Two Sierra Leonean innovators excel in Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2024

By Ishmael Sallieu Koroma

 This year, according to Ecobank Fintech Challenge, they received over 1550 global applicant from Fintech innovators globally. However, out of the 40 shortlisted for this year’s semi-finals were two Sierra Leonean Fintech innovators – Ing Soriebah Daffae Esq for his innovation, Monime and Salton Massallay for his Fintech innovation Mikashbox respectively.

Monime is a payment API infrastructure that helps small businesses and Fintech join the digital economy. It simples and consolidates digital payments enabling seamless connections with multiple payment providers and allowing businesses to get paid anywhere.

 Mikashbox is an app for community savings groups, helping the financially excluded manages finances. However users can save, borrow and build a financial profile to access a marketplace of new financial services.

Chief Executive Officer of Monime, Ing Soriebah Daffae Esq. said that it was an honour for him to be at the semifinals of the Ecobank Fintech challenge 2024 and to participate in the innovation challenge.

‘’ It’s an honour to be here. We are glad and more than happy to participate in innovation,’’ he said.  

He said the digital economy is very big, immense and its common adding that it’s already in Sierra Leone and other parts of the world, citing that Africa contributes to the world’s population but said SMEs’ have been excluded which he said, according to World Bank and other players contributes to 40% of the GDP’s of the continent and employ 70% of the continent’s work force.

 ‘’And so the average Fintech who wants to also start a business in the continent, in Sierra Leone you will have to take six months , one year to integrate on Afrimoney , Q- money , GT Bank , and Ecobank and all these banks to just start a small fintech,’’ Ing. Daffae said, but added there are opportunities in spite the challenges.

He went on to say that, Fintech has opportunities stating that nine out of ten transactions in the continent today are done by USSD adding that it is very important.

‘’What we're doing at Monime is to provide the infrastructure layer to allow you to integrate with all these players using a single integration. You can push money into this ecosystem, and you can retrieve money from all these ecosystems. So we do the dirty job. We go out integrate with all these players, but you can access all of them, and we've done that well with integrated players. Our clients range from government institutions like NACSA, or banks,’’Ing Daffae explained.

Chief Technical Officer Mikashbox, Salton Massallay expressed gratitude to Ecobank for organizing the Fintech challenge and their commitment to driving financial inclusion across the African continent which he said will foster innovation and education.

‘’I stand before you today to present to you Mikashbox to the semi –finals of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2024. First and foremost I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Ecobank for your commitment to driving the financial inclusion across Africa.  Your embrace of an ecosystem approach fosters education and innovation across the Fintech landscape and that sets you apart,’’ he said.

He said that banks create opportunities like this competition which Ecobank has organized by demonstrating deep understanding that real change comes from working together rather than in isolation adding this kind of partnership aligns with the mission and spirit of Mikashbox.

‘’ And for this, we were glad to be a part of this transformative journey with you. At Mikashbox, we believed that financial inclusion is not just about numbers, it’s not just about target you have set or that the government has set. It’s a fundamental right, the right to have access to financial services,’’Massallay added.

 ‘’Mikashbox is more than an app or a button, it’s a movement towards true financial inclusion,’’

In his brief statement, the Executive Director of Ecobank Sierra Leone and Head of Corporate Banking, Winston Williams, said that the Ecobank Fintech challenge is a Pan African initiative designed to support start-ups with innovative solutions addressing the needs of Africa and its diaspora adding that the challenge aims to identify fintech’s ready to scale by providing resources, funding and partnerships across Ecobank’s 35 affiliate market.

‘’ The challenge attracted 1, 550 global applicants, with 40 semifinalist selected to advance. Finalists stand to gain benefits such as multinational product roll out, partnerships, access to a Pan – African banking sandbox , and a 50,000 prize for the winner,’’ he said.

Mr. Williams added that, today’s semifinal was truly a special for all of them Eco bank Sierra Leone seeing two our Fintech start-ups advance to the semifinals of the Eco bank Fintech challenge fills him with immense pride.

‘’ To our semifinalists, your journey so far is a shining example of what determination, innovation and collaboration can achieve. We believe in you and are ready to support you every step of the way throughout the Fintech challenge,’’ Ecobank Executive director added.

However, the two Sierra Leoneans did not make it to the finals as 12 finalists were announced on Wednesday during an event organized at the Ecobank headquarters in Nigeria on the eve of the semifinals.

‘’We are excited to announce the 12 finalists for the #EcobankFintech2024! From a pool of over 40 Semifinalists, meet the emerging top 12 finalists who will compete for the ultimate cash prize of $50,000 at the Grand Finale on September 27, 2024 in Lome,’’ Ecobank said in a statement.