Recent research by the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) in Tanzania on the current landscape of the fintech startup, its challenges, and opportunities for growth (March 2021), highlights that there are over 30 fintech start-ups in Tanzania, of which 67 percent are in the early stage of development.

And, there is a lot of room for capacitating and providing an enabling environment for these fintech start-ups to scale and grow in Tanzania. Despite the many factors, such as demand, capital, and even policy and regulation, the fintech ecosystem in Tanzania has developed rapidly in the last ten years. With a good understanding of these challenges, UNCDF in Tanzania partnered with Sahara Ventures to accelerate an enabling environment for fintech start-ups in Tanzania by:

1. Running a PesaTech Accelerator that is designed for founders and is specified as an investor readiness programme. The programme supported participants by using self-assessment tools and providing tailor-made expert advice.
2. Provided the chance to founders to pitch their businesses in the #SaharaSparks Marketplace, giving participants an opportunity to pitch and close deals with investors.

Why PesaTech Accelerator?

"Sahara Ventures is working to build innovation and technology entrepreneurship in Africa by strategically engaging with different ecosystem partners. Currently, we are working with UNCDF to build a fintech start-up ecosystem in Tanzania. The goal is to mentor fintech start-ups that are ready for investment and able to raise investment through an Investor Readiness Programme.” Says Jumanne Mtambalike, the CEO of Sahara Ventures. “There are almost no early and later stage individual or institutional investors for startups in Tanzania. Through collaborating with UNCDF, we will be able to address early-stage financing with ticket sizes grants,” adds Jumanne.

For its first and current cohort, the Pesatech Accelerator programme selected ten fintech startups among 30 applicants. The selection process was guided by judging criteria that were keen to select concepts of viability, innovation, impact, and business growth. The selected start-ups were: Settlo Technologies, Pangisha App, COWPESA, Mfuko pesa, Kikundi App, Mipango, Afropavo, Pangisha app, Safari wallet, Atrader.

Among the ten participating startups, only seven were able to attend the programme first ever bootcamp. The bootcamp was designed to teach participants about the following:

1. Investment landscape and overview of investor readiness
2. Product testing and customer validation
3. Finance and business numbers
4. Pitch deck — and investors point of view.

During this phase, the start-ups founders were able to practice their pitches and refine their products through customer validation. It was emphasized to them that their focus should rely on understanding an investor’s point of view. At the end of the camp, two fintechs - Mipango and Settlo were given the opportunity to compete in a pitching session at the Fintech Investment Marketplace which was organized in October 2021 by UNCDF’s partner on the accelerator program - Sahara Ventures - as part of the annual Sahara Sparks-Future Reimagined events in Tanzania. Every year, the marketplace serves as an avenue for different stakeholders in Tanzania’s innovation and technology space to discuss current dynamics of the fintech landscape in Tanzania, but most importantly to hear the fintech start-ups pitch their business concepts to a panel of judges and stand a chance to secure investors.

“UNCDF wants to create an enabling environment for fintech startups in Tanzania by running a PesaTech Accelerator that is designed for founders and provide a chance to pitch their businesses at the marketplace and close deals with investors."

- Ivana Damjanov, UNCDF Tanzania Country Lead

Although the two startups supported by Pesatech Accelerator were unable to secure any investment from the event, they gained feedback on what can further improve and what seems to be working effectively. They also learned from a panel discussion that explored early-stage financing, creating a pipeline of investment-ready businesses in addition to wider enablers and hindrances of the ecosystem.

“UNCDF wants to create an enabling environment for fintech startups in Tanzania by running a PesaTech Accelerator that is designed for founders and provide a chance to pitch their businesses at the marketplace and close deals with investors. The programme was aimed to support the participants by using self-assessment tools and tailor-made expert advice,” notes Ivana Damjanov, UNCDF Tanzania Country Lead speaking at the event. And that is what UNCDF will continue to do, facilitating and investing in opportunities to spur the digital economy in Tanzania.

To learn more about the PesaTech Accelerator programme, visit pesatech.saharaventures.com