About the Challenge

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 is open to all Fintechs on the African continent. Interested Fintechs can apply by sending details of their product as well as a demo here. These products must address one or more of a specific set of pain points which can be found here.


The selected finalists participate in the Ecobank Fintech Innovation Fair, with the top 3 finalists winning cash prizes. All finalists are inducted into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship, which affords them the opportunity to explore deals, integration and commercial partnership with the Ecobank Group.

What's in it for you: Benefits and Opportunities

Become a finalist; get inducted as an Ecobank Fintech Fellow and stand a chance to explore the following opportunities:

Once in a lifetime opportunity to pursue integration with Ecobank and potentially launch products in Ecobank’s over 30 markets across Africa.
The top three winners at the Challenge will be awarded $15,000, $12,000 and $10,000 cash prizes respectively.
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.
Access to Partner Network
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 as well as mentors.
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. We’d like applicants to pitch us how their solutions can add value to these existing Ecobank digital offerings.

Applicant's Journey

1

August - Late September 2021

Apply

2

Late September 2021

Get
Shortlisted

3

Mid October 2021

Upload product
for sandbox evaluation

4

Early November 2021

Become
a finalist

5

Late November 2021

Pitch at
Challenge event/win
cash

6

Late November 2021

Get
Inducted into Ecobank
Fintech Fellowship

7

November 2021 - April 2022

Explore Integration &
commercial partnership
opportunities with
Ecobank Group

Background

Pain-Points: What we’re looking for

We are looking for futuristic and innovative Fintech products in the following areas:
  • 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
Financial Inclusion
We welcome cutting-edge solutions capable of improving the lending process to SMEs:
  • Digital customer onboarding (Consumers, SME/Merchant, Investment Banking)
  • Increasing our payment wallet size across our network
We welcome cutting-edge solutions capable of improving the lending process to SMEs:
  • 360° view on customers and prospects' financial activities with other FIs
  • Digitzation of the lending journey for SMEs
Ecosystem Aggregation
We are interested in dynamic innovations in the following areas:
  • 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 our Xpress point system
Internal tools
We are looking for:
  • Digital solutions which improve sales force performance
  • Agency banking solutions that broaden our scope of services
Payments
We’d be happy to learn how you can help us solve problems around:
  • Offline mobile to mobile payments (Dead Zones)
  • Increasing our payment wallet size within the African context
Any other relevant product categories
Any other solution that will revolutionize banking and payments in Africa.
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