The Pan-African Ecobank Banking Group invites African entrepreneurs in Fintech to register for the 3rd edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge. It is a competition that offers African startups the opportunity to promote their financial technology solutions and possibly partner with Ecobank to deploy these solutions throughout the Ecobank network, in 33 countries in Africa but also in France.
“As a banking group we continue to be impressed by the way Fintechs are transforming the banking sector in Africa. We look forward to discovering the new innovations and partnership opportunities that will mark the 2020 edition,”Ecobank Group Chief Operating Officer Eddy Ogbogu said.
Here Is All You Need To Know
- The invitation is to all startups and developers from 54 African countries to submit their registrations to participate in the Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2020 at the following address: https://www.Ecobank.com/Fintechchallenge.
- All Finalists will benefit from a mentorship program. They will participate in a training camp, followed by an Award Ceremony and an Innovation Fair at the headquarters of the Ecobank Group in Lomé in Togo in June 2020.
- The Ecobank Fintech Challenge was initiated in partnership with the consultancy Konfidants and benefits from the support of several partners in Africa and around the world.
What Fintech Startups Stand To Benefit
- Fintechs will be able to benefit from several opportunities including:
The deployment of their products on a multinational scale: an opportunity to carry out system integrations with Ecobank and possibly launch products throughout the Group’s Pan-African network - Establishing a service partnership: Ecobank can select startups as a pan-African service partner from its banking ecosystem.
- Access to the Pan-African Platform for Developers – Sandbox: members will obtain access to the APIs of Ecobank to test and improve their products before their introduction on the Pan-African market.
- The possibility of participating in the mentoring program dedicated to Fintechs, support for development and integration into the network of the Group’s global and African partners.
“The Ecobank Fintech Challenge as well as the Mentoring program have been redesigned to bring more added value to Ecobank and Fintech. We have collected opinions on previous editions. One of the main innovations this year will be the possibility for pre-selected Fintechs to access our API interfaces through our Pan-African platform for developers – Sandbox,”Senior Fintech Advisor at Ecobank, Ms. Djiba Diallo said.
How To Apply
- To find out more about the challenge, its advantages and how to register, visit the competition website at https://www.Ecobank.com/Fintechchallenge.
- Contest registrations will close on April 12, 2020.
About the Ecobank Fintech Challenge:
The Ecobank Fintech Challenge is an annual competitive program organized for Fintechs to enable them to exploit the market integration opportunities offered by the Ecobank Group. Launched in 2017, the Competition totals two editions and is in its third edition.
About Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (‘ETI’ or ‘Le Groupe’):
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (‘ETI’) is the parent company of the Ecobank Group, the leading independent pan-African banking group. The Ecobank Group employs more than 15,000 people serving around 20 million customers in the personal banking, commercial banking and large customer banking sectors in 33 African countries. The Group has banking authorization in France and has representative offices in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Johannesburg in South Africa, Beijing in China, London in the United Kingdom and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The Group offers a full range of banking products, services and solutions, notably bank and deposit accounts, cash management, advice, trading operations, trading in securities and wealth management. ETI is listed on several stock markets, namely London Stock Exchange in London, Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos, Ghana Stock Exchange in Accra and the Regional Stock Exchange in Abidjan.
For more information, please visit www.Ecobank.com
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer.
He could be contacted at udohrapulu@gmail.com