Black Swan, a Mauritius-based FinTech startup, has been crowned the overall winner of the MEST Africa Challenge (MAC) 2025, following a competitive Grand Finale held at Innovation City, Cape Town on November 26, 2025. Organized by the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST Africa) and powered by Absa Group, the Challenge is one of Africa’s premier pitch competitions aimed at providing early-stage startups with crucial funding, mentorship, and global visibility.
AI-Driven Credit Intelligence
The 2025 edition focused specifically on FinTech, spotlighting solutions that drive financial inclusion and digital transformation. Black Swan’s winning value proposition is its mission to “Make Africa Bankable.” Millions of African consumers and Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) are currently excluded from formal credit systems because their data is fragmented, informal, and difficult for traditional lenders to verify.
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Solution: Black Swan addresses this massive gap by using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transform fragmented data (like mobile transactions and utility payments) into instant credit intelligence.
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Impact: This technology enables accurate affordability assessments and inclusive lending at scale, empowering financial institutions to assess real risk and unlock new opportunities for growth and economic mobility across the continent.
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Vision: Co-founder and CEO Derick Kazimoto stated, “We believe Africa is shifting from informal, collateral-heavy lending to data-driven credit,” which will fundamentally change how banks and FinTechs operate.
Prize and Scaling Opportunity
As the 2025 winner, Black Swan receives US $50,000 in equity investment, automatic entry into the prestigious MEST Portfolio, and the crucial opportunity to pilot its solutions with Absa business units across Africa. This strategic support will help Black Swan scale its technology and broaden its impact continent-wide.
The Challenge attracted hundreds of applications from eight of Absa’s priority markets, including Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Seychelles, and Mauritius. MEST Africa Portfolio Advisor Ashwin Ravichandran noted that this year’s cohort showed a clear maturity, focusing on compliance, interoperability, and cross-border readiness from the start, ensuring their solutions are locally relevant yet globally adaptable. Absa praised Black Swan for its technical discipline and clear potential to complement Absa’s existing services.
