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While 2020 will be remembered for its many challenges, Ukheshe celebrated some significant milestones and achievements. At a crucial time when South Africa is dealing with high employment and low economic growth, we are extremely proud to have expanded our staff complement while being actively committed to promoting financial inclusion for the growth of economies and communities both here at home and across the African continent.
Here are just some of our top 2020 highlights at a glance:
Focusing on financial inclusion with CATAPULT – In February this year, Ukheshe was selected to participate in the prestigious CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa 2020 programme in Luxembourg. It was an honour to be shortlisted to a group of 12 companies from over 243 organisations.
Launching into Africa – 2020 saw the launch of Ukheshe Africa, led by Mark Dankworth. The launch has enabled us to identify new business-to-business opportunities across the continent. We were also thrilled to welcome Victor Ndlovu as Vice President of Ukheshe Africa and Paul Opie as Head of Issuing.
Growing with Start Path – In another major highlight, we were selected to join the Mastercard Start Path Program, an exclusive startup engagement program for later-stage scaling startups. Start Path is one of many renowned programs within Mastercard Accelerate, which provides a simple, single entry point to Mastercard’s wide fintech portfolio and access to everything startups need to grow quickly.
Taking on the Ecobank Fintech Challenge – Ukheshe was a proud finalist in the 2020 Ecobank Fintech Challenge where we exhibited and showcased our payment platform to Ecobank’s investment and technology teams. Ukheshe then had the unique opportunity to participate in Ecobank’s Fellowship Program.
Oltio acquisition – In November, Ukheshe acquired Oltio and welcomed 14 new team members to the Ukheshe family. Oltio developed the digital payments platform that supports Masterpass, Mastercard’s QR payment service in South Africa and enables people to safely pay for a wide variety of purchases with their bank card by scanning a QR code with their mobile phone.