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Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, a leading Pan-African banking group, has announced that three winners have emerged in the maiden edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge.

The Lome-based bank said the winners emerged from a batch of 20 finalists selected from across Africa, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

The three winning start-ups are all of Nigerian origin. IroFit, which was named as the Top Innovator, impressed judges with ZirooPay mPOS – a pioneering product that makes real-time financial payments possible without the need for an internet connection. The product differs from regular ‘offline’ payments where transaction details are stored locally and reconciled when the data connection is restored. IroFit won a cash price of $10,000.

Kudi Inc, whose product Kudi.AI enables payments via chats and uses data analytics to remind customers when their bills are due. The startup was named first runner up with a cash prize of $7,000.  

Paylater, which has been developed by One Finance, allows customers to get loans of up to $1,500 with just a data connection and a smartphone. It was named second runner-up with a cash prize of $5,000.

“As the leading Pan-African bank, Ecobank is committed to transforming the banking sector and promoting financial inclusion through innovation,” said Ade Adeyemi, Ecobank’s Group CEO. “Fintech is the catalyst to achieve these objectives; that is why we are committed to investing in the African fintech industry to drive this agenda. It’s a win for the fintech start-ups, the bank, and Africa.”

Ecobank launched the competition earlier in January and the contest was open to start-ups and developers from across all 54 African countries. The bank said it received over 850 entries pouring in from all over Africa, as well as Europe, North America and Australia.
The entries were whittled down to 20 finalists, who were each invited to showcase exhibitions about their products at the Innovation Fair & Awards 2017, held at the global headquarters of Ecobank in Lomé, Togo on June 21, 2017.

The judges included Kenn Lisudza, Head of Global Delivery, Cellulant Kenya; Tomisin Fashina, Group Chief Information Officer and MD of Ecobank eProcess International; Dele Nedd, Managing Director/CEO Descasio; Ashley Lewis, Investment Officer, West Africa, Accion Venture Lab; and Femi Olaloku, Senior Advisor, Digital Banking, Ecobank Group.

All 20 finalists were inducted into the one-year Ecobank Innovation Fellowship programme, which provides start-up funding worth up to $500,000 to any start-up that meet Ecobank’s investment criteria.

The fellowship also provides multinational product roll-out across Ecobank’s operations in 33 countries, service provider partner deals within Ecobank’s country ecosystem, and mentoring and networking support from Ecobank’s vast global network of technology leaders, fintech experts, investors and management coaches.

“We believe in Africa, we believe in the capability of African innovators and the private sector to drive Africa’s transformation,” said Eddy Ogbogu, Ecobank’s Group Executive for Operations and Technology. “That is why we are committed to invest in Africa’s innovators to drive our transformation - a true pan-African success story.”