Pan African bank Ecobank Group have named six finalists who will compete for the top prize in its fifth edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge. The final event is set to happen at Ecobank Pan African Centre in Lomé, Togo, on Friday, 28 October 2022.

There were reportedly over 700 entries from more than 59 countries for the competition. The six fintechs that have qualified as finalists are Cauri Money -Senegal, DizzitUp- Togo, MaishaPay – Democratic Republic of Congo, Moni Africa -Nigeria, Paycode -South Africa, Touch and Pay – Nigeria.

Ecobank Fintech Challenge focuses on finding fintechs that have scalable products/solutions. The winners get access to 33 countries where the bank is operational, and all finalists are inducted into the fellowship program run by Ecobank. Additionally, there is also an opportunity for the selected finalists to explore funding through Ecobank VC partners.

Tomisin Fashina, Ecobank group executive: operations and technology, said: “I am impressed by the growing number of applications for the Ecobank Fintech Challenge. Applications have grown from about 412 applications in 2018 to over 700 in 2022. This demonstrates a definite paradigm shift within the African continent, with Africans’ desire to transform technological innovation into a real lever for socio-economic development.

“We thank all applicants for their participation and applaud the highly impressive quality of their entries. We look forward to partnering with them for their ground-breaking digital financial solutions to our continent’s unique challenges and to help promoting financial inclusion on the continent.”