A win for Emata, an agriculture-based fintech as it has been declared the winner of The Search for ‘Fintech Abu Dhabi’ in Africa. The fintech is now set to represent Uganda and Africa at the Fintech Abu Dhabi Festival in Abu Dhabi this year.
Also read: 4 teams emerge winners of Innovation Program pitch 2021 to win UGX 60M
The announcement was made during the virtual pitch event that was held on 21st July 2021. Other startups from different parts of the continent that participated in the event were Awabah, Get Equity, and Lami Technologies. Emata and Kenya’s Lami technologies emerged as the best in The Search Africa stop 1.
FinTech Abu Dhabi
Now in its fifth year, FinTech Abu Dhabi is the MENA region’s leading FinTech event, enhancing the UAE’s position as a world-class FinTech hub by bringing together various leading players and global stakeholders to discuss ideas and launch progressive initiatives within the FinTech ecosystem.
Fintech Abu Dhabi highlights more than 35 countries with 23 planned tour stops between June and November to find and select the world’s best FinTechs to join the exclusive FinTech100. The Search comes to an end at the final destination, MENA’s leading fintech festival, Fintech Abu Dhabi happening on 22 – 24 November 2021.
Each virtual tour stop features interviews and panel debates as fintech leaders from the host country share their thoughts on how fintech innovations have shaped their region
There is no denying the fact that Africa is growing into the next big fintech hub attracting some major investors from all over the world. New fintechs raised almost $350m during the first quarter of 2020 alone despite hardships brought about by the pandemic.
Financial technology has grown massively as it solves the problems surrounding financial institutions and traditional banking systems. Fintechs today like Emata are embracing new ways to serve the population that lacks access to affordable financial products.
Emata’s story
The fintech is certainly progressing as it continues to hit key milestones. In May this year, Emata bagged a huge win emerging as the best in the third edition of Catapult Inclusion Africa. It competed with 14 other startups all over Africa that were selected to take part in the accelerator program.
Read also: Fintech Emata emerges the top winner of Catapult Inclusion Africa Bootcamp
Emata is a fintech startup that is revolutionizing farmer financing as it targets the underbanked in Uganda with the main focus on farmers who are in cooperatives. It provides them with access to crucial banking services that they might need. By interacting with Emata’s digital platform, cooperatives can register farmer deliveries, update prices, create payment schedules and share daily SMS updates with farmers.
By automating most manual processes, it solves issues like long travel time, cumbersome documentation, tricky contracts, or hidden fees. It offers instant and affordable loans to farmers with advanced credit scoring tools that guide them on how to invest in the productivity of their farms.
A product of Laboremus Uganda, Emata’s story begins in 2017 as it was formed with a goal to solve some of the main challenges that hold back the flow of agricultural financing in Africa today. The company has continued to hit milestones thereafter as it has partnered with various funding partners like UNCDF, Rabobank Foundation, NORAD and FSDU.
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