The second stage of the Africa Fintech roadshow was held on Thursday 19 July at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Benin (CCIB). Intended to share the opportunities and innovations of the market, the event deals more specifically with the theme “Fintech, beyond payment”. The opportunity to take stock of the success stories of the region.
The regional Fintech ecosystem, made up of telecom and banking players, but also experts and investors, discusses a panel of discussions ranging from big-data to blockchain, cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. , insurtech (insurance technology) or regtech (regulatory technology).
State of play
The young shoots have had the opportunity to make themselves known and to present their innovations. About ten selected Beninese start-ups, the best will have the opportunity to represent his country in a final that will bring together the 10 participants in the Africa Fintech program (Benin, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali, Burkina-Faso, Niger, Togo, Guinea, Cameroon and Ghana). This is the first time that such a conference on financial technologies has been held in West Africa. A laggard in digital development, the French-speaking West African countries, faced with booming Anglo-Saxon neighbors, are still home to innovative start-ups in the field of online payment systems. The opportunity to take stock of the best Fintech innovations developed in the area.
Afrimarket, the king of cash-to-goods to Africa
Country: France, to Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali, Cameroon, Benin
Year of creation: 2013
Founder: Jérémie Stoss, François Sevaistre and Rania Belkahia
The company offers the first “cash-to-goods” cash transfer, ie the use of cutting-edge technology for the African diaspora, allowing direct payment of all health, education and food expenses. in Africa, from abroad thanks to a voucher system. The client connects to the site, chosen from Afrimarket partners (supermarkets, bookstores, pharmacies, clinics, etc.) and designates a beneficiary to whom he wishes to send the voucher. The customer’s close will receive an SMS notifying the sending of money in the point of sale. Afrimarket raised 13 million funds and today has more than 30,000 customers, the start-up joined the Orange group in 2015.
What innovation?
The consumer secures his remittances and ensures the receipt of vouchers for Africans. The service makes it possible to obtain qualitative products and avoids the losses of money between the countries of destination and Africa.
Infinity Space, the WeCashUp mobile payment solution for the unbanked
Country: Cameroon, France and Kenya
Year of creation: 2010
Founder: Cédric Atangana
Born in Douala, Infinity Space is a start-up of Fintech social innovation that has grown in Kenya and is now headquartered in Marseille. The start-up is specialized in providing online payment solutions for unbanked people and therefore deprived of online payment. 800 million of them are based in Africa, however, the majority of these people own mobile phones, hence the goal of taking up this challenge and working to enable people from these regions to be part of the wave of business that drives the world today and that will create the next generation of social innovation in the future. The young company has developed an extension at the Innovation Center (iHub) in Nairobi, Kenya, as well as in Cameroon and is also targeting the Chinese market.
What innovation?
This service combines different areas of digital payment. It is positioned both in the niche of online commerce and mobile secure payment. Many synergies exist between these two services, and it is in this that we can observe the strong potential of the startup that also offers a crowdfunding service.
Paydunya: The Senegalese platform for interoperability of digital payment means
Country: Senegal
Year of creation: 2015
Founder: Aziz Yerima
In Senegal, 90% of the inhabitants own a mobile phone but the rate of banking is only 21% of the population, according to a report of the ministry in charge of the budget published in 2017. This Senegalese start-up created in 2015 develops secure and digital payment solutions for paying on websites, mobile applications or non-commercial sites like the social network marketplaces on which individuals sell their products. The founder has developed two products; a service for websites and mobile applications to integrate on their platform an online payment solution and a secure online payment solution service for non-merchant sites.
What innovation?
A new technology allowing Internet users to pay directly on online platforms whether they are market or non-market. Its strong point is the optimization of the interface between sellers and online buyers and facilitates the development of the industry by creating a bond of trust between users. The start-up facilitates new digital opportunities for other entrepreneurs who can in turn make their applications profitable with this payment solution.
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