Nearpays, a Nigerian fintech start-up clinched the most sort after Fintech and Blockchain Technology category of the Supernova Challenge at the inaugural Gitex Africa tech conference in Marrakech, Morocco, on Friday.
The Fintech start-up which serves as an end-to-end financial service for all clients, is a full-service financial payment platform and won $10,000 in prize money after beating tough contestants.
“I’m super excited that it brings opportunities for start-ups in Nigeria, and we all have access to a better future. It shows that we can get to the top with the right platform,” quoted the founder of Nearpays, Victor Daniyan.
With categories such as Cybersecurity, AI and Digital Cities, Health Tech, and Sustainability Agritech, the Gitex Africa Supernova is the biggest pitch contest in the continent with a full monetary prize of $100,000.
The Nearpays founder believes plenty of mentorship is required for start-ups in Nigeria and once that is available, the start-ups will be able to get successful and profitable stages.
Mr. Daniyan further quoted, “I came with the intention to win all the way from Nigeria. I was determined; I was ready. It was a surprise, but I was also very determined to win,” Daniyan said. “I took the time to understand the people hearing the pitch. I took the time to research them, what businesses they were operating in, and a little bit about their personality from their LinkedIn page. I was able to make them understand our business in a very short space of time – just going straight to the point.”
Daniyan said the prize money will assist Nearpays effort in getting the payment card system license of about $15,000.
The fintech’s concept is basically making online payment easy and seamless. POS transactions, i.e. (Point of Sale), have been transferred back to users in user-friendly mode at no extra bank charges.
Mr. Daniyan, gave a brief history of his 5-year period of working in the telecommunication industry; first starting with Huawei and then moving to Nokia, where he assisted in establishing the 5G space in Nigeria. He gives credit to his team who he says helped him in making the proper decisions which in turn gives the right results.
The event Gitex Africa bringing start-ups, IT groups, investors, and founders together from all over the continent and the world in Morocco to establish and shape the future of tech in Africa proved to be a huge success. The venue, Bab Jdid, Bd Al Yarmouk in the Red City of Marrakec, with 10 halls and 45,000 sqm of space for the expo, hosted about 900 big tech companies, government entities, start-ups, and participants across 100 countries.
The founder expressed his awe at the event, saying he had never experienced such in a while. He said the event was amazing and the opportunity was an extraordinary platform especially being in Africa. He feels it is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for start-ups to network, get mentors and showcase their ability to the global market. Google, he said, summed it up when the search engine quoted that “Africa will have the next set of billions of users to appear on any tech platform in the world,”.
He concluded that the competition gave him an advantage through networking with mentors and also showcasing talents and how startups are flourishing in Abuja and not Lagos. He claims the event has also exposed their products and technology to the global world especially since it is from Nigeria. Overall, it will encourage more startups and reveal the many possible opportunities.
