Karandaaz Pakistan completed the second edition of the FinTech Disrupt Challenge 2017 here at IBA (Institute of Business Administration) Karachi, where competing fintechs from the local ecosystem were segregated according to two distinct areas.
The panel of judges for the second FinTech Disrupt Challenge were Azfar Jamal, EVP Head of Payment Service and Banking at National Bank of Pakistan, Humayun Bashir, Former CGM IBM and current Chairman at NCCPL, Khurram Zafar, Director at Lums Centre for Entrepreneurship, Ali Abbas Sikander, Executive Director at Paysys Labs.
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Among keynote speakers at the event were CEO Karandaaz Pakistan – Ali Sarfaraz, Dean and Director at Institute of Business Administration Dr. Farrukh Iqbal, and Ben Lyon, Entrepreneur in Residence from Caribou Digital & DFS Labs.
Among the 8 startups competing for $100,000 at the FDC 2017, where CreditFix emerged as the winner included:
- Trader Services Pvt Ltd
- Simple.pk
- My Cash
- Smartchoice.pk
- MeraPaisa
- Samaavi
- Tez Financial Services
Speaking to IDG Pakistan at the event, Omer Salimullah from CreditFix said:
“I think FinTech has a very simple definition; to leverage technologies to make the financial lives of people better. There are many aspects to financial lives; branchless banking, to payments, to credit or lending, to insurance products… lots of areas and technology is a great equalizer. it’s important that we start utilizing the tools we have now to change this space within Pakistan, especially in the financial side, since that remains to be the most important area in a person’s individual life, and an economies at large”.
“Karandaaz Fintech Disrupt Challenge is a fantastic opportunity for all the fintechs out there in Pakistan. The industry must appreciate what Karandaaz is trying to do in this space, because this is a new sector developing very rapidly, and it is important that we get all the support we can. I’d like to thank them for this wonderful opportunity of showcasing the amazing talent we have in this space!” he added.
Among the winners for the second round were Invoice Wakalah, UniKrew and Agrigate, where the top 15 Startups competing for the $20,000 prize included:
- Emedics
- Clarity
- Planet Plants
- Acuity Technologies
- Diglnc
- Palmty
- eFarmer
- Mobilepay
- Kaxan Ecommerce Platform
- Finance Formula
- Tolla
- Certify.pk
CreditFix.pk was founded by Owais Zaidi, who took the stage with Umer to receive the prize. The prize money to be distributed is based on the milestones that will be set for each winning team.
