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Fintech and its Future for Africa
Written by Abax Focus
Fintech is probably the most overused word in the world of finance right now covering everything for crypto currencies to companies looking to reinvent themselves and adding fintech to their profile without understanding what it means. There are some similarities to the dotcom boom of the early 2000’s with many fintech companies chasing what seems like unlimited pools of investment and no doubt a vast amount of companies will fail but many will indeed disrupt and change many financial products and offerings.
Africa has a thriving but young fintech sector and the first index of the top 100 fintech companies in Africa has just been published. It is by no means a complete list of fintech companies operating in Africa; it does however for the first time show the countries and the sectors that the next generation of potentially African unicorns may come from.
Kenya and South Africa just by their size and connectivity provide the bulk of the entrants. However, Rwanda and Uganda are now emerging as hotbeds for fintech activity. Due to the constant movement of migrant workers and the large number of unbanked Africans, many fintech solutions are aimed at this market, allowing utility bills to be paid or even micro loans to allow new single owner businesses to flourish all using fintech solutions to educate and reach the end user. The key point to understand is that this segment of the market was largely ignored by traditional banking products as just unserviceable or unprofitable but the growth of fintech in Africa has tapped into and will continue to improve the lives of many African for years to come. For me the real challenge is the scalability of solutions. So can a micro lender in Kenya scale up by expanding into Uganda or Ghana or do the fintech solutions remain only country specific?
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United Gulf Financial Services (UGFS North Africa), a leading venture capital firm offering innovative companies and startups with financial support and mentoring services, has announced a partnership with The Hashgraph Association, a Swiss non-profit organization driving global adoption of Hedera-powered solutions by funding innovation, training, certification, and venture building programs, and Exponential Science Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation accelerating responsible tech adoption, via research, education, and innovation activities, for Hedera Africa Hackathon 2025, the biggest hackathon in Africa aimed at enabling the next generation of Web developers and empower economic inclusion in Africa with a digital future for all.
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More than half (59%) of Brits admit that they’ll use AI to help with their tax return
WorkFusion Raises $45 Million in Funding to Fuel Growth for Agentic AI for Financial Crime Compliance
WorkFusion, a pioneer in AI agents for financial crime compliance (FCC), today announced it raised $45 million in funding.
AI-Powered E-commerce, Stablecoins and Local APMs: Emerging Trends Headline EBANX’s Payments Summit in Mexico
How could AI agents search, compare and pay for things? What makes stablecoins a game-changer for cross-border digital commerce? Why are local Alternative Payment Methods (APMs) crucial for any business wanting to enter and scale in emerging markets?
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United Gulf Financial Services Joins The Hashgraph Association and Exponential Science Foundation Adding $1M to Hedera Africa Hackathon Pool Prize
United Gulf Financial Services (UGFS North Africa), a leading venture capital firm offering innovative companies and startups with financial support and mentoring services, has announced a partnership with The Hashgraph Association, a Swiss non-profit organization driving global adoption of Hedera-powered solutions by funding innovation, training, certification, and venture building programs, and Exponential Science Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation accelerating responsible tech adoption, via research, education, and innovation activities, for Hedera Africa Hackathon 2025, the biggest hackathon in Africa aimed at enabling the next generation of Web developers and empower economic inclusion in Africa with a digital future for all.
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Payhawk announced set of AI agents that complete everyday finance work as part of its product launch
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