Ecobank Group is announcing the launch of the 2022 Ecobank Fintech Challenge which offers early-stage and mature startups the potential to partner with Ecobank across 33 African countries. Applications for the fifth edition are open from now until September 16th. The finals and awards ceremony will take place in October 2022.
The challenge welcomes Fintechs that align with the Bank’s strategic objectives. The top winner stands a chance to win a cash prize of US$50,000 and the opportunity to partner and scale their solutions across Ecobank’s 33 African markets. The top ten finalists will also get to join the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship.
Fintech companies and developers originating from any of Africa’s 54 countries, as well as global Africa-centered Fintechs, are eligible to enter the 2022 Ecobank Fintech Challenge.
In addition, all Fellows will qualify to explore the following opportunities with the Bank and its partners:
Multinational products roll out: an opportunity to pursue integration with Ecobank and potentially launch products in all or part of Ecobank’s pan-African 33-country ecosystem.
Service provider partnerships: Ecobank may select some Fintechs as pan-African service partners within the Bank’s ecosystem.
Access to Ecobank’s Pan-African Banking Sandbox. Fellows will get access to Ecobank’s APIs to test and improve their products for the pan-African market.
Priority Access to Ecobank’s Venture Capital partners for funding exploration.
Dr. Tomisin Fashina, Operations and Technology Executive, Ecobank Group said, “The uniqueness of the Challenge is that it welcomes both early stage and mature start-up Fintechs alike and seeks to align them with different kinds of partnership opportunities within Ecobank that match their differing levels of maturity.”
The Ecobank Fintech Fellowship program currently has 46 fellows including 2020 winner Nokwary.
[jetpack_subscription_form show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Subscribe to get updates right in your inbox” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true” success_message=”Success! An email was just sent to confirm your subscription. Please find the email now and click 'Confirm Follow' to start subscribing.”]
Microsoft South Africa has launched the Microsoft SITA Ndivho Innovation Centre in Centurion, Pretoria in partnership with SITA (the State Information Technology Agency). The centre aims to spur innovation and global competitiveness, as well as build the ICT capability and skills development, of local, provincial and government departments in order to enhance service delivery and drive broader economic growth.
The creation of the centre forms part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between SITA and Microsoft South Africa in October 2019, aimed at accelerating the digital transformation of government services in South Africa through the adoption of public cloud services.
A key element of the MOU was modernisation and innovation, and the Ndivho Innovation Centre supports this goal through Microsoft technologies that will accelerate the development of cloud solutions and skills required in today’s digital economies.
“Having a space dedicated to collaboration, digital innovation, skills development and capacity building provides a unique opportunity to create new services for government departments and customers. The centre will also help to unlock IT and organisational productivity and efficiencies in service delivery that will deliver inclusive growth for the country and better enable economic recovery,” says Mr. Luvuyo Keyise, interim Managing Director at SITA.
These services and benefits will be enabled predominantly through Microsoft Cloud-enabled solutions in the areas of Critical Infrastructure, Public Safety & Justice, Defense and Intelligence and Life Sciences. Additionally, the centre will showcase the transformative value of Microsoft’s cloud services such as Azure, its collaboration solutions Microsoft 365 and business solutions Dynamics 365. However, the centre is not limited to Microsoft technologies and provides an innovation platform for Government’s technology investments.
Upskilling and enabling public sector employees and small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) is a critical part of the drive towards modernisation and innovation, and the two partners have also invested in a number of initiatives to equip individuals and business owners with the skills and certification needed to deliver services to government.
These initiatives include:
The Microsoft Enterprise Skills Initiative and the Microsoft Community Training Platform will be used by internal SITA employees to reskill and become technically astute, and to provide consulting services around digital transformation and moving into the Microsoft Cloud.
The Emerging Partner Programme identifies and provides ICT SMMEs with training to accelerate their journey to Microsoft Gold partner status. The programme is currently underway and 25 SMMEs from across all nine provinces are receiving certification training to help grow a sustainable, diversified and inclusive supply chain that contributes more broadly to economic growth in the country.
KEI Solutions and Take Note IT are two of the 25 beneficiaries of the Emerging Partner Programme. “A dream only stays a dream if you don’t take action, so I registered my IT infrastructure company during the height of the pandemic, knowing that my competitors were large organisations with a long-standing history and experience in the sector,” says Kabelo Mbelle, Managing Director and Founder of KEI Solutions. “Being part of the Emerging Partner Programme turned being an SMME into a unique selling point by allowing us to sit on the shoulders of giants like Microsoft and SITA and giving us the vantage point to see and equip ourselves with the training and certification needed to compete and succeed in the sector.”
