Kenya-based venture capital-backed payments platform, BitPesa, is the winner of the Fintech Award at this year’s AppsAfrica.com Innovation Awards, which were announced at a pan-African mobile and tech awards party in Cape Town, South Africa Wednesday night.
The Awards supported by Opera Software, The Mobi Hunter, Uber, Shule Direct, Mobile Monday South Africa and The Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) celebrated the top 10 in mobile and technology from across Africa.
This year, the awards attracted over 200 entries from 25 countries, with the winners on the night hailing from South Africa, Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
BitPesa uses digital currency such as Bitcoin to significantly lower the cost of remittances and SME business payments to and from sub-Saharan Africa.
It uses Bitcoin/Blockchain technology as a method of settlement with a global network of broker partners. This allows them to settle cross-border payments at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional financial institutions.
Most payments settle same day (compared to 3-7 days for a bank transfer), and at an average 1.5% fee (compared to 5-10%). BitPesa also use API integrations with mobile network operators and bank networks to facilitate last-mile distribution to and first-mile collection of African currencies.
“Our goal at Appsafrica.com is to promote and honour the fantastic innovation across the mobile and tech ecosystem in Africa. We had diverse entries from 25 countries and both the finalists and winners are a testament to how technology is being used to disrupt business models, empower people and drive positive social impact across the continent,” said Andrew Fassnidge, founder of Appsafrica.com.
Jo Eyre, Senior Manager Africa for Opera added: “We work hard at Opera to enable affordable access to the mobile internet for everyone and we’re delighted to celebrate innovation with AppsAfrica.com and our technology and mobile peers.
It’s exciting to witness the fantastic work the industry is doing to solve problems and enrich lives through mobile and the internet.”
The awards party in Cape Town brought together over 300 mobile and tech leaders, media, investors and innovators from across Africa.
Full list of Appsafrica.com Innovation Awards Winners 2016:
Disruptive Innovation Award
Domestly (South Africa)
Social and Messaging Award
Vula Mobile (South Africa)
Best African App Award
Sliide Airtime (Nigeria)
Enterprise Solution Award
Flutterwave (Nigeria)
News & Entertainment Award
Battabox (Nigeria)
Educational Award
Mwabu (Zambia)
Fintech Award
BitPesa (Kenya)
Social Impact Award
Ask without Shame (Uganda)
Brand On Mobile Award
Mobi Hunter (South Africa)
Women In Tech Award
Faraja Nyalandu – Shule Direct (Tanzania)
– Source: AppsAfrica.com
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