The Cameroonian fintech Koree was crowned winner of the sixth annual Ecobank Fintech Challenge. Out of the more than 1,490 fintech companies that participated in the competition, Koree stood out.
Koree was established by Magalie Gauze-Sanga, who also serves as the company’s CEO, with the intention of resolving the problem of inadequate small change in Francophone Africa. After the app from Cameroon, the apps from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya that came in second and third place, respectively, were Makuta and Flexpay.
The three winners were chosen from a total of eight candidates. The winners of the competition were Koree, Makuta, and Flexpay, who each took home $50,000, $10,000, and $5,000, respectively.
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An achievement for Cameroon and Francophone Africa
This is the first time that the award has been given to Cameroon, the first time that the award has been given to a Francophone company, and most notably, the first time that a woman has won the prize.
Koree was established by Magalie Gauze-Sanga, who received her degrees from both Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and EM Lyon. She holds a Master’s degree in International Economics in addition to a Master’s degree in Management.
Before being a member of the African Women in Fintech & Payments Network, Gauze-Sanga began her professional life working as the Regional Head of Financial Services at JumiaPay for West Africa. Before she started Koree, she was the Chief Operating Officer of Julaya and the Head of Payments at Anka.
“I’m very happy to have won this challenge,” said the Cameroonian, whose application had been turned down the previous year.
“We applied last year, but alas, being still in the initial phase with only a few months of existence, we weren’t very successful, which blocked our way to selection. We’ve come back much stronger for this edition”, she added.
The impact of Koree
Koree enables its users to obtain their change from merchants who have collaborated with the firm on their mobile devices. The problem of a shortage of small change in Francophone Africa is addressed and solved by the solution. In addition to this, Koree provides its consumers with a cashback system that enables them to recoup some of the money they spend on their purchases.
The funds are added to a virtual fidelity card that can be accessed through the app. The money that is saved can then be used at a later time to make purchases from merchants who are partners. This provides users with additional flexibility and strengthens their ability to participate in financial markets.
The next move of Koree
By the end of this year, Koree hopes to have an established presence in Côte d’Ivoire. The business has the intention of capitalizing on the fact that the nation will be hosting the African Cup of Nations (AFCON).
The app currently has over 11,000 users and 40 shops that have partnered with it. According to the company’s founder and CEO, the financial technology company has processed 40,000 transactions in Douala thus far in 2018. In order to finance its expansion, Koree was recently successful in raising €20,000 from the Cameroon Angels Network (CAN).
The intention of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge is to encourage creative problem-solving within the African financial technology industry. The finalists in the competition are invited to participate in Ecobank’s Fintech Fellowship program, which provides participants with the opportunity to negotiate deals and enter into business collaborations with the Ecobank Group.