Earlier this year we had Innotribe return to Africa for startup ventures in its third edition. During the applications, Innotribe had startups from 16 countries apply, this summing up to around applications. After the careful selections, 10 startups have been selected to pitch their companies at SWIFT’s African Regional Conference in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on May 17.
“It is a pleasure for us to see the number of African startups applying to our programme growing year after year. Their calibre continues to impress, and there is no doubt they are going to play an important role in shaping the future of finance,” said Fabian Vandenreydt, global head of securities markets at Innotribe and the SWIFT Institute at SWIFT.
Tthe audience is expected to vote for the best three best startups, that will be selected after the pitches. They will be invited to Sibos, SWIFT’s annual global financial services conference, which takes place in October in Toronto, and will also receive a US$10,000 cash prize each.
“The Startup Challenge is an enriching experience for all participating companies. They benefit from expert mentoring and get that much-needed exposure to financial institutions. We look forward to collaborating with another bunch of talented startups, and start this year’s journey in Abidjan.”
The African Startups selected were: Ghanaian identity verification service Inclusiveft, Cameroonian Fintech company Ovamba, Kenyan merchant’s platform Sokowatch, and Rwandan payments startup VugaPay, three startup’s from Nigeria, namely P2P lending platform FINT, payments startup IroFit, and invest-tech startup Releaf, as well as three from South Africa: financial inclusion service FinChatBot, farmer insurance platform Mobbisurance and security service ThisIsMe.
