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The Last Mile Money Accelerator which is a four-month program that is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and managed by IDEO, has selected eight (8) startups to join its inaugural cohort.
Out of the eight (8) selected startups, seven (7) of them are from Africa.
They are PesaKit and Tanda from Kenya, DuniaPay from Burkina Faso, Kuunda from Tanzania, Khazna from Egypt, Alsoug.com from Sudan, and Boost from Ghana.
The aim of the Last Mile Money Accelerator is to empower inclusive fintech startups with grant seed, connections to key strategic ecosystem partners, and world-class design support from IDEO.
Let us take a look at the seven (7) African startups that were selected for the Last Mile Money Accelerator:
PesaKit (Kenya)
PesaKit is a last-mile agent network platform that is driving digital commerce and financial inclusion by allowing mobile money agents to become the go-to shop for affordable financial and digital services in their community.
Its provides software application that is designed to digitize distribution and access channels for mobile money and digital finance, and its software offers an interface that is driven by artificial intelligence which functions as a virtual assistant for mobile money agents.
PesaKit addresses the challenges of mobile money that stem from the supply side and the agency banking model in Africa.
Its app eases agents’ daily liquidity and operations pressures by offering business insights and float loans, supporting the distribution model by facilitating last-mile distribution of financial services for banks, microfinance institutions, cooperatives, remittance and insurance companies, and mobile network operators.
DuniaPay (Burkina Faso)
DuniaPay is a full-service banking application that is powered by crypto that provides Africans with a flexible digital platform to access financial services — save, spend, invest and transfer money.
It aims to provide inexpensive and full-service banking experience to West Africa’s digital generation.
Tanda (Kenya)
Tanda is a fintech startup that is working to transform access to essential digital financial services for MSMEs across Africa by building an environment that enables people digitally send and receive payment, and also have access to essential financial services.
It is one of the fastest growing retail distribution networks for digital financial services that leverages the influx of affordable mobile devices and its technology platform to transform MSMEs into financial service agents.
Tanda also helps MSMEs improve and diversify their earning abilities through commissions which they earn from services like airtime purchases, bill payments, and cash in and cash out transactions.
It delivers essential goods to shops, extends unsecured credit to its agents, aggregates all major financial services providers, and allows agents to sell various digital products.
Kuunda (Tanzania)
Kuunda is a B2B fintech incubator and advisory company that provides financial services for developing economies.
It focuses on the informal market, with a special emphasis on mobile technology, to address the conventional high levels of financial exclusion in these communities.
Kuunda seeks to develop sustainable financial products, with a positive social impact, and create scalable ecosystems with its partners.
It has built a liquidity platform and growth APIs for MSMEs and agent networks.
Khazna (Egypt)
Khazna provides free in-app prepaid debit card, earned wage access, buy-now-pay-later, bill payment and peer transfers services to underbanked Egyptians.
It seeks to improve the financial wellbeing of over 20 million underbanked people in Egypt who are active smartphone users but have little access to formal financial services, by providing access to secure, convenient and effective smartphone-based financial services.
Its app provides users with services such as bill payment, earned-wage access, electronics and household products purchase.
Alsoug.com (Sudan)
Alsoug.com is the largest free online classifieds marketplace for buyers and sellers in Sudan. It uses the power of the internet to facilitate the process of buying and selling goods and services in Sudan.
It supports small businesses and startups in Sudan with its free advertising platform.
Its marketplace feature, Matjary, is a valuable tool for growing businesses to display their products and make transactions. Its Cashi platform allows users make payments for basic services such as electricity, airtime, and school fees.
Boost (Ghana)
Boost is a digital platform that offers merchants convenient stock ordering and delivery. Instead of going to the market to purchase supplies, merchants register and then order products through their mobile phones.
Boost provides digital solutions to drive efficiency in the distribution of fast moving consumer goods (FCMGs) and support SMEs in Ghana.
Its range of solutions for SMEs includes access to a range of support services, stock ordering and delivery, and connection to providers of the right financial solutions.
Boost also provides direct access to retailers and a range of market insights solutions.
Its catalog is lightweight and interactive which makes it accessible through smartphone.
