Earlier this week, Barclays Africa announced its new physical and virtual start-up incubator, Rise. According to Barclays, Rise, a global community intended to facilitate FinTech innovation and collaboration, will take advantage of tech solutions not reliant on physical infrastructure, thus making it an ideal solution for Africa.
Barclays Africa chief information officer, Ashley Veasey, says the financial services industry is experiencing a paradigm shift, with tech start-ups giving traditional models of business a run for their money. Derek White, Barclays Africa's chief design and digital officer, also the Rise programme architect, believes the initiative is about connecting innovators and broadening networks. He says open innovation is a way to co-create the future of financial services, to the benefit of customers worldwide.
Together with its digital network, Rise will also have physical innovation hubs in New York, London and Manchester, with a South African centre set to open this December in Cape Town. The latter will have co-working facilities and an events space. It will also be the home of the Barclays Accelerator programme, which runs over 13 weeks as a mentor-driven programme backed by TechStars.
Rise initiatives already on the go in Africa include the Tech Lab Africa programme and the Barclays Africa Supply Chain Challenge.
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