Call for Applications: Wazo Challenge Tanzania 2025

Focus Areas

• Seamless, Flexible & Quick
  • Millennials, having grown up with the internet, are more receptive to new technological and digital offerings. They prefer tech products for anything and everything, on which FinTechs are betting.
• Everything Personal Finance
  • According to a report by Global X, a segment of the millennial population the survey calls “adrenaline techies” are 136% more likely than other segments to use robo-advisors and apps instead of financial advisors.
• Customer Centricity
  • The modern age customer demands more than the default convenience of online banking. They have high expectations for customer service, user experience, and customer engagement.
• Digital First Products
  • Millennials trust technology and are less likely to seek face-to-face meetings with bankers at bricks-and-mortar branches. This group of consumers want entirely new development and idea generation digital products that are relevant by connecting innovative, to their daily lives.

Program Benefits

• Venture Bootcamp
  • 10 high-potential (5 from each track) will be selected for a 4-week venture mentorship and leadership development bootcamp, that will be delivered by Absa Bank Tanzania Leadership and Hindsight Ventures global network.
  • The Venture Bootcamp will help establish/reiterate basic venture development processes, enable industry connections, international networks, peer community and more. During the course of the bootcamp, each selected startup will get access to $600,000 worth of technology credits that will help them build fast.
• Partnership Opportunity
  • Selected startups for the bootcamp will get an opportunity to work closely with the leadership at Absa Bank Tanzania which can lead to a collaboration or co-creation.
• Technology Credits
  • Each startup gets in excess of $600,000 in technology credits from partners such as AWS, Zoho, IBM, Microsoft, Canva, DigitalOcean, FreshWorks and more.
• In-Person Demo Day
  • The program will culminate with a Demo Day to showcase Top – 6 solutions (3 from each track) to the Absa Bank Tanzania leadership and the local corporations and investors.

Tracks

• Hackathon
  • They are looking for enterprising youth (as individuals or teams) to use technology (Software/Hardware/Software+Hardware), and solve for one of the themes.
• The Innovation Challenge
  • They are looking for existing startups leveraging technology Software/Hardware/Software+Hardware), and solve for one of the themes.

Submission Guidelines

• Hackathon
  • Abstract Submission
    • Hackathon submissions will be “invite-only”, based on an abstract submission. Under Phase-1, participants must submit a summary of their idea with an intro, body, and conclusion.
    • Quick Tips
      • Be Concise. With a 800 word limit, write only what is necessary, avoiding wordiness
      • Be Clear. Plan your abstract carefully before writing it, and consider parameters such as uniqueness, feasibility, marketability, scalability, and possibility of going from idea to prototype
      • Be Clean. Revise and edit your abstract to ensure that its final presentation is error free.
  • MVP/Working Prototype Submission
    • Submit a MVP/working prototype of your solution that can be integrated to Absa Bank Tanzania systems.
• Innovation Challenge
  • For Startups
    • They are looking for Tanzanian startups using technology (Software/Hardware /Software+Hardware), and solve for the above listed focus areas. It is mandatory that applicants should have a registered entity in Tanzania and be operational for a minimum 2 years.

Selection Criteria

• For Hackathon
  • Social And Community Impact
  • Uniqueness Of The Idea
  • Market Opportunity
  • Idea Feasibility
  • Innovation
• For Innovation Challenge
  • Social and Community Impact
  • Uniqueness of the Business
  • Market Opportunity
  • Business Traction
  • Innovation

For more information, visit Absa Bank Tanzania.