MEST<\/a> is a pan-African software and entrepreneurship training programme, seed fund, and incubator helping to launch technology startups across the continent.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe MEST Africa Challenge, in partnership with Absa, offers winners US$50,000 in equity funding, and for the second year in a row had a specific sector focus, on fintech startups building solutions in digital payments, financial inclusion, insurtech, and value chain financing.<\/p>\n
Black Swan was named overall winner following a high-energy grand final at Innovation City, Cape Town on November 26. Co-founded by Derick Kazimoto, the startup is on a mission to \u201cmake Africa bankable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAfrica\u2019s financial system cannot see the true creditworthiness of millions of consumers and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) because their data is fragmented, informal, and invisible to traditional lenders,\u201d said Derick Kazimoto, co-founder and CEO of Black Swan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis invisibility locks out capable borrowers, limits credit growth, and slows economic mobility. Our mission is to make Africa bankable. We believe Africa is shifting from informal, collateral-heavy lending to data-driven credit. A transformation that\u2019s changing how banks and fintechs trust, lend, and grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The MEST Africa Challenge attracted hundreds of applications from eight of Absa priority markets, including Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Seychelles, and Mauritius. After a rigorous selection process, 10 startups advanced to the Cape Town final, where they pitched to a panel of judges comprising investors, Absa executives, and industry leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cCongratulations to Black Swan and all ten finalists of this year\u2019s MEST Africa Challenge,\u201d said Ashwin Ravichandran, portfolio advisor at MEST Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year showed a clear shift toward building for scale; founders are prioritising compliance, interoperability, and cross-border readiness from day one. Fintech is now powering real sectors like agriculture, energy, and trade, and that\u2019s where lasting impact will come from. At MEST, we\u2019re inspired to see entrepreneurs building solutions that are deeply local yet globally adaptable. It reflects a new maturity in African innovation; grounded in customer realities, and ambitious enough to scale across borders.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Black Swan, a Mauritius-based fintech startup, has been named the winner of the MEST Africa Challenge 2025. Founded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[138,336,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-168222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-entrepreneurship","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}