Last week, the School of Business at the American University in Cairo (AUC) celebrated the graduation of the third batch of AUC Venture Lab FinTech Accelerator. The FinTech Accelerator program was launched by the AUC last year in association with the Commercial International Bank (CIB) of Egypt.
This is a one-of-a-kind initiative in Egypt that aims to provide FinTech startups specialized support through 12 weeks of extensive training under the umbrella of CIB and AUC Venture Lab.
The objective is to create an all-encompassing platform that helps bridge the gap between the financial sector and the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region through innovative solutions in the field of financial technology.
Five emerging companies were hand-picked for the third batch of the program. These included:
- LiQWD: An e-wallet service that lets you pay bills and recharge online
- Al Gam’eya: A dedicated mobile app for managing and regulating your saving/credit accounts.
- Swift Card: A platform that offers an e-trade model through the sales of prepaid cards.
- Haweshly: An app that young users can use to make small savings until they are old enough to open an account in the banking sector.
- Elm: A service that provides small education loans to families struggling to provide education to their kids.
Mohammed Farag, the Executive Head of e-banking and Head of the department of banking transactions at CIB, said that the bank is committed to providing all necessary support to the booming startup scene in the region’s FinTech sector.
Farag also pointed out that the bank’s goal is to support young entrepreneurs in building their own systems which then can be used to further technological innovations and expedite the spread of financial inclusion.
AUC Venture Lab prides itself as the leading university accelerator with more than 50 startups accelerated till date in Egypt, MENA, and Africa.
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