Three African tech startups have been selected to participate in Catalyst Fund, an accelerator for inclusive fintech startups. Of the startups, two are from Nigeria and the third is from South Africa.
WellaHealth and Flex Finance are in Nigeria and Paymenow is in South Africa. Paymenow co-founder Bryan Habana, said in a statement, “The unencumbered grant funding assists us in the short term to expand our team as we look to hire an experienced client success manager to help with sales and account management.”
Catalyst Fund’s Investor Advisory Committee has approved each of the startups in the cohort. Paymenow is focused on offering financial inclusivity enabled through a secure mobile app.
Habana added “50% of workers take out unsecured loans between paydays – called payday loans – which come at extortionate interest rates of 27% and leave workers spiralling into a vicious debt cycle.”
Catalyst Fund seeks to provide exposure for startups in terms of connecting them with top tier venture capitalists and private equity funds. It is reported that a few venture capitalists have already been introduced, media reports said.
Even Google Startups Accelerator Africa 2020 is slated for the end of June over a period of three months. For the programme, startups were chosen from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.