Cape town: Mauritian startup Black Swan emerged victorious in the 2025 MEST Africa Challenge, a prestigious Pan-African pitch competition held at Innovation City, Cape Town. The event, led by the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST Africa) and powered by Absa Group, is a vital platform for early-stage startups seeking funding, mentorship, and global exposure.
According to African Press Organization, the 2025 competition focused on FinTech, highlighting startups with innovative financial solutions that drive inclusion, enhance payment systems, and propel digital transformation across Africa. Black Swan, co-founded by Derick Kazimoto, aims to address the challenge of fragmented and informal data that leaves many African consumers and MSMEs invisible to formal lenders. Their platform transforms this data into instant credit intelligence, enabling precise affordability assessments and inclusive lending on a large scale.
Kazimoto emphasized the need for change, stating, ‘Africa’s financial syste
m cannot see the true creditworthiness of millions of consumers and Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) because their data is fragmented, informal, and invisible to traditional lenders. This invisibility locks out capable borrowers, limits credit growth, and slows economic mobility. Our mission is to make Africa bankable.’
The MEST Africa Challenge 2025 attracted hundreds of applications from eight Absa priority markets, including Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Seychelles, and Mauritius. After a rigorous selection process, ten startups advanced to the Cape Town finale, pitching to a panel of judges comprising investors, Absa executives, and industry leaders. Black Swan’s solution stood out for its clear need and potential to complement services across Absa’s markets.
The Grand Finale was a celebration of Africa’s ingenuity, with founders presenting scalable solutions addressing challenges in payments, credit, insurance, and trade finance. Ashwin Ravichandran, Portfolio Ad
visor at MEST Africa, commented, ‘This year showed a clear shift toward building for scale; founders are prioritizing compliance, interoperability, and cross-border readiness from day one. FinTech is now powering real sectors like agriculture, energy, and trade, and that’s where lasting impact will come from.’
As the 2025 winner, Black Swan will receive a US $50,000 equity investment, entry into the MEST Portfolio, and the opportunity to pilot commercial solutions with Absa business units across Africa. This support is expected to help the company scale its technology and expand its impact on the continent.
Tawanda Chatikobo, Head of Digital for Absa Regional Operations (ARO), Retail and Business Banking, said, ‘This year’s Challenge brought forward solutions that reflect how people and businesses want to manage their financial lives in a simpler, more accessible, and integrated way. Black Swan secured the winning position because their solution meets a clear need and shows potential to complement the servi
ces we provide across our markets.’
Now in its seventh year, the MEST Africa Challenge has become a launchpad for early-stage founders, offering visibility, mentorship, and access to partners. Tamu Dutuma, Head of Strategy and Transformation for Technology at Absa Regional Operations (ARO), stated, ‘Congratulations to Blackswan on reaching this milestone. What resonated with us was the technical discipline behind their approach: the architecture, the clarity of the build, and the way they’re thinking about scaling responsibly.’
Since 2008, MEST Africa has trained and supported over 2,000 entrepreneurs and invested in over 90 startups, with the MEST Africa Challenge serving as its flagship competition to identify and support high-potential technology ventures.