Pulse of Fintech 2026
Equitable Ventures returns with the second edition of Pulse of Fintech, convening senior fintech founders from across Africa to share how their markets are building the models now defining the continent's financial infrastructure, and to benchmark Mauritius's own ecosystem against them.
Across three panels, operators building at the frontier of African fintech will unpack the mechanics behind the sector's fastest-moving themes:
Panel 1 — Open banking and Banking-as-a-Service
The infrastructure letting banks and fintechs build new solutions on top of one another.
Kolawole (Kola) Olajide, Co-Founder & CEO, Sava Africa (South Africa) — SME Credit & Banking-as-a-Service · Atul Bathia, CEO, Blink by Emtel · Florent Masson, CEO, MIPS
Moderator: Ido Sum, Founder, Africa AI Group (London / Africa) — AI in Financial Services
Panel 2 — Stablecoins and digital assets
How stablecoin rails are reshaping cross-border payments and treasury management for corporates, fintechs, and banks.
Greg van der Spuy, Founder, Spendl Money (South Africa) — Stablecoins & Digital Assets · Alon Stern, Co-Founder & CEO, Turnstay (South Africa) — Payment Orchestration & Travel Fintech
Moderator: Maz Chaponda, Co-Founder, CrossFx (London / Nigeria) — Stablecoins & Payments
Panel 3 — Credit, lending, and the data that underwrites them
How AI and alternative data are already enhancing underwriting, fraud detection, and the customer experience, and what this means for reaching underserved borrowers.
Nehal Helmy, Co-Founder, Flend (Egypt) — Digital Lending & SME Credit · Wesley Billett, Co-Founder & CEO, Happy Pay (South Africa) — Buy Now, Pay Later · Dr Rishi Sookdawoor, Group Officer in Charge & COO, NIC Group
Moderator: Ido Sum, Founder, Africa AI Group
This is a closed-door session: invitation-only, with a limited number of seats, structured to allow direct exchange between the founders shaping these themes and the executives who will decide how quickly they take hold locally.
Thank you to our 2026 sponsors:
Gold: Ascent, NIC
Silver: Blink, Omnicane
Bronze: TGH, MIPS, ER
Spaces are limited; please reserve your seat below.