Winners of the Virtual Africa Hackathon 2020, organized by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), have emerged.
The three winners were as announced by CBK are SME Credit Pro from Cameroon, Miza A2F Platform from the United Arab Emirates/Tunisia, and MobiCash from Libya.
As the overall winner, SMECreditPro will participate at the Global Fintech Hackcelerator at the Singapore Fintech Festival Scheduled for December 2020.
“The top three winners were selected after a rigorous evaluation process that saw 15 shortlisted finalists pitch their solutions to an experienced panel of judges on the Demo Day on August 31, 2020,” said CBK in a statement.
The Hackathon was launched on July 31, 2020, inviting applicants to provide solutions to 40 identified problems in the Healthcare, Digital Payments, Economic Recovery and General categories. These problems aptly related to the challenges and opportunities posed by the health and economic dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The solutions presented included financing of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), cash transfers to vulnerable groups, enhancing agriculture value chains and COVID-19 contact-tracing.
These solutions when scaled up will play an important role, not only in the context of the pandemic but also in contributing to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The theme of the Hackathon was “Harnessing Fintech in addressing COVID19 effects on healthcare, digital payments, and economic recovery,” according to CBK.
The SFF, the world’s largest fintech event, is convened by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The 15 finalists will benefit from training, mentorship, and collaboration opportunities from some of the Hackathon’s partners.
SMECreditPro was established with the aim of making credit easily accessible SMEs. The company provides free business credit scores, free credit management tools, educational resources, low cost credit improvement advice, free tax advice, and other free and discounted services to SMEs.
