Binkabi named Start-up of the Year at Africa FinTech Summit Washington D.C.
We had the great privilege of being part of this event April 19th, organized by Leland Rice who leads Dedalus Global.
Blockchain and cryptocurrenies have immense potential to help transform Africa. In these countries, inability to authenticate identity, lack of trust, and no single version of the truth are all huge barriers — but barriers that can be overcome Blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
Many big names in the Africa and global FinTech space were there — ConsenSys, SureRemit (recent successful $7m ICO), World Bank’s top Blockchain specialist (Katherine A. Foster), RocRemit, Paga (always great to see my friend Tayo Oviosu), IFC, Zoona, Accion Venture Lab, and lots of others.
Central Bank of Nigeria was present to push the case for financial inclusion, and the leaders of Alat (Nigeria’s only digital-only bank, part of Wema Bank) gave a fantastic presentation on their success.
My own Panel on Blockchain was very exciting as we all made the strong case for the role of Blockchain to help Africa — international trade and land registry were 2 of the key use cases we discussed.
But the highlight of the day for me was Binkabi receiving the award for Best Start-up, chosen from among 12 entrants. All of us who have tried it know that starting a company from scratch is immensely challenging. The truth is most start-ups fail, and we all understand the myriad of issues, including business model choices, competition, attracting talent with limited resources, building a name, and of course funding. And you do all of this essentially alone — unlike a big organization, if the entrepreneur does not do it, it does not get done.
So it is encouraging for us to get this kind of feedback from such a distinguished group and helps us keep going.
Chat with us: https//t.me/Binkabi_io
