Black Swan, a FinTech startup based in Mauritius, has clinched the top prize at the MEST Africa Challenge (MAC) 2025 Grand Finale, held at Innovation City, Cape Town on November 26.
Why It Matters
- The MEST Africa Challenge, led by the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST Africa) and powered by Absa Group, is one of the continent’s leading pitch competitions.
- This year’s focus on FinTech spotlighted solutions driving financial inclusion and digital transformation across Africa.
- Black Swan’s win secures significant capital and a crucial opportunity to pilot its technology with a major banking partner, accelerating its continental expansion.
The Winning Pitch
Co-founded by Derick Kazimoto, Black Swan’s mission is to “Make Africa Bankable” by solving the challenge of data fragmentation that renders millions of consumers and MSMEs “invisible” to formal lenders.
- The Problem: Fragmented, informal data makes it difficult for financial institutions to verify creditworthiness, limiting credit growth and economic mobility.
- Black Swan’s Solution: The platform transforms this fragmented data into instant credit intelligence, enabling precise affordability assessments and inclusive, scalable lending.
- Kazimoto: “Africa’s financial system cannot see the true creditworthiness of millions… Our mission is to make Africa bankable. We believe Africa is shifting from informal, collateral-heavy lending to data-driven credit.”
Scaling Up
MAC 2025 drew hundreds of applications from Absa’s priority markets across the continent. Ten finalists pitched in Cape Town to a panel of investors, Absa executives, and industry leaders.
- The Prize: Black Swan receives US $50,000 in equity investment, entry into the MEST Portfolio, and the critical opportunity to pilot commercial solutions with Absa business units across Africa.
- Absa Perspective: Tawanda Chatikobo, Head of Digital for Absa Regional Operations (ARO), Retail and Business Banking, noted Black Swan’s win was secured because their solution “meets a clear need and shows potential to complement the services we provide across our markets.”
- MEST Insight: Ashwin Ravichandran, Portfolio Advisor at MEST Africa, observed a “new maturity in African innovation,” with founders prioritizing compliance, interoperability, and cross-border readiness from day one.
Bigger Picture
Now in its seventh year, the MEST Africa Challenge continues to serve as a vital bridge, uniting the agility of emerging startups with the scale and expertise of corporate players like Absa.
Tamu Dutuma, Head of Strategy and Transformation for Technology at Absa Regional Operations (ARO), highlighted the technical merit: “What resonated with us was the technical discipline behind their approach: the architecture, the clarity of the build, and the way they’re thinking about scaling responsibly.”
Since 2008, MEST Africa has trained and supported over 2,000 entrepreneurs and invested in over 90 startups, cementing its role as a launchpad for pan-African tech ventures.
