Local fintech startup is one of ten southern African startups to receive $5,000 in grants from the World Bank as part of the institution's Fintech Challenge aimed at helping underserved entrepreneurs in the region get their businesses investment ready to boost their access to markets, improve business networks and open up new investment opportunities.
The challenge was part of the ecosystem development initiatives under the Southern Africa Innovation Bridge Portal supported by the World Bank to crowd-source new and impactful ways to utilise the latest innovations in fintech.
“The region’s most innovative and impactful fintech companies unveiled their solutions to enable greater financial access to the poor, after an eight-week investment readiness program which included masterclasses and mentoring,” said Marie Francoise Marie-Nellie, World Bank Country Director for Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa. “Of the 15 participating startups, 10 were awarded financing. These businesses are investment ready and now eager to engage further with interested investors.”
The nine other funded startups include Abela , Bento Technologies, Fintr, Moya Money, Sum1 Investments, Thumeza from South Africa Chaperone, Prime Capital and Prime Capital from Lesotho, FundRoof from Namibia.