Four Nigerian fintech startups have been named among the 12 finalists of the Visa Everywhere Initiative in Subsaharan Africa. They are CredPal, Loystar. VoguePay and Growsel. These fintechs alongside innovation from Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, and Kenya were selected from a pool of 238 entries.
Other start-ups competing in the final are Howler powered by Glownet and FinChatBot from South Africa, M-Changa, Mookh, WayaWaya and LipaPlus from Kenya, Swipe2Pay from Uganda and Brig Africa from Zambia.
The selected fintechs who were asked to submit ideas on how to leverage Visa’s network and technologies to resolve against at least one of the challenges now visit Johannesburg, South Africa on July 24 to pitch their ideas.
A winner per brief or idea will be selected, with each receiving funding of US$25,000. Winners will be invited to a working meeting with Visa and may be presented with the opportunity to create a prototype. Visa will then select one overall winner to receive an additional US$25,000.
Geraldine Mitchley, Senior Director for Digital Solutions for Visa Sub Sahara Africa stated: “With over a hundred million dollars invested over the past ten years alone, the region’s Fintech industry is on the brink of a transformative breakthrough, and we believe the time is ripe to bring together its brightest minds and work on the next big idea in payments technology.”
The Visa’s Everywhere Initiative is a global innovation program that tasks start-ups to solve commerce challenges of tomorrow, further enhance their own product propositions and provide visionary solutions for Visa’s vast network of partners.
Meet the Nigerian startups
VoguePay
VoguePay a payment process and aggregator that makes multi-channel and cross-currency transactions safer and cheaper; and CredPal, which allows businesses and individuals to pay for purchases in installments across online and offline merchants are competing in the first challenge.
Commenting on VoguePay’s selection, Michael Simeon, Co-Founder and CEO said:“We are thrilled to be listed as a finalist at VISA’s first fintech Everywhere Initiative within Africa. We are proud to present the history and future innovation within VoguePay and represent the very best of Nigerian and African entrepreneurial spirit, technology, and passion.”
Loystar
Loystar is a customer loyalty and retail platform that enables retail merchants to sell their products and drive repeat sales in their business and is competing in the second challenge.
Growsel
Growsel, a solution that connects under-financed smallholder farms with investors through mobile phone-based P2P lending and marketplace sales is competing in the third challenge.
CredPal
CredPal offers easy financing to individuals, and the aggregate effect is to make Africa economically stronger for us all.
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