AFI open competition for FinTech Innovators: FinTech Showcase at AFI GPF 2019

Recognizing the power of financial technology (FinTech) to create breakthrough solutions that support and scale quality financial services, Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) is holding an open competition for FinTech innovators to showcase solutions that target low-income populations within the following seven themes: gender, youth, ageing, forcibly displaced persons, de-risking, regulatory technology/supervisory technology (RegTech/SupTech) and Inclusive Green Finance.

Finalists will be given the opportunity to present their solutions at AFI’s annual flagship event, the Global Policy Forum (GPF), held in Kigali, Rwanda, on September 11-13, 2019.

The AFI GPF is the world’s largest forum for regulatory institutions to share experiences, knowledge and initiatives on financial inclusion. Over the past decade, the keystone event has supported an environment for historic financial inclusion policy initiatives and declarations, and this year is no exception.

If you are a FinTech that would like to be spotlighted at the 2019 GPF, AFI encourages you to apply! We are excited to review your application. Apply now.

Winning entries

Up to 14 finalists will be selected to attend the AFI GPF. Here are some of their benefits:

Engage with AFI member regulators and policymakers from over 90 developing and emerging countries. This will help them better understand FinTech innovations, so that they may respond by developing enabling regulatory environments that scale up such innovations;
Share their solutions from a dedicated finalists’ “FinTech Innovators Market”, available throughout the duration of the GPF;
Pitch their solutions in a one-hour plenary session, to which all GPF participants are invited;
Participate in a high-level roundtable with AFI leaders and private sector partners;
Open access to all GPF plenary and technical sessions on 12-13 September;
Flight and accommodation costs covered (1 person per finalist team).

The seven themes

We are looking for FinTech offering innovative solutions in any and/or all of the following seven themes:

Category	Theme	Definition
1	Gender	Solutions that enhance the uptake and usage of digital financial services by low-income women in developing countries.
2	Youth	Solutions that provide low-income, youth entrepreneurs in developing countries with enhanced opportunities to access financial services and grow their business.
3	Ageing	Solutions which enhance the quality of financial inclusion for the elderly population.
4	Forcibly Displaced Persons	Digital solutions for enhancing access of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons to formal financial services.
5	De-Risking	Solutions that mitigate the loss of correspondent banking relationships and formal remittances services, with a focus on impacted small island states.
6	RegTech/SupTech	Solutions that support financial policymakers and regulatory communities to improve market regulations and supervision.
7	Inclusive Green Finance	Solutions that leverage digital financial services to encourage green consumer behavior or which help low-income consumers in developing countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Is your organization a good fit?

We are looking for organizations whose:

Core product/solution targets poor or low-income customers in AFI member countries and/or have a defined, developed, institutionalized executive-level strategy for doing so;
Product/solution enables fresh, meaningful dialogue with financial policymakers and regulatory communities due to their cutting-edge technology or innovative nature;
Product/solution is or has potential for scaling up and ensuring commercial viability;
Product/solution is operating, active and based in one or more AFI member jurisdictions;
Product/solution has been recognized in one or more AFI members’ national FinTech challenges, and/or regulatory sandboxes;
Either a start-up company or established financial institution/technology company that offers FinTech, i.e. a technology and/or innovation that aims to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services.