Niger Launches $100M “Startup and Fintech” Competition Backed By World Bank
Ahamed Jidoud, Nigerien Minister of Finance, has officially launched the first edition of the “Startup and Fintech” competition in Niamey, an initiative of the agency for the Information Society (ANSI-governmental) through its “smart village project” (PVI) component and entirely financed by the World Bank.
Aissatou Dicko, Deputy Resident Representative of the World Bank in Niger, Mr. Ibrahim Guimba Seidou, Director General of the National Agency for the Information Society (ANSI), and Abdou Kané, Project Coordinator for the Smart Village (PVI) attended the launch event.
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The competition pits business proposals from national and international startups and fintechs, with the goal of stimulating the development of new digital financial products that contribute to Niger’s financial inclusion.
This competition is accessible to three types of candidates: startups or fintechs in the early stages of development, startups or mature fintechs, and startups or mature fintechs.
The World Bank has provided a 100 million dollar purse to support the competition. The State of Niger participates in this by exempting all goods and services from value added tax (VAT), as well as import and registration duties and taxes.
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By launching the competition, the Nigerien Minister of Finance emphasised that this effort is in line with the President of the Republic of Niger’s “Renaissance Act III” programme and the Government’s Declaration of General Policy (DPG) led by Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou.
In this regard, Niger’s treasurer reminded that axis 5 of the DPG states that “the development of economic infrastructures, in particular through the digital opening up of Niger’s administrative villages, the promotion of the use of e-services in urban and rural areas to boost financial inclusion, the creation of an environment favourable to the local development of digital content, and support for local start-ups.”
Jidoud further stated that “The application of new technologies, particularly Big Data, artificial intelligence, Blockchain, and biometrics, has a very good impact on the popularisation of science and technology, which is essential for progress. today’s possibilities “.
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According to the Minister of Finance, Niger is adamant about establishing the institutional structure necessary to increase financial inclusion.
“This is how the SE-SNFI was established, with the ambition of achieving a financial inclusion rate of 38% by the end of 2023, compared to 23% in 2016,” recalled the government member before adding that “to achieve this, digital technologies, namely Mobile Money, e-commerce, electronic wallets, and all fintech applications must be implemented.”
According to the World Bank Representative, Sub-Saharan Africa is witnessing a considerable increase in the use of financial services, with 55.1% in 2022 compared to 42.6% in 2021.
“These estimates are much higher in the WAEMU zone, where more than 65% of the population in countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, Benin, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire will have access to financial services by 2022.”
According to Ibrahim Guimba, Director General of ANSI, the goal of the PVI project through this competition is “to be able to stimulate and support company creators to build apps and services targeted towards digital financial inclusions.”
According to PVI Coordinator Abdou Kané, “this competition, which will have a broad international echo, is an opportunity for our national fintch to enhance their technical abilities by interacting with sector professionals.”
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Candidates have until November 21, 2022, from the start of the competition, to submit their applications, with the grant being awarded in December 2022.
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Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh