Deadline: 30 May 2019
The Bank of Sierra Leone in partnership with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and IBSA Fund have launched the Sierra Leone FinTech Challenge 2019-2020, under the theme of “Domestic resource mobilization”, to further support the financial inclusion of the middle and low-income population.
The Sierra Leone FinTech Challenge 2019-2020, has the overall goal of improving Sierra Leone’s domestic resource mobilization and the economic well-being of Sierra Leoneans living in rural and underserved areas. It aims to harness the growing digital economy in order to develop and test innovative solutions as a way to leapfrog access to finance, and consequently build out government and private sector platforms to operationalize the benefits of the digital economy.
It will test and build business models for digital infrastructure to shift from informal cash–based transactions to digital financial services that can mobilize domestic resources and address the latent needs around health, education, agriculture and help save and plan for the future.
The focus will be nationwide, with emphasis on rural areas, smallholder farmers, women groups and youth.
Objectives
- Specific objectives are as follows:
-
- To develop or improve customer centric innovative products that can facilitate safe custody of money for the village loan and savings associations of the low-income populations.
- To develop or improve financial services that can facilitate government payments and collections.
- To build or improve meaningful partnerships between two or more institutions to accomplish the objectives.
-
- Any innovations that address the specific needs of women and youth, who represent the majority of unbanked adults in Sierra Leone, will be considered favorably.
Eligibility Criteria
To be considered for the support, institutions should fulfill the following minimum requirements:
- Must be operating in Sierra Leone or have a partner who is operating in Sierra Leone. International or regional entities not based in Sierra Leone may apply provided that their work directly benefits an identified Sierra Leonean partner.
- Must be institutions with experience in providing or supporting some aspect of mobile financial services, including: banks, other financial institutions, mobile network operators and Fintech.
- The product, service or solution must be implemented in Sierra Leone.
- The product, service or solution can have a financial nature, but a support service to a financial service provider will also be permitted.
- The product, service or solution must be network operator agnostic.
- For Sierra Leone-based organizations: The lead applicant must have a registered business in Sierra Leone with at least 15% ownership by a citizen of Sierra Leone; For non-Sierra Leonean Fintechs from innovation hubs, this requirement does not apply at the beginning of the competition.
- The lead applicant must have a sound track record of performance of at least one year.
- The lead applicant must be a for-profit entity or be part of a chain of for-profit institutions.
- Institutions that are majority owned by government or its institutions, as well as not-for profits will not be eligible.
- Must be compliant with all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements of Sierra Leone with respect to the proposed activities or in the process of achieving compliance.
- Must have full documented support from the management and governing body for the proposed project, as evidenced by a letter of support from senior management.
- Must have adequate financial systems in place to manage external support as demonstrated by providing audited or certified financial statements.
How to Apply
Applicants must be submit their applications via email at the address given on the website.
For more informations, please visit https://www.uncdf.org/article/4452/sierra-leone-fintech-challenge-2019-2020-for-financial-inclusion