North African startups are eligible for the SANAD Fincluders Startup Challenge in Amman, Jordan, on 3-4 May 2017 and its $15 000 cash prize. The challenge, which also includes Middle Eastern startups, aims to find innovative SMEs focusing on financial inclusion and follows the Arab Day dedicated to increasing access to financial services.
Finalists will be offered flights to Jordan and accommodation during the mentoring sessions, before they present their firms to a panel of leading finance managers. Investors, regulators and development finance specialists will be in the audience.
"The Fincluders Startup Challenge serves as a natural extension of our technical assistance activities. Providing mentors to help guide companies, especially new ones, is integral to our mission, and our capacity-building goals include the creation of platforms for entrepreneurs that provide access to much-needed capital for companies in their infancy," said SANAD's technical assistance facility committee chairman Ines Ebrecht.
"By bringing the extraordinarily successful Fincluders Startup Challenge to the Middle East and North Africa, SANAD continues to employ the most effective methods available for identifying the best innovations for bolstering micro, small and medium enterprises and fostering economic development and job creation in the region," concluded SANAD board chairman Wolfgang Reuss.
