Ugandan fintech ChapChap finalist in Shs3.7 billion innovation race

Ugandan financial technology (fintech) firm ChapChap is among the 20 finalists that have been selected to face off in the final round of the Global Maker Challenge, organized to support solutions to worldwide problems like climate change and food shortage.

Organised under the Mohammed bin Rashid Initiative for Global Prosperity, the challenge will see winners compete for prizes and mentorship worth up to $1 million (about Shs3.7 billion) after presenting their solutions during a series of Virtual Pitches that will commence on August 31, 2020.

The pitch session leads up to the Global Maker Challenge Award Ceremony on September 6.

ChapChap, started in 2016 by Opio Obwangamoi David and Emmanuel Emodek -- helps Ugandan merchants manage stock and make payments and data from this can help them acquire loans from banks and make informed decisions.

It is not the first time ChapChap is nominated for a global competion. Just a few days ago, it was announced among four companies that are vying for the Jack Ma Foundation’s Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI).

In 2019, the company won $55,000 from the Unilever Young Entrepreneurs Awards, $54000 from the Uganda-government funded NIISP and $20,000 from NSSF's Hi Innovator.

In the Global Maker Challengers, the twenty finalists were selected from over 3,400 solutions that were submitted for Cohort 2 of the Global Maker Challenge, a 200 percent increase from last year's inaugural cohort. 

Solutions from over 148 countries were received, of which 18 per cent came in from Least Developed Countries.

They were assessed and shortlisted in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's SOLVE initiative, MIT SOLVE, and an esteemed jury of 47 globally renowned subject matter and innovation experts from UN agencies, global organisations, digital innovation companies, NGOs, and academia.

The competition has differet categories and ChapChap competed under that looking for innovators that have "ability to support rural communities in accessing new supply chains and markets to create better livelihoods."

Cohort 2 of the Global Maker Challenge was launched at the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation's 8th Ministerial Conference of the Least Developed Countries in November 2019 in Abu Dhabi.