Catapult Inclusion Africa Heads For Dubai

15 startups were selected out of a total 400 applications to participate in the CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa camp (Photo © LHoFT)

Ten African fintech initiatives are headed for Dubai to participate in Luxembourg’s three-day inclusive finance fintech bootcamp.

The Luxembourg House of Financial Technology, LHoFT, whose foundation developed the CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa camp, said this year’s programme will feature expert speakers and mentors from Luxembourg and the UAE.

Ten startups were selected out of a total 130 applications to participate in the camp, where they will have a chance to meet potential partners, sponsors, investors, and representatives from microfinance institutions and public financial instruments.

“We are excited to deliver our Catapult program in Dubai, working with incredible local partners such as the DIFC and Fintech Hive as well as our key Luxembourg sponsor, The Directorate for Development and Humanitarian Aid,” said LHoFT CEO Nasir Zubairi.

Luxembourg economy minister and minister for development cooperation Franz Fayot (LSAP), said the initiative is an opportunity to support “game-changing inclusive finance ventures. It specifically targets companies that focus on financial inclusion in Africa and the MENA region, while leveraging Luxembourg’s Inclusive Finance and Fintech ecosystem.”

The 10 Selected Fintech Startups:

AKIBA

Established in Johannesburg, South Africa, in January 2018, Akiba is an alternative scoring that powers credit for small businesses and society. The startup uses alternative datasets to provide inclusive scores that allow lenders to score people and small businesses that cannot be reached by traditional credit bureaus – a problem that affects nearly 80 % of small businesses and individuals in Africa.

Find out more  → akibadigital.com

Damansah

Established in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in May 2019, Damansah is a digital entrepreneur companion, building an alternative credit scoring infrastructure that connects credit providers to small businesses and other thin file consumers easier, with technology to increase the growth rate of micro and small enterprises in Africa.

Find out more  → damansah.com

Social Lender

Established in Lagos, Nigeria, in February 2016, Social Lender offers financial services based on social reputation to individuals who are underbanked or have little or no access to formal financial services. The solution is designed to bridge the gap of immediate fund access for people with limited access to formal financial services. Social Lender uses its own proprietary algorithm to perform a social audit of the user on social media, online and other related platforms and gives a Social Reputation Score to each user. Financial Services are guaranteed by the user’s social profile and network allowing users to then borrow from banks and other financial institutions based on their social reputation.

Find out more  → sociallenderng.com

MamaMoni Limited

Established in Lagos, Nigeria, in February 2015, MamaMoni Limited issues micro loans for low-income female entrepreneurs in rural and urban areas in Nigeria, catering for those who ordinarily cannot be served by the formal credit system. They offer fast and simple loans that enable low-income women to build, grow and sustain their businesses. We also support them with digital and financial literacy training.

Find out more  → mamamoni.com.ng

eAgro

Established in Harare, Zimbabwe, in March 2020, eAgro uses data analytics and machine learning to create low-cost financial credit products tailored to unbanked and underserved farmers’ needs thus closing the critical gap between financial institutions such as banks, MFIs, contract farming organizations, government agencies etc… from availing financial products. We are pioneering financial inclusion for unbanked smallholder farmers in SADC. Through our proprietary algorithm, we are able to analyse relevant data sets and produce farmers’ financial health status that we use to help them improve their farming practices, and bolster their incomes over time through inclusive credit packages.

Find out more  → eagro.co.zw

eMaisha Pay

Established in Kampala, Uganda, in May 2019, eMaisha Pay is a mobile platform that leverages machine learning, alternative data and psychometric parameters to credit score SMEs in Africa, empowering them with quick, affordable and non-collateral working capital for business growth. The use of alternative data and advanced psychometric analytics is helping us to eliminate the information asymmetry, hence generating additional information to assess the credit risk of SMEs. Our credit scoring model makes it possible to serve SMEs that had no access to finance in the past. eMaisha Pay seeks to transform traditional lending process by automating customer on-boarding, loan origination, decisioning, disbursement and loan servicing tasks.

Find out more  → emaishapay.com

mOtito

Established in Accra, Ghana, in August 2021, mOtito is a “buy now, pay later” platform which provides interest-free credit at point-of-sale for the African market. Offering the convenience of payment plans gives businesses a huge advantage, increasing customer satisfaction and retention.

Find out more  → motito.co

Halal Payment

Established in Lagos, Nigeria, in November 2021, Halal is an all-inclusive digital payments service platform leveraging on Islamic banking system to provide shariah based financing for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to scale their businesses, create jobs, alleviate poverty and enhance economic productivity at large.

Find out more  → withhalal.com

VIRL Rural & Social Financial Services

Established in Harare, Zimbabwe, in February 2010, VIRL provides loans to small holder farmers, micro and small enterprises. VIRL has 5 loan products namely working capital, inputs, assets finance, value chain and life enhancement loans that target smallholder farmers, micro and small enterprises. With a staff compliment of 34 and with 6 branches mostly in rural areas, VIRL provides tailor-made loans that seek to enhance business operations and, in turn, improve livelihoods for rural communities and those in urban areas who would otherwise have no access to finding.

Find out more  → virlmicrofinance.co.zw

International Airtime Top Up

Established in Entebbe, Uganda, in October 2014, International Airtime Top Up is an inclusive ICT and Mobile Financial services company registered and operating in Uganda since 2014. It helps increase financial inclusion both locally and globally with simple, scalable and sustainable solutions. Through International Top Up Gateway (technology), the fintech combines cross network/border airtime, mobile money and bank low-cost transfers across the world with over 80 destination currencies supported. International Airtime Top Up service was among the Uganda Country Finalists 2019 at the (anti) DataHack4FI Innovation Award sponsored by MasterCard Foundation.

Find out more  → internationalairtimetopup.com

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