Cindy Ntombela, Cyber Security Analyst at Take Note IT, agrees: “The ability to partner and work with government and one of the biggest technology companies globally provides a unique opportunity to not only identify the broader skills needed in the country, but learn these on-demand skills, share knowledge with like-minded professionals and channel this experience into the right paths to create real business value and enable the personal and professional development for South African ICT professionals.”
Collaboration across sectors is key. “Partnering with SITA and investing in the centre and other initiatives is a vital part of Microsoft’s commitment to leverage cloud and emerging technologies to accelerate growth through innovation, work across sectors to better serve citizens’ needs, empower individuals and SMMEs with critical future-ready skills, and create broader societal impact,” says Lillian Barnard, Chief Executive Officer at Microsoft South Africa.
“Microsoft fully supports SITA’s vision to digitise government to accelerate and enhance innovation and service delivery as part of our shared commitment to driving competitiveness, skills development and economic growth in the country – and the launch of the Ndivho Innovation Centre is an important step in reaching this goal.”
[jetpack_subscription_form show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Subscribe to get updates right in your inbox” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true” success_message=”Success! An email was just sent to confirm your subscription. Please find the email now and click 'Confirm Follow' to start subscribing.”]
PayInc Group Limited, trading as PayAngel is announcing its selection into the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub program. A Microsoft program that seeks to remove traditional barriers that startups face when building a company. PayAngel believes the program will help them innovate faster and accelerate their growth. The company offers remittance and payment solutions to the African Diaspora.
Microsoft Africa Transformation Office in March this year launched the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub in new initiatives to accelerate the growth of 10,000 African startups and fast-track investment in Africa’s start-up ecosystem. It is a new digital and all-inclusive platform that gives startups free access to Microsoft technology, tools, coaching, and support to build and scale their business. It also includes opportunities for the startups to sell to Microsoft’s corporate and enterprise customers.
Jones Amegbor, CEO of PayAngel, notes that the exclusive technology packages in the Hub will allow the company to innovate faster and accelerate its growth.
“What this means to our existing and new customers is a more robust, secured and enhanced system, expansion to other territories and straight-through service delivery”.
Beyond access to technology, the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub program empowers young entrepreneurs to innovate and grow by connecting through their mentoring program. Which provides them with industry, business, and technical support to guide them through their next business milestones.
Founders also get access to Microsoft Learn and a variety of programs to help them build connections with customers and accelerate their growth.
The Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub centres around these three key areas:
Unlocking innovations for all: The platform eliminates traditional barriers founders face when starting, such as venture capital requirements or third-party validation to help any founder, regardless of background, location, or access, to be successful.
Technology benefits that grow: Keeping pace with a startup’s lifecycle, the platform helps founders speed development with free access to GitHub and the Microsoft Cloud with the ability to unlock additional benefits over time
Access to mentorship and guidance: Through the platform, startups can connect with industry veterans, access tailored startup-centric training and innovate quickly with expert technical guidance.
[jetpack_subscription_form show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Subscribe to get updates right in your inbox” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true” success_message=”Success! An email was just sent to confirm your subscription. Please find the email now and click 'Confirm Follow' to start subscribing.”]
African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), Heifer International and Generation Africa are announcing Pitch AgriHack 2022. An agritech competition focused on accelerating entrepreneurial growth and job creation in the agriculture sector. By identifying youth-led businesses with technological solutions to food security challenges and awarding them with cash grants, media visibility and investor exposure. It will award up to $45K in cash prizes to youth technology innovators in Africa’s agriculture and food sectors.
The open competition part of Pitch AgriHack 2022 will support businesses that are driving innovation in agriculture across three categories Early-stage, Mature/Growth-stage, and Women-led. Prizes will be awarded to six winners totalling US$45,000. A fourth invite-only category known as the AYuTe Africa Challenge, sponsored by Heifer International, will award up to $1.5 million in grants to scalable ventures that are already generating measurable impact for Africa’s smallholder farmers.
The Pitch AgriHack 2022 finals will see the top 12 applicants face off in a business pitching contest at the African Green Revolution Forum Summit (AGRF) in September. Finalists will participate in the AGRF Agribusiness Deal Room, where over 800 companies, 15 government delegations and 150 public and private investors will convene to generate exciting new opportunities.
