The Ugandan financial technology company eMaisha Pay has been named the winner of the Catapult: Inclusion Africa Award for 2022.
The highly prestigious award is given out once a year to the top African fintech company competing at the yearly digital bootcamp hosted by the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology.
eMaisha Pay was awarded the honour for the work they do providing financial opportunities for micro and small businesses in Uganda.
A statement by eMaisha Pay said small businesses account for over 80% of businesses in Uganda, although they face much greater financial obstacles than large businesses.
eMaisha Pay leverages financial technology to offer small businesses quick, affordable, and non-collateral working capital loans to help them grow and thrive.
The award was given to eMaisha Pay at the end of Catapult: Inclusion Africa’s digital pitching ceremony, which took place at the end of the three-day conference on March 23.
Catapult: Inclusion Africa is a digital bootcamp held every year to offer three days of training and networking to selected Fintech firms working to improve financial inclusion in Africa. This year’s edition of Catapult: Inclusion Africa was held in Dubai from March 21-23, bringing together different African fintech companies to network, train, and compete for the award.
Alongside eMaisha Pay were 10 other finalists from six different countries of Africa, all competing to show how their companies were working towards the goal of improving financial inclusion across the continent of Africa.
Catapult: Inclusion Africa was initially developed by the LHoFT Foundation as a way to build bridges with Luxembourg’s Microfinance Industry, work towards the sustainability goals of Luxembourg’s finance center, and support selected firms to develop their businesses and achieve their inclusion goals.
According to the company’s CEO, Uhuru Sserubiri, the company has plans to scale their innovation to empower over 3.5 million small businesses in Africa by the year 2027.
Already the company has on boarded over 1,500 small businesses, with plans to scale to 50,000 within the next 24 months.
Their recent win of the Catapult: Inclusion Africa Award for 2022 comes as a boon to help them along their goals of scaling the company and reaching more small businesses within Africa.
Source: New Vision