Omnisient, a privacy-preserving data collaboration, has been awarded the globally recognised Finovate 2024 Excellence in Financial Inclusion Award. Omnisient was the only African fintech to be recognised as a leader in its category.
The US-based award honours both established institutions and rising stars who have made significant strides in delivering innovative and impactful products and services to the financial services sector. Each winner was selected from a group of finalists who have each demonstrated exceptional contributions to society and developed groundbreaking solutions that have reshaped the fintech landscape.
The Excellence in Financial Inclusion award specifically honours institutions that are making significant strides in providing financial access to underbanked and unbanked populations around the globe.
Omnisient beat US and international competition for this award for its innovative use of Privacy Enhancing Technologies and AI to enable financial services institutions to use retail shopping data to build AI models that can be used to predict loan repayment for people with no credit history. This has enabled leading banks in South Africa to qualify 3.2 million people for life-changing affordable loans who would have previously been declined due to lack of credit history.
“To be the only African company recognised by Finovate this year speaks volumes about the world-class solutions we’re delivering, particularly in unlocking financial services for the millions of underserved people in Africa,” said Jon Jacobson, CEO and co-founder of Omnisient.
“This award is validation of the work we’re doing to build a more inclusive financial system, and it’s especially meaningful to be recognised alongside some of the biggest names in global fintech.”
This is not the first time Omnisient has received international recognition for the impact its technology is having on growing financial inclusion. In 2023, the company was selected as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, was awarded Fast Company’s “Next Big Things in Tech”, as well as selected as one of the only two African early-stage start-ups to be invited by TechCrunch to participate in their Battlefield 200 competition in San Fransisco.
This award caps off a series of significant milestones for Omnisient. Last month, the company announced that it had secured $7.5 million in Series A funding from Arise, an investment aimed at driving financial inclusion across Africa.
