Nigerian financial technology company, Trade Lenda has made it to the semifinal of the prestigious Milken-Motsepe Prize in Fintech. This was disclosed in a statement by the Milken Institute and the Motsepe Foundation and seen by Technext. According to the statement, Trade Lenda is one of 10 fintechs from around the world that made it to the Semifinalist Round.
The Milken-Motsepe Prize supports innovative solutions to expand access to tools necessary for financial inclusion across emerging and frontier markets. The Semifinalists will get $100,000 each and will participate in an Innovation Showcase at the Milken Institute’s Middle East and Africa Summit. The summit will be held on December 5-6, 2024, in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
During this event, the 10 teams will pitch their innovations to a panel of expert judges and investors after which, three teams will be selected to move on to the final round of the prize. The judges will evaluate the pitches based on the teams’ ability to deliver solutions that improve financial inclusion for under-resourced groups in emerging and frontier markets.
Speaking about the Prize, Senior Director at the Milken Institute, Emily Musil, said the prize aims to empower startups that foster financial inclusion in their communities.
“By supporting these pioneering teams, we aim to foster financial inclusion and empower entrepreneurs who drive economic growth and opportunities in their communities. Our prizes help identify, support and celebrate talent to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit and empower visionaries to turn their ideas for a better future into reality,” Emily said.
Nigeria’s Trade Lenda up against 9 others
Trade Lenda, a Lagos-based company, was founded in May 2021 by Adewunmi Adeshina, Oluwatosin Ayodele and Shina Arogundade. The startup helps small businesses get quick and affordable access to credit with zero upfront collateral within six hours. The startup’s data-driven credit-scoring platform evaluates character and capacity to bridge access to quick and efficient finance gaps for small retailers and suppliers.
So far, the startup has provided credit to over 1,500 businesses. It has also completed over $2 million in disbursements with an average disbursement time of less than six hours. The startup said it grew by over 500 per cent between 2021 and 2022. In January 2021, the startup raised $520,000 in a pre-seed funding round.
Trade Lenda will be up against other financial technology companies operating in nearly 30 countries across three continents over the next four months. The teams will test and scale their solutions, which will be evaluated for impact, scalability, and sustainability. Some of them include:
AZA Finance is a Kenyan B2B FinTech company offering businesses low-cost, efficient, and secure financial services, including payments, currency exchange, and treasury, across all major currencies.
Chapa from Ethiopia, led by Nael Teklehaimanot, is an online payment gateway company with a developer-friendly API that simplifies integrating payment processing into websites and applications for Ethiopian businesses.
Chumz a Kenyan fintech led by Sam Njuguna, is a gamified savings product that leverages behavioral psychology to help individuals save at low cost.
Farmpawa from Uganda, led by Moses Eteku, is a crowd farming platform that connects investors with real farming assets, empowering farmers and driving sustainable agricultural growth.
The United Kingdom’s Flow Global, led by Michael Rothe, is a liquidity engine that helps retail merchants grow in the digital economy by addressing all of their working capital needs.
Kenya’s Paycloud by Lipa Later is a digital banking platform that addresses late payments in Africa by offering seamless payment processing, payment splitting, automated invoicing, and financial tools. The team is led by Eric Muli.
Ghana’s Nyla Bank, led by Mubarak Sumaila, is building Africa’s first digital Islamic bank with a goal of empowering 1 billion people with innovative, Shariah-compliant products and services that align with ethical principles.
Oze, another startup from Ghana, is a digital lending platform that bridges Africa’s credit gap by providing banks with a small and medium-sized enterprise- (SME) focused app that digitizes financial data, enabling risk assessment and lending to small businesses. The team is led by Meghan McCormick.
Verto is another United Kingdom-based startup led by Rachel Coombs. The platform is a business-to-business cross-border payments platform for businesses in emerging markets, powered by a unified network that eliminates intermediary fees, handles 49 currencies and settles transactions faster.
The prize will ultimately award $2 million in total prizes, including a $1 million Grand Prize. Following the December showcase, the Grand Prize will be awarded at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in Los Angeles, in May.
