Enterprising early stage start-ups that promote and advance financial inclusion on the African continent stand a chance of winning $100,000 as grand prize in the Zambezi Prize for Innovation, announced on Monday, 12 March 2018.
The 2018 edition of the competition was launched by the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation.
According to a statement sent to BusinessDay, Two runners-up will receive up to $30,000 each while start-ups that make in the top ten list gets up $5,000 in cash prizes as well as VIP tickets to the Zambezi Award ceremony, cohort-building activities, international media exposure, and personalised introductions to the MIT Legatum network of investors and mentors.
“The top three winners will also be invited to attend the Zambezi bootcamp during the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge (IIC) gala on the MIT campus in Boston and fast-tracked to the global grand prize with up to $1 million available. The IIC event is part of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and, along with the MIT Legatum Center’s initiatives, examples of MIT’s global commitment to the future of work,” the statement disclosed.
The first edition of the event was held in Lagos, Nigeria by the Legatum in partnership with Trepreneur Africa and the late Bolaji Finnih.
The prize according to the Legatum Center is a global vision to leverage MIT’s ecosystem to improve lives through principled entrepreneurial leadership.
“The Legatum Center’s Africa Strategy is also a core component of MIT-Africa – the initiative that encompasses the institute’s global priority for collaboration with the continent,” the statement noted.
Application is currently open for early-stage African tech start-ups who are creating solutions to deepen financial inclusion on the continent. Applicants will be judged on their ability to solve one of the financial inclusion challenges put forth by the prize; their current and potential impact on the local ecosystem; the scale of their innovation; and the feasibility of the solution.
Previous Zambezi winners have led projects ranging from agricultural finance for the small dairy farmer to an employee-centric taxi business model.
