Celo, a US accelerator firm, has introduced a support program for African startups in remittances, payments, savings, virtual assets, and related financial services. Referred to as Celo Africa Web3 Fund, it will allow Web2 founders across Africa to adopt a strategy and then scale their businesses to achieve deeper financial inclusion, lower transaction costs, and more affordable credit.
The deadline for applications to the Kenyan workshop is July 15. It is geared toward supporting the inclusive financial system that contributes to the prosperity of all mobile-first blockchain networks. Daniel Kimotho, Celo’s Ecosystem Lead for Kenya, stated that in Africa, the crypto landscape is quickly evolving and there is a host of opportunities for traditional startups. Kimotho added:
“These opportunities could transform community access to financial products and services, driving wealth and inclusion by creating entry points for people to hold and own digital assets.”
The financial network that is in partnership with many including Echo VC, Uncovered Fund, Unicorn Growth Capital, ApeUnit, and Flori Ventures has developed innovative Web3 applications that now support more than 1000 projects worldwide developed by artists and developers.
The Web 2 applicants will get financial investment and technical support from the payment network. That is a step in enabling the Web 2 founders across Africa to adopt a given strategy and scale their businesses to achieve deeper financial inclusion, lower transaction costs, and more affordable credit.
Therefore, Celo unleashed an open call for Web 2 founders from crypto, remittances, savings, payments, lending, and many other related financial services industries with an interest in cryptocurrency to apply for Web3 Fund by July 15.
This announcement comes in as a countermeasure to the challenges that the Pan-African startups and businesses face regularly. They include disparate regional currencies, expensive payment and collection networks, and capital controls in some markets.
Since its launch in 2021, the program is set to stretch its foot across up to five African nations by conducting in-person workshops across the nations with the first one scheduled to take place in Nairobi. Later on, more workshops will follow in Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, and South Africa.
