Out of 20 recipients of the Migration Entrepreneurship Prize, 12 are from sub-Saharan Africa.
The Migration Entrepreneurship Prize 2022, a program designed for socially driven startups with a mission to enhance the inclusion of migrants in the Middle East and Africa, announces the 20 startup winners of its second cohort—11 are from sub-Saharan Africa.
In a public-private partnership between Seedstars and the Peace and Human Rights Division of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), the initiative aims to strengthen and support areas prone to strong migration movements such as the Middle East and Africa by addressing the root causes of irregular migration and strengthening the socio-economic rights of migrants.
After the success of its first cohort, where 20 startups were selected for solutions that range from financial services, education, health, and more, the Migration Entrepreneurship Prize launched its second cohort to scout for socially-driven businesses on a mission to enhance the socio-economic inclusion of migrants.
The global winners of the Prize will take part in the Seedstars Investment Readiness Program and have access to the Seedstars network of partners, mentors, and investors. They include Flance, Sidebrief, AjoMoney, Joovin, Vesti, Touch and Pay, Gigmile, InfiBranches, H28 Technologies, Tech Identity and Edusko.
Flance is a benefits platform for gig economy workers; freelancers, digital nomads, contract workers, software devs, Uber and matatu drivers, etc, so they will have access to healthcare, loans, savings, and wealth management amongst other benefits
xTID is an automated digital background check platform that solves the problem up to 1 million within and 100k+ people outside Nigeria face every time they request a police character certificate PCC.
AjoMoney is a digital platform that digitizes the centuries-aged rotating savings and credit associations in Africa to promote financial inclusion. Since its beta launch in September 2021, AjoMoney has processed about $450,000 in grand transaction volume and onboarded about 9,000 users with over 5,000 users actively paying. All this was achieved at a 0% marketing budget.
Sidebrief helps SMEs get their business started in 5 minutes on a single form with a few basic questions and an identification upload. They provide an automated tax and regulatory compliance process for businesses onboarded on their platform.
Joovlin is a B2B social commerce platform, enabling African retailers to sell online with zero capital, by using technology to provide them access to on-demand inventory and connect them to a pool of vetted suppliers.
Touch and Pay (TAP) is a financial technology startup focused on simplifying microtransaction payments in West Africa. They have onboarded over a 1.7million customers within 10 months and generated over $200k in monthly recurring revenue at a growth rate of 28% monthly.
TAP was selected for the 2021 Google’s Black Founders Fund for Africa.
Infibranches Technologies Limited is a design thinking company with expertise in Product Development, Business value chain, and Agent Network Management Services with a commitment to taking energy and financial access to the last mile.
Vesti is a mobile and web app for immigrants who want to get a bank account, US debit, and Credit cards in Nigeria. Currently, Vesti has helped 44k users and they have crossed $1m in Gross sales volume.
In January, Vesti raised a $500,000 pre-seed to improve its product platform, increase its user base and solidify its market penetration into the African market.
Edusko Africa is a social enterprise that helps low and middle-income earning families in sub-Saharan Africa access quality education for their wards by creating access to good schools, finance, and education marketplace. Currently placing hundreds of children in over 4,000 listed schools every week.
Gigmile is building the financial infrastructure for mobility-based gig work in Africa. We are democratising access to opportunities in Africa’s rising Gig Economy by enabling mobility-based gig workers with productive assets (motorcycles, smartphones, etc) to enable them to improve their livelihood from day one.
Founded in 2022 by Kayode Adeyinka (CEO) and Samuel Esiri (COO)—both ex-Jumia country heads, Gigmile which currently operates from Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana raised $450,000 at Techstars Toronto 2022 accelerator.
H28 is a platform that increases the percentage of successful home finance applicants in Africa. They provide the easiest way for a customer to create a savings plan based on their current financial reality.
Founded in 2020, Chapa is an Ethiopian financial service and data engineering company. The inevitable increase in global trade which has been visibly troubled by inconvenient payment methods served as the strongest initiative behind the establishment of Chapa.
“We look forward to seeing how the winning startups will offer migrants with an opportunity to work and earn a living. Entrepreneurship by, with and for migrants has a strong potential to improve lives in countries of origin, transit and destination,” shared Jana Röthlisberger, Program Manager at the FDFA said in a statement shared with Benjamindada.com.
The seven other recipients of the prize are from the MENA region—Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia.
Fact check: A total of 12 startups from sub-Saharan Africa were selected for the prize including Ethiopia’s Chapa. (August 8, 2022)
