3 Blockchain-based Startups Get Featured at the 2019 Global Fintech Hackcelerator by the Central Bank of Kenya


The 2019 Global Fintech Hackcelerator organized by the Central Bank of Kenya, in partnership with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, came to a close with 3 blockchain-based startups getting featured among the 15 finalists out of the 45 that applied.

The hackcelerator, which is part of the Afro Asia Fintech Festival commitments in partnership with KMPG, saw two startups, Kwara from Kenya, and Bureau Vente of Uganda, emerge as winners at the fintech accelerator event.

The 2 startups will be accelerated to Singapore Fintech Festival in 2020.

The event included the Governor, Central Bank of Kenya, and representatives from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.


Below is a list of the startups that participated for the hackcelerator:

• Kasko – https://www.kasko.io/ – Insuretech as a service
• Beacon Financials (Tanzania) – http://www.beacon.co.tz/ – Access information, buy, and sell securities digitally and online in Tanzania
• Eassy Equities – https://www.easyequities.co.za/ – Buy shares in South Africa online
• VimoSure – https://vimosure.com/ – AI for contextual risk intelligence to dynamically measure risks
• Bureau Vente – https://www.linkedin.com/in/bienfait-bitenyo-61047283/ – An app that cuts the middlemen in helping coffee farmers in Uganda get to market
• Finaclusion – https://finaclusion.com/ – Automate lending and services for cooperatives and chamas
• Tontine Trust – https://tontine.com/how-it-works – Income savings and investment platform that records transactions on the blockchain
• Social Lender – https://www.sociallenderng.com/ – A lending solution based on a social reputation score
• Zavora – https://twitter.com/ZavoraTech – A digital trading platform
• Tenda – https://tenda.world/ – Enabling a pan-african market and infrastructure that will unify payments, settlements, and depositories for securities and exchanges on a regulated consortium blockchain. Linking local wallets to the globe to transfer value and sharing.
• Tujenge Pay – https://tujenge.io/ – A digital payments platform running inside WhatsApp Web and on top of blockchain. The platform will enable merchants to receive payments from all over the world. The data collected will be private and will be stored on the blockchain to enable accountability.
• Lami – https://www.lami.world/ – An insurance product
• Kwara – https://www.kwara.com/ – Digitizing savings cooperatives via a mobile app with USSD capability. It includes a mobile-facing API for cooperatives.
• M-PAYA – http://m-paya.co.ke/ – Merchant cash advance service
• Pesa Kit – http://www.pesakit.co.ke/ – Agency liquidity and e-float availability for mobile money agents

According to KMPG:

“We were looking for solutions to problems that had been specifically defined to many of the problems on our continent.”

The judging evaluation was based on the criteria below:

• Solutions to specific defined problems
• How innovative the solutions are in regards to using technology
• Ease of adoption and ability to scale

Tenda World was a particularly interesting blockchain service that got featured. When asked what is the biggest hurdle to making their blockchain product work, Tenda Founder / CEO, said the solution was in ‘getting people to believe that it will work.’

When further probed on how to overcome that, he answered: ‘by actually doing it.’

Blockchain solutions are no doubt changing the finance space and the recent hackcelerator is a clear demonstration that the blockchain technology is going to offer real-world solutions to real-world problems in line with UN sustainable development goals and the Kenyan Big 4 Agenda.