Ezulwini – MTN FinTech Hackathon 2022 Competition stand to share USD 10,000 (E160,202.50) in this year’s competition.
This was disclosed by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sam Shongwe during the official launch of the competition at Mahlalekhukhwini House. Making his remarks, the CEO said, “MTN Fintech is today officially encouraging developers to refine their ideas towards gearing up to join the competition where they stand to win a share of USD 10,000 in this year’s competition. I’d like to reassure participants that all these ideas shall be owned by the developers and as such, MTN Fintech will ensure any business model they desire fully benefits the developer. I hope to see you all when we announce the top 12 finalists of the program in 3-4 weeks’ time.”
Shongwe disclosed that at the core of their Ambition 2025 Strategy is the development of platforms, Fintech’s and APIs, becoming an enabler for businesses wishing to plug into their platforms.
“Our continued investment in growing FinTech has led us to a point where, to date, we have 88 businesses and start-ups on the MoMo Open API platform. These businesses have a monthly circulation of E17 Million, with over 3 million transactions going through monthly. The recent MTN Bushfire festival was another great achievement for MTN FinTech where through opening our APIs platform, customers could seamlessly purchase festival tickets via the MTN MoMo Marketplace. Ensuring that MoMo becomes the only currency for all festivals in the country going forward.”
He said this proves the great appetite that exits in the financial ecosystem for solutions such as the Open API platform through the benefits already being derived by emaSwati and businesses since they opened it up.
He said it’s been a journey they are pleased to have made easier for creatives and developers to integrate into Mobile Money as they roll out their applications. He added, “essentially, this translates to a seamless, end-to-end transactional experience where, through the mere exposure of our MoMo APIs, the traditional physical interaction of making payments is eliminated. The MoMo Open API platform is fully enabling e-commerce, ushering us into a digitised Eswatini. The recently announced MTN FinTech GSMA certification has been a great milestone for us as business, a much-needed confidence boost in MoMo as a reliable and safe product.”
The CEO highlighted that issues of safety and security became pertinent as we grew the MTN FinTech company, and the certification has given MTN FinTech the stamp of approval to boldly take this next step and further open MoMo APIs to developers. He said the event is about fresh digital ideas which will make an impact in Eswatini, way into their future.
“As we journey towards our digital transformation strategy, it’s imperative that we create opportunities for businesses to play in the digital space; and it is for this reason that we are launching the MTN FinTech Hackathon 2022 Competitiontoday.”
This is the second Hackathon MTN FinTech is running as a business, and Shongwe said it is extremely vital that he acknowledged prior participants of this program and the amazing success shared.
Shongwe said they have derived many learnings from the previous participants and are excited to be tackling another Hackathon with Eswatini’s bright minds.
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