Applications are now open in Nigeria for the 2023 edition of the Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI), a global open innovation competition that sees startups pitch their innovative solutions to solve tomorrow’s payment and commerce challenges.
“The Visa Everywhere Initiative is a platform that empowers fintechs and entrepreneurs to showcase the most ground-breaking, impactful solutions in the world of payments and commerce,” said Andrew Uaboi, vice president, and head of Visa West Africa.
“Through their technology-driven, innovative solutions, fintechs have the potential to offer broad social benefits to the markets they operate in – particularly when it comes to providing financial services to those who have traditionally been underserved.
“At Visa, we believe access to the digital economy drives equitable, inclusive growth, and VEI is an important means of supporting the innovators playing a leading role in this space,” he said.
The Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) finals will be live-streamed on July 27 on TechCrunch – a leading online publisher focused on the tech industry and the startup ecosystem.
The startup that wins at the CEMEA Regionals will participate in the global finale, which will be held on September 19 at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.
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This year, Visa’s VEI CEMEA is set to introduce an award in the Risk and Security domain – Fintechs Innovating in Risk Excellence, or ‘FIIRE’, Award.
Through this special edition, Visa in partnership with Emirates NBD is scouting for global Fintech players across fraud management, cybersecurity, and credit risk, among others.
Following a joint review by Visa and Emirates NBD representatives, the winning fintech will receive a $25,000 prize and an opportunity to work with Emirates NBD, a leading bank in the region.
In addition to monetary prizes, VEI winners gain access and exposure to Visa’s vast networks of partners in the banking, merchant, VC, and government sectors. The winners also benefit from receiving recognition from one of the world’s most trusted and valuable brands.
Since its launch in 2015, VEI has helped startups representing more than 100 countries collectively raise more than $16 billion in funding, with a network that includes nearly 12,000 startups from across the globe.
Last year, VEI awarded more than $530,000 in prize money throughout the competition, which saw over 4,000 startups participate from five regions. VEI 2022 saw Nigeria’s ThriveAgric take home the VEI Global grand prize of $100,000. ThriveAgric also won the $20,000 Visa Direct prize.
