Deadline: 16-Sep-22

The Ecobank Fintech Challenge is open to all Fintechs on the African continent. Interested Fintechs can apply by sending details of their product as well as a demo.

Ecobank Fintech Challenge is a pan-African innovation competition and business partnership offering by Ecobank. It is designed to inspire, support and partner African Fintechs, with an aim to expand the reach of innovative Fintech and banking related products.

The Ecobank Fintech Challenge identifies and partners Fintechs that are ready to scale and provides them with support and access to opportunities in Ecobank’s 33 African markets. The goal? To contribute to their growth as potential Pan African Fintech success stories.

The Challenge offers opportunities for Fintechs to potentially integrate with Ecobank’s existing digital offerings. The existing digital offerings include Ecobank Omni, Ecobank electronic financial supply chain(eFSC), Ecobank Xpress, Ecobank Mobile APP or USSD, MasterPass™ QR, mVISA™ & mCash, etc. You can learn more about these platforms HERE. They’d like applicants to pitch them how your solutions can add value to these existing Ecobank digital offerings.

The Ecobank’d be happy to learn how you can help them solve problems around:

• Offline mobile to mobile payments (Dead Zones)
• Increasing the payment wallet size within the African context.

What kind of Solutions they are looking for?

Teams are to submit applications addressing one or more of the following challenges

• Customer experience
  • Improvement of customer experience both online and at the branch
  • Digital solutions using analytics/customer insights and AI to offer tailored adverts
  • Acceleration of resolution process
  • Digitization of customer journey
• Credit Scoring
  • Digital customer onboarding (Consumers, SME/Merchant, Investment Banking
  • Increasing the payment wallet size across their network
• Ecosystem aggregation
  • SME/Merchants onboarding on payment integration
  • Niche merchant aggregation
  • Provide easy access to non-smart phone users
• Financial Inclusion
  • Digital customer onboarding (Consumers, SME/Merchant, Investment Banking)
  • Increasing the payment wallet size across their network Ecosystem Aggregation
• Ecosystem Aggregation
  • SME/Merchants onboarding and payment integration
  • Niche merchant aggregation through tailored solutions per sector
  • Seamless access to Ecobank services for non-smart phone users
  • Facilitate mobile collections with merchants that enable synchronization and consolidation with their Xpress point system
• Internal tools
  • Digital solutions which improve sales force performance
  • Agency banking solutions that broaden their scope of services
• Payments
  • Offline mobile to mobile payments (Dead Zones)
  • Increasing the payment wallet size within the African context

or Any other relevant product categories.

Benefits

• Multinational product roll out:
  • Once in a lifetime opportunity to pursue integration with Ecobank and potentially launch products in Ecobank’s over 30 markets across Africa.
• Competition Cash prizes:
  • The ultimate winner will be awarded a cash prize of $50,000.
• Service provider partnerships:
  • Start-ups may be selected by Ecobank as local country-level partner in any of Ecobank’s 33 country ecosystem.
• Access to Ecobank’s Pan-African Banking Sandbox:
  • Fellows will be given access to a dedicated team to support on the Ecobank’s APIs test to enable them improve their products for the pan-African market.
• Mentoring and networking support:
  • Founders will be inducted as Ecobank Fintech Fellows, granting them access and relationships to a vast network of global and African Accelerators and potential Investors, referrals to Ecobank non-bank client ecosystem for potential partnerships, as well as mentors.
• Integration With Existing Ecobank Digital Offerings:
  • The Challenge offers opportunities for Fintechs to potentially integrate with Ecobank’s existing digital offerings.

Eligibility Criteria

• All Fintechs with an Africa-Focused or Africa relevant product are eligible to apply to the fintech challenge.

For more information, visit https://ecobankfintechchallenge.com/