The Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT) has announced the 15 fintech startups that have been selected to participate in the fifth edition of the CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa program.
The startup acceleration bootcamp is slated to take place in Luxembourg between 24th and 28th October 2022.
Developed by the LHoFT Foundation and sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign & European Affairs – Directorate for Development and Humanitarian Affairs, the program targets companies focusing on financial inclusion in Africa, aiming to build bridges with Luxembourg’s Microfinance and broader finance industry while highlighting their initiatives in alignment with the sustainability goals of Luxembourg’s finance center.
The 15 Fintech startups are:
- AFRICRED (Mali)
- AgrixTech (Cameroon)
- Alajo (Nigeria)
- ChapChap Africa (Uganda)
- ComGrow (Zambia)
- Radava Mercentile (Kenya)
- Hello Tractor (Kenya)
- Kayko (Rwanda)
- Lami Insurtech (Kenya)
- Nkwa (Cameroon)
- Proxalys (Senegal)
- Servichain (Luxembourg)
- Sosocare (Nigeria)
- Yalla Solutions (Egypt) and
- DanAid (Cameroon).
This year, the CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa program received a record number of quality applications – over 400. The process for the selection committee to choose just 15 participants was lengthy and difficult given the high standard of the applications.
This 5th edition of CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa will once again leverage Luxembourg’s Inclusive Finance and Fintech ecosystem to support selected firms in developing their businesses and achieving their inclusion goals. The LHoFT team will be joined by key partners from Ada, Infine, Luxembourg for Finance, the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), the European Investment Bank (EIB), Luxembourg Microfinance and Development Fund, Bamboo Capital Group, Double Feather Partners, SPTF, LuxDev, Business Partnership Facility, ACRC, Compelio, and more, who will be working with the cohort throughout the program.
CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa provides a tailor-made program with intensive mentoring, coaching, peer to peer learning and dedicated workshops for the selected Fintech startups. The program will include sessions on business model mapping, investment readiness, funding and capital raising, social impact, scaling strategy, building teams, operational management, advisory meetings with investors, and pitch development. Several alumni of previous year’s programs will travel to Luxembourg to share their experiences, delivering educational sessions and mentoring to the 2022 cohort.
In addition, for this year, the selected firms will actively participate in the Arch Summit on 26 and 27 October. The Summit organisers, Tomorrow Street (Vodafone) have centered the Summit’s program around three core themes: Digital Society – connecting people, communities, and things for a smarter digital lifestyle; Inclusion – enabling an accessible digital future for all; and Planet – reducing environmental impact and achieving a sustainable future.
