The Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI) 2022, a global open innovation competition, powered by FinTech Egypt – an initiative by CBE-, is inviting Egyptian early-stage FinTech and payments startups to showcase their innovative products and solutions.
This in line with of CBE’s efforts to support the expansion of FinTech innovations in the local market.
The global competition objectives are integrated with Egypt’s endeavors to support digital transformation and achieve financial inclusion. VEI global competition will run for the first time in Egypt on the 12th of May, 2022. By the end of the competition, 3 Egyptian FinTech and payment startup winners will receive an equity-free cash prize worth EGP 500.000, EGP 350.000 and EGP 250.000 consecutively.
The competition also provides a unique opportunity for Egyptian entrepreneurs to compete on the global scale, whereas the top winner will have a guaranteed spot at the CEMEA (Central Europe, Middle East & Africa) regional finals on the 8th of June 2022, to compete for a total prize of USD 45K. The CEMEA regional winner will then move on to the global finale in November 2022, and will have the opportunity to be awarded up to USD 157K in total prize money.
Ayman Hussein, First Sub-Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, for the Information Technology Sector stated that “This initiative is in line with the objectives of Central Bank of Egypt’s FinTech & Innovation Strategy to enable the FinTech industry, this initiative also helps support young talents in this vital field representing a promising future and thus achieve its vision to become a regionally recognized FinTech hub in the Arab world and Africa, home to next-generation of financial services, talents, and innovative development.”
Rasha Negm, Assistant Sub-Governor for FinTech & Innovation, at the Central Bank of Egypt commented: “VEI represents a promising opportunity for Egyptian FinTech & FinTech-enabled startups to develop innovative and technological solutions both on national and international levels.”
Deadline for receiving applications in Egypt is March 20th, 2022. Startups can apply through this link: https://usa.visa.com/visa-everywhere/everywhere-initiative/initiative.html
