SmartWage, a South African fintech startup, has been named the winner of the VivaTech AfricArena competition.
As a result of the win, the startup has been rewarded with a trip to VivaTech Paris in 2021, one of Europe’s biggest startup and tech events.
Founded in February 2020, SmartWage is an accessible wage-access software.
The team is focused on making an impact and aim to eradicate the poverty payday cycle by giving employees access to what they have earned in a responsible way.
Simon Ellis, CEO and co-founder of SmartWage, told AfricArena “We’re incredibly excited about the future for SmartWage – and we’re confident we have a product that the market in South Africa desperately needs.
“We have a 98% user retention rate, and we celebrate the fact that every time someone uses our product, it saves them the risk and cost of taking an expensive payday loan.
“This win has further validated our business model, and the impact we’ll make on millions of employees across the country”.
SmartWage has had an average of 72% month on month user growth since inception, and now has access to more than 50,000 employees across South Africa.
VivaTech 2021 will play host to over 3,300 investors from around the globe and counts Jack Ma (Alibaba co-Founder), Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft), and Mark Zuckerberg (CEO and founder of Facebook) as past speakers.