Applications for Pitch AgriHack are open from 20 June to 29 July 2022 at genafrica.org/pitchagrihack. It is open to African founders or co-founders, aged 18-40 of technology-based and digital services businesses in the agriculture sector. The Top 12 applicants will be selected by an expert jury, followed by an award ceremony where three category winners and three runners-up will receive cash grants to grow their businesses.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
Running a business is indeed a hectic one but some top essential tools can help lighten the load.
You might have a better idea as you are currently doing so. In order to ensure the growth of your business, you must ensure that your business is not getting stuck in terms of proper communication, productivity, project tracking, client handling, or anything.
You always must ensure that you are adopting whatever process or technology you can in order to make the process smoother, simpler, faster, and obviously more efficient.
There are some tools designed for conducting particular tasks. You can get them and implement them in your business software to ensure the growth of your business. The most interesting part is that you can get them for free from here.
Top Essential Tools You Need To Grow Your Business
Now, we will talk about the tools that you need for the proper growth of your business.
Time Tracking Software
When you are running a business, you might notice that everything revolves around time management.
From evaluating time being spent on creating products, running projects, or completing everyday tasks, everything reflects the efficiency and productivity levels of our company.
Here a time tracking tool will assist you in analyzing your employees’ efficiency, removing redundancies, and improving the company’s process.
Here are some of the best time tracking software.
Time Doctor.
Toggle Track.
Clockify.
Tick.
QuickBooks Time.
CRM Solution
Business is all about maintaining a healthy and fruitful relationship with clients. And often, handling all those customer details gets overwhelming. Here, a customer relationship management or CRM tool can really help you with organizing customer profiles more thoroughly.
After collecting customer data, with the help of CRM software, you will be able to easily update them. All your team will have access to that data with a single platform.
Here are some of the top CRM tools you can use in 2022.
When you are thinking about covering those extra miles and also want to give your customers more information, blogging is a great way of doing so.
This way, you will be able to tell your target audience that you want to put more effort into developing communication through information sharing. Also, when you are running a blog, social media platforms can work really well.
With the help of social media platforms and blogging solutions, you will be able to reach different levels of marketing.
Planning And Scheduling Software
Planning and scheduling software is another essential tool for your business growth. This will help you to stay organized and efficient. The best part is that these types of tools work simply great with CRM tools.
When you are getting tools, it will be best to decide the features beforehand, as per your business requirements. Also, you should always have an option for upgrading your license.
Here are some top names of planning and scheduling tools for your business.
When you have a proper streamlined process for your employee communication, your business will automatically grow more. For daily communications, all those messaging platforms, such as
These can work really well. The efficiency and capability of all these tools are not only limited to communication but also extended up to sharing files, scheduling voice and audio calls, employee groups, and a lot more things.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
We believe after going through this article; you will now be able to figure out what tools you need to grow your business. Still, in case you have any doubts, you can reach us anytime. We will try to come up with a solution as soon as possible.
Till then, here are some questions with answers which might help you.
Q1: What Is The Most Useful Business Tool?
Here is a list of essential tools that you require for your business.
Email marketing tools.
Communication tools.
Human resource tools.
Accounting tools.
Project and task management tools.
Q2: What Can I Use To Make My Business Grow?
Growing a business always needs time and energy; still, here are some things that will make your work a little easier.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
GreenHouse Capital is announcing that 13 pre-series A startups will be joining the Microsoft Scale-up Accelerator program. They will get access to technology, skilling programs and an opportunity to co-sell with Microsoft. As well as support from Microsoft engineering and product teams for co-innovation opportunities. The startups are from Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania and feature six male and seven female founders.
The scale-up accelerator program is a partnership program between GreenHouse Capital and Microsoft. It seeks to provide startups with technology infrastructure, technical skills, and funding to enable them rapidly launch in new markets.
In March this year, Microsoft announced new initiatives under its Africa Transformation Office (ATO) to accelerate the growth of startups in Africa and fast-track investment in Africa’s startup ecosystem. By supporting African startups with $500 million in potential funding. It also plans to accelerate the growth of 10,000 African startups over the next five years by partnering with accelerators, tech hubs and incubators across Africa, such as GreenHouse Capital, to achieve this.
The six weeks acceleration program will see the startups participate in 12 instructor-led sessions, 10 workshops and three-panel discussions. It will also feature a demo day session that will bring global investors to meet the start-up founders. Sessions are tailored to help the startup’s scale raise subsequent funding rounds.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
