This document discusses fintech innovation in Africa and the challenges and opportunities for startups. It notes that Africa's largest constraint is access to market, and that while banks, telcos, insurers, and retailers have access, they are constrained by legacy systems and business models. It argues that partnering with corporations is expensive and slow for startups. However, it sees the challenges as opportunities to drive financial inclusion by adjusting approaches to engage with corporations and untapped markets in new ways.

1. Fintech Innovation Africa
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2. Africa’s
Largest
Technology
Accelerator
Africa’s First
Fintech
Accelerator
Three Years
Seven
Accelerator
Programmes
One Hundred
Technology Founder
CEO Mentors
Two Hundred +
technology businesses
from early to mature
stage.
We offer strategy,
access to market, deal
structuring, scaling &
funding.
We Have
Worked With
Standard Bank,
SWIFT
Innotribe,
RMI Alphacode,
Microsoft,
UK DIT,
MMI,
PWC,
AGO
Three
Accelerators for
Standard Bank,
two external,
one internal
Performance
Management &
Coaching
Fintech
Accelerator for
RMI AlphaCode
All life stages
Ideation to
Exit
Mostly post
revenue
business
The Sw7 Journey

3. You normally dis-intermediate when you know that you can’t fail or don’t have that much to lose.
Simplify
Aggregate
Disintermediate
To remain in
the game, you
need one
To disrupt,
you need
two
To drive the
multiplier, you
need all three
Fintech Innovation

4. The Idea
Innovative Business Model
Scale
Drive adoption; cost of customer acquisition
Viability
Revenue model; margins, cost to serve
Resources
Runway; skills, time, cash
In emerging markets we
have one main Constraint...
The Four
Innovation
Pillars
The Idea Scale
Viability Resources

5. We have a
deep and
strong talent
pool - no skills
shortage
Access to
Market is our
biggest
challenge. How
do we create
scale?
We have strong
technical skills,
we lead the
Mobile
Payments
market
There is enough
tech around to
get our cost to
serve down
(blockchain,
digital banks,
mobile wallets,
coupons)
Resources will
come to a
validated
model
We have a
complex and
fragmented
consumer
market
Our Financial
and B2B
markets are
world class
Our
Consumers
are
Inaccessible
and
Unaddressable
To drive financial
inclusion we
need to monetise
off many micro
transactions
To validate and
be sustainable we
need a large
consumer base
Our Constraint

6. The Corporate’s have the Access to Market we desperately need
They are constrained by legacy back office systems, ‘old’ market revenue
recognition models, how they ‘see’ the Customer
In Africa, the majority Addressable and Accessible market is largely available to:
No one else has the scale to address the Missing Middle (yet)
Retailers Banks Telco’s Insurers

7. Innovators
build a
product to
remove a
constraint
from the
customer’s
life, need to
drive
adoption for
scale, but
can’t
guarantee
the business
case (it’s
new)
Getting Corporate Support
The
corporates
want a
business
case first
In the
current
market, the
truth lies
somewhere
in the
middle
Those who
have the
Customer,
have driven
Adoption by
Simplifying and
Aggregating.
If they have
Adoption,
they can
Disintermediate
later
In the new
markets, the
advantage
will lie with
whoever
gets
Adoption.
We are in
transition

8. Banks
First to Market
● You need to have an
account before I ‘see’ you
● Will lend you money only if I
can underwrite the risk
● Want alternative credit
scoring, but need you to
match existing risk profiles
● Need to be the the grown
up in any transaction as
they deal with the regulator
Why can’t we be a
insurer, teclo, retailer?
Telco’s
Second to Market
● Only know how to
engage with you by
selling a device, data,
voice or a SIM card
● Offer massive market
access but margins are
tight (30% regulator,
30% Teclo, 40% you)
Why can’t we be a
bank, insurer,
retailer?
Insurers
Coming to a
market near you
soon
● Regulated, great
margins
● Insure-on-demand
will boom
● Will follow the
Banks and Telco’s
with the learning
processes
Why can’t we
bank, telco?
Retailers
Open to
Partner
• Ability and
appetite to
engage
with the
Regulator is
low. It won’t
stay this
way for too
much
longer
Let’s talk
bottom line
and margin
Fintech Innovation - Corporate Landscape

9. ● Going to market directly is expensive and slow
● Going to market through corporates is expensive and slower
● Corporates have no economies of scale or processes to
engage with the SME markets effectively
● Partnering with corporates creates slow growth businesses
that don’t attract international interest & funding
Access to Market

10. The challenge is the opportunity
● How do we realise the opportunity?
● How do we drive financial inclusion?
● What role are the corporates going to
play?
Being in Africa, we are in the right place
(phew, finally!) at the right time. We
need to adjust our thinking

11. Sw7.co
Tech Startups, Founders & Developers Africa - LinkedIn
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