Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2024 for Startups – Opportunity Desk

Deadline: July 7, 2024

Applications are open for the Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2024. The Ecobank Fintech Challenge is a Pan-African innovation competition powered by Ecobank Transnational Incorporated. It is designed to identify, support and partner impressive African Fintechs to grow and scale their Fintech innovations across the African continent and globally.

Solutions submitted to the Challenge must address at least one of the following pain points:

• Customer experience
  • Improvement of customer experience both online and at physical branches
  • Digital solutions using analytics/customer insights and AI to offer tailored adverts
  • Acceleration of resolution process
  • Digitization of customer journey
• Credit Scoring
  • Provision of credit
  • KYC
  • Digitization of credit history evaluation
  • Credit utilization ratio evaluation
• Financial Inclusion
  • Digital customer onboarding (Consumers, SME/Merchant, Investment Banking)
  • Seamless access to Ecobank services for non-smartphone users
  • Affordability of financial services to the unbanked and underbanked
• Ecosystem Aggregation
  • SME/Merchants onboarding and payment integration
  • Niche merchant aggregation through tailored solutions per sector
  • Facilitate mobile collections for merchants that enable synchronization and consolidation with Ecobank’s Xpress point system
• Internal tools
  • Digital solutions that improve sales performance
  • Agency banking solutions that broaden our scope of services
  • Risk management, cheque fraud prevention, and cybersecurity strategies
• Payments
  • Offline mobile-to-mobile payments (Dead Zones)
  • Increasing payment wallet size within the African context
  • Automate nearly every payables process
• Digital Banking
  • Neo-banking
  • Banking-as-a-Service
  • Savings and micro-investment

Eligibility

• All Fintechs with relevant financial products for Africa are eligible to apply to the Ecobank Fintech Challenge.
• You can enter more than one fintech product in the competition. However, each product you apply with must be distinct. You should not submit two products in one application form. Each of your products must be entered as a separate application.
• You can participate in the Challenge if your fintech is not based in Africa. However, you must have an Africa-focused financial product.

Application

Applications can be submitted in either English or French. To be considered for the Ecobank Fintech Challenge you must meet the eligibility criteria and submit a completed application.

Click here to apply

For more information, see FAQ and visit Ecobank Fintech Challenge.