The second edition of Finnovation Ethiopia has brought together some 200 financial technological innovators and disruptors at the Radisson Blu hotel in Addis Ababa on March 11, 2019.
The gathering of FinTech players in Addis Ababa this year is part of the Fintech Africa Series which regularly gathers stakeholders and influencers in the African Fintech environment ranging from start-ups to key markets across Africa and the globe.
Although this year’s Finnovation Ethiopia followed the same thematic areas as last year, the discussants and the innovators that gathered reflected their different views of the themes. The discussions circulated around key directions of FinTech in Africa and harmonizing the stakeholder value chain, African FinTech pioneers and International Finnovators, the radical change on legacy business models brought about by digital financial services, financial and technology startups in Ethiopia, block-chain and bitcoin, financial inclusion and Islamic banking, Investment into fintech and experiences from disruptive solutions in action.
“FinTech players are increasingly becoming an important part of the fabric of Africa’s financial services ecosystem and the leading banks on the continent are now more urgently seeking to harness ecosystem and technology innovations, collaborate with FinTech start-ups, and create a platform to scale much faster – to make digital financial services pay. Across Africa, huge game changing leaps are currently taking place which are transforming economies on the continent,” explains Finnovation World’s press release sent to The Reporter.
The second edition was organized in partnership by Ethiopian Airlines, Dashen Bank via its new mobile payment method Amole, MBirr, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Zemen Bank, the Ethiopian Investment Commission, blueMoon, iceaddis, and Flawless events, among others, from the Ethiopian side.
The gathering also has a dozen of foreign partners from outside of the country. Despite being the official carrier for the event, representatives from Ethiopian Airlines did not appear at the gathering because of the fatal accident involving the Boeing 737-Max 8 aircraft owned by the airlines claiming 157 lives.
At the end of the event, start-ups like Yeha Rooms, a hotel room management software developer’s team, Axiom Financial Technologies, ethio.me and Motivation Hub pitched their investment ideas to potential investors.
