BUSINESS
USAID Sponsors 6th Alpha Expo Mini Accelerator, Pitch Competition At 10th Africa Fintech Summit
…12 Startups Selected for Pitching”
The 10th Africa Fintech Summit (AFTS) is set to be hosted at the Marriott Ciela Resort in Lusaka, Zambia on the 2nd and 3rd of November, 2023.
BIGPEN NIGERIA (https://bigpenngr.com) reports that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been announced as the Sponsor for the 6th Alpha Expo Mini Accelerator & Pitch Competition, an integral part of the Summit.
According to a press release issued to the media, the sponsorship follows the US Government’s Prosper Africa’s ‘Tech for Trade Alliance’ initiative, unveiled at the 9th AFTS in Washington DC.
The initiative’s mission is to expedite e-commerce and digital trade across Africa, while tackling legal, regulatory, and logistical impediments present in the continent.
In a keenly contested selection process involving hundreds of applications from across the continent, twelve early-stage startups were selected to present their groundbreaking digital innovations to an independent panel of judges on November 3rd.
The startups, including Bosso, Get Equity, Koloso, Kutoa, Loop, Mytalu, Power, Save & Remit Services, SaveApp, TradeLenda, YNA Kenya, and Zambezi Capital, will be vying for cash awards sponsored by USAID for the top three competitors.
Since its inception in 2018 at AFTSLagos in Nigeria, the AlphaExpo pitch competition has seen over 50 startups from 13 different countries participate, with past participants collectively securing over $200M in funding from investors such as Google, Coinbase, Block, Mastercard, and IBM.
Zekarias Amsalu, Co-Founder of AFTS and MD of Ibex Frontier, expressed profound gratitude to USAID for their support of the Alpha Expo Mini Accelerator Pitch Competition. He noted that USAID’s backing aligns strategically with the ‘Tech for Trade Alliance’ initiative, as the participating startups join the alliance in addressing the digital, gender, and financial divide in Africa, and paving the way for financial inclusion.
The summit, tagged as #AFTSLUSAKA2023, is also supported by a diverse group of partners. Honorable Minister Felix C. Mutati of the Ministry of Technology & Science of Zambia is slated to deliver a keynote speech.
Other supporters include Mastercard, Flutterwave, Ecobank, Multigate, Chipper Cash, MDP, Fivewest, PAPSS, Cellulant, Premier Credit, FonBnk, Fincra, Smile ID, Klasha, FSD Africa, Termii, OneLiquidity, Yellow Card, MMLP, Waya, Founders Factory Africa, and more.
Tickets for the AFTS in Lusaka, Zambia are currently available for purchase. More information and registration details can be found at http://africafintechsummit.com/.
Delegates can avail a 25% discount on AFTS tickets using the code AFTS25Sponsor during checkout.
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