On April 18, 2023, Visa officially launched the 2023 Kenyan edition of the global innovation competition dubbed Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI). This initiative sponsored by LOOP would allow Kenyan payment and commerce startups to apply for funding. The application deadline for this competition was set for May 14, 2023.
“The Visa Everywhere Initiative is a platform that empowers fintechs and entrepreneurs to showcase the most ground-breaking, impactful solutions in the world of payments and commerce,” said Eva Ngigi-Sarwari, Visa Country Manager for Kenya.
“Through their technology-driven, innovative solutions, fintechs have the potential to offer broad social benefits – particularly when it comes to providing financial services to those who have traditionally been underserved. VEI is an important means of supporting the innovators playing a leading role in this space.”
After receiving tons of applications from local startups, Visa has now announced the list of finalists.
The five finalists include the Africa Blockchain Cent which is an embedded wealth management platform for Africa, Leja which is a finance management app for MSMEs, ai-fluence which is Africa’s 1st AI driven Influencer Marketing Platform.
Paylend which specializes in digitization of micro and small businesses across Africa, and Africa Blockchain Center which is focuses on Capacity Building, Product Development, Incubation, Research and Development.
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The overall winner among these finalists will be announced on Thursday in an event that shall be streamed live.
“VEI Kenya edition is seeking innovative and ambitious entrepreneurs who are uplifting communities by solving payment and commerce challenges faced by businesses of all sizes and sectors,” said Visa.
These sectors include agriculture, logistics, healthcare, education, urban mobility, gig economy, insurance. Others are micro small and medium enterprise solutions for access to finance, access to new customers and markets, and MSME business services that were not limited to inventory management, payroll processing, and customer relationship management.
According to Visa, the VEI in Kenya competition will see a total of Sh. 5.6 million ($40,000) in prize money distributed among the different categories.
The overall winner will get Sh. 2.8 million ($20,000), the audience favorite will get Sh. 1.4 million ($10,000) and Sh. 1.4 million ($10,000) will go to an organization whose solution impacts local communities.
Apart from monetary prizes, VEI winners will gain access and exposure to Visa’s vast network of partners in the banking, merchant, VC, and government sectors. The winners also benefit from receiving recognition from one of the world’s most trusted and valuable brands.
Interestingly, this year’s VEI in Kenya will see an in-person competition on Thursday July 6, the winner of which will progress to the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) finals on July 27 on TechCrunch.
The winner of the CEMEA regional final will proceed to the global finale, which will be held on September 19 at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.
This Visa initiative offers start-ups across five continents and 40 countries the opportunity to solve the commerce challenges of the future.
Since its launch in 2015, VEI has helped over 12,000 startups from across 100 countries, to collectively raise more than $16 Billion USD (Sh. 2.24 trillion) in funding.
In 2022, VEI awarded more than $530,000 USD (Sh. 74.2 million) in prize money over the course of the competition, which saw over 4,000 startups participate from five regions. Nigeria’s ThriveAgric took home the Global grand prize of $100,000 USD (Sh. 14 million) and an additional $20,000 USD (2.8 million) Visa Direct prize.
Visa is an American multinational financial services corporation, which facilitates electronic funds transfers in more than 200 countries and territories, most commonly through Visa-branded credit cards, gift cards and debit cards
