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Two financial inclusion-focused startups have emerged winners of Village Capital’s Fintech Africa business development programme, receiving US$50,000 investment each.

Organised in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation and The DOEN Foundation, the Fintech Africa programme began in January, with the aim of supporting early-stage entrepreneurs innovating to increase financial health and improve livelihoods for low-income populations.

Seven startups took part in the programme, which involved workshops in Accra, Ghana; Nairobi, Kenya; and Lagos, Nigeria.

The two startups to secure investments were selected by participants on the programme, in accordance with Village Capital’s “peer selection” model, which asks participants to evaluate each other across nine indicators of investment readiness.

The two winners – receiving US$50,000 investment each – are Kenya’s  Olivinetech, which has created ASiM, a sales (POS) and stock management solution, that networks multiple sites seamlessly; and Nigeria’s Piggybank.ng – a service for financial institutions to enable debit card holders in Nigeria to save small sums of money frequently through automation of the saving process.

“Village Capital and its partners are committed to helping build a strong entrepreneurial community and ecosystem on the continent. Since running our first programme in Africa, Village Capital has seen significant growth, both in interest levels and sophistication, of businesses applying for our programs,” said Lia Mayka, Village Capital regional manager in sub-Saharan Africa.

“We are proud of our work with the FinTech Africa 2017 cohort, and look forward to seeing these entrepreneurs continue to do incredible work.”

Fintech Africa 2017 was Village Capital’s seventh programme in sub-Saharan Africa since 2012, and its second focused on financial technology.

The organisation has invested more than US$300,000 in 11 companies in Africa, with those companies going on to secure more than US$5.5 million in follow-on funding.

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