Ecobank Nigeria Opens Application For Fintech Challenge 5th Edition

Ecobank Nigeria, a commercial bank in the West African country, has launched the fintech challenge, fifth edition, and it is opening the doors of the competition to fintech founders in Africa. Through this competition, both matured and early-stage fintech companies stand the chance to go home with Fifty thousand US dollars,  ($50,000) and the opportunity to go into partnership with the bank in Thirty-three (33) African countries.

Application eligibility is based on being a functioning Fintech company or developer with citizenship from any of the Fifty-Four   (54) countries on the African continent. International fintech companies that are African-centered can also apply to partake in the challenge.

At the end of the challenge, there will be the induction of ten finalists into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship. The induction event is set to take place after the awards ceremony set for October 2022.

Making it to the finals and being inducted into the fellowship is said to come with the following opportunities which fellows can enjoy.

The fellows get to enjoy multinational product rollout, which means fellows can pursue a collaboration with Ecobank concerning any of its possibly launched products in the Ecobank Africa ecosystem.

There is also the Service Provider Partnership. this is the opportunity to be part of the fintechs selected to partner with the bank in the provision of its services in any of the 33 African nations where it functions.

Fellows get to  Acces Ecobank’s Pan-African Banking Sandbox, this lets them access the bank’s API for the testing and development of their own products targeted at the Pan-African mar

They will likewise enjoy Primacy access to Venture Capital partners of the commercial bank for exploration and possible funding.

Speaking about the challenge, Ade Ayeyemi, Ecobank Group CEO, stated,

“Ecobank believes that the only way to transform financial services in Africa is for Pan-African banks like Ecobank to continually support and collaborate with innovative Fintechs and start-ups. We invite and welcome Africa’s best Fintechs to work with us through the 2022 Challenge.”

Technology and Operations Executive, Ecobank bank Group, Tomisin Fashina, also said.“The uniqueness of the Challenge is that it welcomes both early stage and mature start-up Fintechs alike and seeks to align them with different kinds of partnership opportunities within Ecobank that match their differing levels of maturity.”

The deadline for applications is on the 16th September 2022.

Intrested fintech candidates can apply through the website.