisory firm, Konfidants and is supported by partners across Africa and globally. So far, 46 fellows have been admitted into the Ecobank fintech fellowship programme since it was launched in 2017.

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