Come Meet The Game Changers

Fintech Startup Accelerator is about to reach the end of its climax of its 16-week programme that commenced in December 2022. The 16 fintech startups that were initially enrolled from the beginning of the programme, went through an intensive venture studio to hone the startups to now having 11 strong fintech startup teams. The entrepreneurs will be battling for investment for their fintech startups in the Eagles ring on the 15^th of March at Sandton, Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

Game changers are the disruptors of the ecosystem, the people who do the unthinkable, unreasonable and the impossible. On the 15^th of March these game changers will be showcasing, pitching to investor, graduating from the programme and they will be networking with industry jargons in the ecosystem. These entrepreneurs have worked on their startups for more than 16 weeks, some of them it has been years and they don’t give-up because they are game changers who came to disrupt and provide financial inclusion for all. 

It has been a journey and a fruitful one indeed, entrepreneurs learnt a lot during this programme, and they can’t stop talking about how the programme has helped their fintech startup and they can’t wait to show the world and judges what they have been working on, with new changes that they implemented during the programme. Of course, they did have challenges and that kept them going, they have learnt from those mistakes on how to improve their solutions, Alec Shembe, founder of FineTrade commented during the programme and said he learnt how to use mathematics and probability to predict financial outcomes for his startup.

Fintech Startup Accelerator is Africa’s premier venture studio designed to build and scale high-impact iconic fintech startups. This organization understands that technology is rapidly changing, innovation and business at the speed of thought is the name of the game. We cannot deny that there is still a gap in the market where billions of people who still do not understand what is going on with this fast technology that is taking place, which includes the township and rural economy. Kyle Maganyi, co-founder of Streamz pay has a startup that closes a gap between technology and informal traders in the township economy. 

There are thousands of entrepreneurs who are building solutions that bring financial inclusion for all, with less rates and most of these entrepreneurs do not have resources and tools to distribute their solutions. Fintech startup Accelerator is raising a hand up to show support to these entrepreneurs so that they build iconic fintech startups with the help of INSETA, Entreprenerdy and other stakeholders. 

During the 16-weekof the programme, they have engaged on many topics, they met amazing entrepreneurs and they got great feedback from the judges when they were graduating from the 21-day bootcamp on the 31^st of January 2023. Industry experts were giving masterclasses and coaching sessions to the fintech entrepreneurs. We had speakers from ABSA, Nedbank, Floatpays, INSETA, Wesolve4x and Sango Capital just to name a few, giving entrepreneurs their know-how when it comes to the fintech ecosystem and how they can attract investment and investors for their fintech startups. 

These entrepreneurs are ready to take the world by storm as they will be building their fintech startups to the next level. They also had a 3-day workshop with Professor Albert van Niekerk who is a managing director and partner of AvN Coaching technologies, the workshop was about the Art and Science of Fundraising which Prof did with TIA (Technology Innovation Agency) a national entity whose mandate is to provide financial support to innovators and inventors. The startups were harnessing the tools of learning the fundamentals of getting funding, how to attract investors and learning the pros and cons when it comes to pitching to investors. I can concur that this was one of the sessions that the entrepreneurs enjoyed as they have stated that Prof played a major role in restructuring their logo designs. Lucky Litelu who is the founder and CEO of ICRD GROUP also highlighted during the programme the importance of building an ecosystem, that will depend on one another and help each other to build siliconic businesses in Africa. 

Primarily the programme worked closely in partnership with the speakers from different organisations who did an impeccable job in providing tools, resources, lifelong learning and the methodology to build high-impact iconic fintech startups. The entrepreneurs essentially came into the program with little direction but with this programme they learnt a lot from building future proof resilient businesses that will ultimately stand the long course. Some ideas were conceptualized during the programme, and they are grateful for that. One entrepreneur also commented and said that they have never been to a programme that is organized and cares for the entrepreneurs like this one. 

Fintech Startup Accelerator is inviting the Public, Private, Media and Government agencies to the grand finale on the 15^th of March at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in Sandon, South Africa to come meet the game changers of Africa as they showcase their fintech startups they have built. These entrepreneurs are not only building businesses that bring financial inclusion, but they are building businesses that will create employment and build the South African economy.