Saint-Gobain, in partnership with African tech ecosystem accelerator and deal-flow platform, AfricArena, has launched an Innovation Challenge.

The challenge is targeted at African-based eCommerce and Fintech startups, specifically, startups in Egypt, Kenya and South Africa.

The Innovation Challenge seeks a product-market-fit solution that serves as a: Marketplace, payment platform, community layby or savings, that enables consumers, particularly in informal markets, to tokenize vouchers redeemable in Saint-Gobain products at various DIY retailers.

The challenge is open to startups in any of the above niche, located in Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa, and has scaled through Seed and Series A funding stages.

As part of the challenge, three startups would be selected to pitch at the annual AfricArena 2021 Summit in Cape Town in late November.

The startups would then, be presented with the opportunity to showcase their solutions in front of Saint-Gobain executives as well as investors looking for world-class talent to partner with.

At the end of the challenge, the winner will have the opportunity to work with Saint-Gobain businesses to deploy a POC solution. Each of the three finalists will also receive US$10,000 worth of Amazon Web Services credit.

This innovation project comes at a time when businesses have adopted a digital approach to commerce and online transactions, resulting in easier and broader access to markets.

Saint-Gobain has – for hundreds of years – been designing materials and solutions that have impacted people’s lives. The organization currently has offices in 18 African countries.

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While speaking on the Innovation Challenge, the CEO, Saint-Gobain (South Africa & Sub Saharan Africa, Jean-Claude Lasserre, established thus:

“Through partnering with AfricArena on this Open Innovation Challenge, Saint-Gobain Africa aims to not only drive innovation which answers real-life business needs but in addition, to fuel complementary innovation in the FinTech space which has the potential to fast track progress in Africa. Ultimately, through this partnership, we aim to make Africa, and in turn the world, a better home.”

AfricArena COO, Bintou Adekoya, also commented thus:

“We are thrilled to partner with Saint-Gobain and its corporate venture fund Nova for another innovation challenge this year. Through this new collaboration, we are aiming to identify the best African startups who, through their innovative solutions, will have a real and tangible impact and help the Fintech industry evolve in Africa.”

For more information, and to start an application, click here.