Village Capital, in partnership with The Mastercard Foundation and The Doen Foundation announced its three-month program to support early-stage entrepreneurs innovating in financial technology to increase financial health and improve livelihoods for low-income populations.
Village Capital is recruiting entrepreneurs across Sub Saharan Africa for the business development program, which will take place in Nairobi, Lagos and Accra.
At the end of the program, two early-stage businesses will be selected by the other entrepreneurs in their cohort to win $100,000 total in funding.
Village Capital, The MasterCard Foundation, and the DOEN Foundation are seeking to identify and support the next generation of FinTech entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa. These entrepreneurs are innovating in financial technology to increase financial health and improve livelihoods for low-income populations. Examples of this type of initiative include:
Increasing the access, relevance, and affordability of savings, credit, payments, and insurance products through leveraging data analytics, blockchain technology, and digital identity verification;
Increasing efficiency in supply chains and distribution channels across sectors through better market access, increased price transparency, increased connections to new suppliers, and access to other decision-driving market information; and/or
Enhancing livelihoods of low-income small business owners through tools for value-chain tracking, smart logistics, business insurance, working-capital loans, and financial management tools to better handle risk and volatility.
Village Capital puts entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and stakeholders side-by-side, so they can solve problems together. The Village Capital Fintech Africa 2016 program will support entrepreneurs addressing these issues through technology, and will provide the entrepreneurs with business development training to develop their financials, pitch, sales pipeline, and other aspects. Entrepreneurs will also have one-on-one time with mentors, industry experts, investors, top local business leaders, and potential customers.
