Building on the success of the previous editions of CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa since 2018, the LHoFT is excited to announce the 10 selected startups that will participate in the 6th edition of this unique program for Fintech startup development. 

This year, the CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa programme targeted African countries where the French language is predominant and over 140 high quality applications were received. For the first time, the bootcamp will be delivered in French and will take place in Africa, in Lomé, Togo from October 16th to October 20th 2023. The Catapult: Inclusion Africa programme will be run in conjunction with African Microfinance Week, providing unique networking opportunities for the selected firm.

Developed by the LHoFT Foundation and sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign & European Affairs – Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, the program targets companies focusing on financial inclusion in Africa, aiming to build bridges with Luxembourg’s Microfinance and broader finance industry while highlighting their initiatives in alignment with the sustainability goals of Luxembourg’s finance center.

This 6th edition of CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa will once again leverage Luxembourg’s Inclusive Finance and Fintech ecosystem to support selected firms in developing their businesses and achieving their inclusion goals. The LHoFT team will be joined by high-profile key partners from Ada, Infine, Luxembourg for Finance, the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), the European Investment Bank (EIB), Luxembourg Microfinance and Development Fund, Bamboo Capital Group, MMD-Ventures, SPTF, LuxDev, Amarante Consulting, e-MFP, GGGI, CGAP, LMDF ,ACRC, and more, who will be working with the cohort throughout the program. 

CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa provides a tailor made program with intensive mentoring, coaching, peer to peer learning and dedicated workshops for the selected Fintech startups. The program will include sessions on business model mapping, investment readiness, funding and capital raising, social impact, scaling strategy, building teams and other strategic sessions. Several alumni of previous year’s programs will travel to Togo to share their experiences with the 2023 cohort.

The 10 Fintech startups selected to take part in the 2023 edition of CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa are:

AMIRA GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES

Abidjan, Ivory Coast

http://www.paiementpro.net

Amira Global Technologies is a company specialising in digital transformation that has put in place a number of social impact solutions based on its online payment solution, Paiement Pro. This solution enables businesses and entrepreneurs to open up to new markets by accepting mobile payments in several African countries (Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali, Benin, Niger, Senegal and Togo) and electronic payments (Visa and Mastercard). With Paiement Pro, entrepreneurs can sell online, collect money and apply for loans based on the cash flow generated.

CA PAY

Libreville,Gabon

https://capay.pro/

CA PAY is a web-based payment platform. Its aim is to give people excluded from the traditional financial system and living in remote areas easy access to financial transactions. Through its Capay web platform, CA PAY enables companies to make their various payments of salaries, bonuses, subsidies, etc. using mobile money for their unbanked employees.

COVA AFRICA

Douala, Cameroon

http://www.cova.africa

Cova Africa is an insurtech dedicated to French-speaking Africa. The company uses technology, innovation and partnerships with sectors more popular than traditional insurance to facilitate the distribution of insurance in Cameroon and French-speaking Africa. It offers turnkey solutions for the digital marketing of tailor-made insurance products to various partners wishing to distribute insurance products to their customers as complementary cover to their basic products (microfinance and fintechs, health techs, agritechs).

DREAMCASH

Yaounde, Cameroon

https://www.mymiqo.com

MiQo is a neo-microfinance offering a SUPER financial app for mass financial inclusion, providing a fully digital bank account in less than 2 minutes to unbanked and underbanked people in French-speaking Africa with a smartphone. It comes with a contactless VISA card and an NFC-enabled mobile app, and aims to provide financial services such as instant credit lines and nano-loans in less than 10 seconds without collateral, contactless payments in shops via QRcode and NFC, multi-currency virtual cards for online payments, free national and cross-border money transfers, personalised financial education, savings and investment.

KOLA GROUP

Yaounde, Cameroon

https://kolagroup.io/

Kola is a digital microfinance company that helps unbanked individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises in sub-Saharan Africa access credit, payment solutions and manage their finances through digital solutions. To manage its risks, Kola uses a proprietary credit scoring model based on behavioural and financial data.

MICROFINANCE

Lomé, Togo

http://www.microfinancepro.com

Microfinance's SAAS solution tackles the problems of collecting money for MFIs and enables MFI customers to easily access their current/savings account on their own mobile phone and easily transfer money to accounts, locally and abroad.

ORYA TECHNOLOGIES

Dakar, Senegal

http://www.oryatech.comt

ORYA TECHNOLOGIES is an African fintech that positions itself as an API provider for financial services. Their business is building secure and inclusive technology for financial professionals in Africa. Their Fintra product automatically manages salary advance requests and provides employees with a financial management system, while maintaining control and without impacting companies' cash flow.

RUBYX

Dakar, Senegal

http://www.rubyx.io

Rubyx is a data-driven fintech offering MSME credit solutions for service providers in emerging markets. With their solution, they aim to close the funding gap faced by informal entrepreneurs and small businesses to finance their operations. They have created a cloud-native, API-driven AI lending platform built around complementary modules including a cloud-based data warehouse / a decision engine and scoring algorithm / a flexible credit management system and a range of information access channels (API, web application, mobile application, external BI tools).

TOUMAI ANALYTICS

Rabat, Morocco

http://www.toumai-analytics.com

ToumAI offers a SaaS Data Analytics platform that collects and analyses local data in Africa, whether audio or written, whatever the local dialect of expression. In this way, the company is giving a voice and economic and financial weight back to local communities in Africa, while enabling international investors to better manage local risks thanks to more granular and robust data. They have deployed a citizen survey application that enables us to combine education (sustainable development and financial inclusion) and local data feedback, while paying respondents in the form of telephone credit. Their SaaS solution is fed by this data, as well as data from the media and social networks, and processes it while offering decision-making support mechanisms thanks to their generative AI and dynamic indicators.

WAJENZI

Luxembourg

http://www.wajenzi.fund

Wajenzi is a digital marketplace that enables African SMEs to raise funds from individuals and institutional investors in the EU and the US in exchange for an equity stake in their company.

Wajenzi's mission is to promote financial inclusion by connecting individual investors such as the diaspora, European and American retail investors, institutional investors and governments with African SMEs seeking financing to develop their activities.

More information about the program here: https://lhoft.com/catapult/africa-togo-edition/