The Egyptian team “FinTech Got Talent Students” from the American University in Cairo (AUC) has won first place in the Arab FinTech Challenge (AFCT) for universities, which was held for the first time in the MENA region as part of GITEX North Star, the largest technology and startup exhibition in Dubai, UAE, from 15 to 18 October 2023.
The AFCT is an initiative of FinTech Egypt, an affiliate of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) that aims to foster and promote financial technology innovation among university students in Egypt and other Arab countries, and to provide them with technical support and guidance to launch their FinTech projects in various markets.
The Egyptian team, which was mentored by the “MINT Incubator,” a business incubator founded and owned by EGBANK, competed with teams from different Arab countries, including the UAE, Lebanon, and Jordan, and presented their innovative FinTech solutions and applications that meet the needs of the Egyptian financial and banking market.
The Egyptian team was one of the two teams that represented Egypt in the AFCT, along with another team from the Chinese University in Egypt. Both teams had previously won the final qualifiers of the “FinTech Got Talent” competition, which was launched in July this year under the “FinYology” initiative.
The “FinYology” initiative is a joint effort of FinTech Egypt and the Egyptian Banking Institute, which aims to discover young talents and enable them to develop FinTech and innovation skills at an early age. The initiative also offers training opportunities for university students in banks operating in Egypt, which helps them gain practical experience before graduation.