BongoHive Innovation and Technology Hub has partnered with Financial Sector Deepening Zambia Limited (FSD Zambia) to support the growth of the digital economy and increase access to financial services for all Zambians. This will be done through the BongoHive FinTech Challenge, which has been launched to explore opportunities for financial inclusion and innovation from aspiring entrepreneurs in the fintech space.

The BongoHive FinTech Challenge challenge will combine BongoHive’s entrepreneurial support and the technical skills in the financial sector from FSD Zambia to support participating entrepreneurs. 

The challenge seeks to work with aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs that are addressing gaps in financial inclusion. Aspiring participants will be required to submit applications with evidence of how their solution is addressing current challenges in the Zambian financial landscape, as identified by BongoHive and FSD Zambia. The challenges that applicants will be addressing are related to the following: savings, differently-abled citizens, investment, interoperability, financial literacy, and credit savings.

Sixty selected applicants will be invited to participate in virtual ideation sessions, following which, twenty participants will be invited to take part in 5-day virtual idea validation sprints. The challenge will have two finalists who will each receive a further 8 weeks of business development support and K20,000 worth of technical support.    

For successful applicants, the BongoHive FinTech Challenge will run from 22 June to 2 October 2020. Applications for the challenge open on 21 May 2020 and will close on 10 June 2020. 

The application portal and terms and conditions of the challenge can be found on the BongoHive FinTech Challenge website – https://bongohivefintech.co.zm/ 

BongoHive Innovation and Technology Hub Co-founder and Executive Director, Lukonga Lindunda said:

There is no better time than now to support ideas and businesses that create opportunities for economies to thrive. In the middle of a pandemic, we are certain that innovators and entrepreneurs can create solutions that are relevant to many aspects of life in Zambia and the rest of the world. FSD Zambia has a lot of experience in the financial inclusion space and our combined efforts are one huge step towards unlocking the potential that is hidden in many of our people.

FSD Zambia – Director Digital Financial Services and Policy, Charity Chikumbi said:

Most of our young entrepreneurs believe they need to choose either passion or profit. The BongoHive Fintech Challenge gives them an opportunity to choose both, once they know the problem as outlined in the challenge areas, the solution is the easy part. We look forward to seeing great innovations that aim to serve and find solutions for many pressing social economic challenges that we face. 

About BongoHive

BongoHive is Zambia’s first innovation and technology hub. Founded in 2011, the company has positioned itself as one of the leading supporters of Zambian entrepreneurship and innovation. As part of its entrepreneurship support, BongoHive hosts a suite of programmes that are designed to assist innovators, entrepreneurs and startups from different backgrounds through the different stages of the entrepreneurial journey.

About FSD Zambia

Zambian Financial Sector Deepening Limited (FSD Zambia) is a Zambian organisation working closely with key players throughout the economy to ensure that all Zambians are financially healthy, particularly the most excluded and underserved. FSD Zambia helps rural families, women, youth, low-income people, and other households in Zambia to understand and access a wide range of sustainable, comparable, and affordable financial services. To expand financial inclusion, we collaborate with both public and private sector institutions to make financial markets work better. FSD Zambia enhances trust between clients and suppliers of financial services by helping to bring people together, cultivate understanding, stimulate innovation, and lower costs. In this way, all women, men, girls, and boys can learn about, choose, and use a wide range of financial services that have the most positive impact on their lives. FSD Zambia enjoys the active support of financing partners UK Aid, SIDA, Rural Finance Expansion Programme (RUFEP) and Comic Relief/Jersey Overseas Aid.

For further information, please contact:

Mr. John Zgambo, Projects Lead (BongoHive) at 260-953-017526, 

E-mail: [email protected]