By Abubakarr Harding
Built, a parent company of the Sierra Leonean technology company, Built Financial Technologies (SL) Limited, was selected as one of the beneficiaries of this year’s Google Black Funders Fund in Africa. It is worthy to note that the company was selected as one of the 60 innovative companies across Africa to share in the non-dilutive $4M fund.
The Google Black Funders Fund is aimed at supporting early-stage, Black-founded startups on the continent as part of efforts to bridge the existing fundraising gap for Black startup founders in Africa’s fast-growing technology landscape.
Founders will receive up to $100K in equity-free cash, up to an additional $200K in Google Cloud Credits, and access to the best of Google—people, products, and practices.
The co-founders of Built comprising Mary-Anne Aikins, Rosemary Kwofie, Yusif Katulie and Edward Neequaye are excited about the acknowledgment as the company continues to “build the digital infrastructure that SMEs need to launch, manage and grow their businesses.”
In an interview with The Calabash Newspaper, the Built team described the award as a “further validation” of the impact the company had made over the years, indicating that the honour would inspire them to greater heights as they continue to make valuable propositions and stand tall in the financial technology space.
“It is a win for us and for the SMEs we support, as this is going to provide more fuel to keep building relevant solutions for SMEs in the markets we operate in,” Mr. Neequaye, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the company said.
Country representative for Sierra Leone, Imran Kamara noted: “We are excited by this award which is going to help us ramp up investment in upgrading our product and carrying out new digital campaigns in Sierra Leone.”
Built Financial Technologies is a Pan-African financial technology company that is building the digital infrastructure that Africa’s small businesses need to launch, run and grow their businesses. The company provides business and financial tools including invoicing, accounting, POS, payments and payroll apps for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
In Sierra Leone, Built has worked with over 300 SMEs and is an active partner within the SME ecosystem, supporting projects such as the Sierra Leone Economic Diversification Project (SLEDP)
The ‘Built’ platform, according to the co-founders, currently with over 6,000 businesses, among other things, enables businesses to accept faster payments from their customers, from mobile money to card payments.
With subsidiaries in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya, the company aims to “normalize growth and prosperity for Africa’s SMEs, most of which currently do not grow beyond the level at which they started.”
The company again has the ‘Built Accounting’ mobile application on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store which continues to attract positive reviews from owners of small businesses.
With the support from Google, the team at ‘Built’ says they are “drawing closer” to becoming the most preferred platform for SMEs across Africa.
