The 2017 African Fintech Unconference brought together innovators, thought leaders, industry regulators, telcos, banks and other established financial players in the emerging fintech sector in a way that enables fintech companies to engage in smarter partnerships in a fast-moving industry that is ripe for consolidation.
This year’s theme was “Mapping the African Fintech Landscape.” The programming is fluid but supported by three sub-themes to organise the breakout discussions. These tracks are:
- Creating valuable partnerships between fintech innovators
- Building business to business (B2B) partnerships with financial service providers
- Creating consumer trust in digital financial services and products
The African Fintech Unconference is an event driven by the agenda of African fintech innovators and entrepreneurs, focusing on their reality and challenges. It is the brainchild of the partners, FIBR and Nomanini. Nomanini first approached the FIBR team in 2016 with an event concept that was designed with the African fintech innovator in mind. FIBR expanded upon that vision by creating a program that would engender partnerships with the different groups of actors in the dynamic financial services ecosystem.
Attendees to the unconference also included: The MasterCard Foundation, Branch.co (who offer micro-financing and credit to emerging markets easily and fast without the barriers of traditional micro-finance) and Ecobank among many others. Some of the other Kenyan firms present were Lendable, PayGo Energy, Umati Capital, Interpay, Musoni, Sokowatch, Farmdrive and Rafode Ltd.
