Jeremy Awori, CEO, Ecobank Group.

Ecobank, a pan-African banking company, is now accepting submissions for the seventh edition of its Fintech Challenge, with a top prize of $50 000.

The yearly competition welcomes early-stage and mature fintech businesses to partner with Ecobank for an opportunity to develop their solutions across the bank's network of 35 African countries.

Despite the fintech explosion on the African continent, a McKinsey analysis indicates that fintech start-ups in Africa continue to face a number of obstacles, including reaching scale, navigating an unpredictable regulatory environment, and managing finance scarcity.

The Ecobank Fintech Challenge offers fintech entrepreneurs the opportunity to address these challenges and benefit not only from financial rewards but also the bank’s expertise in diverse market operations. It also offers solutions to help them scale their businesses across Ecobank's extensive pan-African network and international markets, such as France.

“Building partnerships with fintechs is a catalyst for driving financial inclusion in Africa. At Ecobank, we prioritize fintechs in our growth, transformation, and returns strategy,” says Jeremy Awori, CEO of Ecobank Group.

He adds: “We have enhanced this new edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge to continue to provide fintech entrepreneurs with a premier platform to showcase groundbreaking solutions, while creating unparalleled opportunities for growth and expansion across 35 markets in Africa.”

Ecobank Fintech Fellows will gain access to various opportunities through collaboration with Ecobank and its partners, potentially including:

• Multinational product rollout: The opportunity to integrate their solutions with Ecobank, which could lead to product launches across its pan-African network.
• Service provider partnerships: Selected fintechs may become pan-African service partners within the bank’s ecosystem.

• Access to Ecobank’s pan-African Banking Sandbox: Fellows will have access to Ecobank’s APIs, enabling them to test and develop their products for the pan-African market.
• Priority access to Ecobank’s venture capital partners for funding exploration.

Since inception, 60 fintech startups have been inducted into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship.

Interested parties can find out more about the competition and submit their applications through the official website. The deadline for entries is 7 July 2024.