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Wamkelekile, Welkom
Wamkelekile, Welkom
UCT’s Financial Innovation Hub recognised for advancing financial inclusion
12 December 2025 | Story Stephen Langtry. PhotoRead time 7 min.
The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Financial Innovation Hub has received national recognition for its contribution to expanding financial inclusion in South Africa, winning the Enhancing Financial Inclusion Award at the 2025 South African FinTech Awards.
The accolade acknowledges the hub’s work in strengthening fintech skills, empowering student innovators, and developing practical solutions to real financial challenges in the country.
Seven years after UCT launched Africa’s first master’s in financial technology (MPhil specialising in Financial Technology), the Financial Innovation Hub has become a national leader in fintech education, research and early-stage venture support.
What began as a response to an emerging skills gap has matured into a highly productive ecosystem that now includes major donor partnerships, award-winning student projects, a thriving pipeline of start-ups, and transformative outreach into underserved communities.
Transformative ecosystem
According to Dr Allan Davids, the director of the hub, the original motivation was straightforward: industry needed graduates who understood blockchain and fintech. “We had great engineers and great finance graduates, but fintech was different,” he explained. The master’s degree, launched in 2018, has since produced more than 60 graduates, nearly 20% of whom have started their own companies.
Its pre-incubation engine, the GenesisBloc Launchpad, followed a 2020 internal survey led by innovation director, Anda Ngcaba. “We found pitch competitions and scattered entrepreneurship activities, but no set nine-month pre-incubation programme … nothing that took a start-up from idea to MVP,” he said.
GenesisBloc now fills that gap. Across two cohorts, it has supported 11 start-ups that have collectively raised more than R26 million and created over 30 jobs. “Genesis, because it’s the first block of a blockchain; the beginning of a start-up,” Ngcaba added.
Notable projects
Some of the most notable ventures have been student projects. Technical specialist Si-Jia Wu highlighted Brown Financial Services [FS], which offers fuel-advance micro-loans for gig-economy drivers excluded from traditional credit systems. “Their product solves a real equality problem,” she explained. “Many foreign drivers are locked out of the banking system. Brown FS meets them where they are.”
The hub’s partnership with the Interledger Foundation expands this pipeline further. Its annual hackathon and bootcamp have drawn 70 students from the University of the Western Cape, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Eduvos, and other institutions. Winning ideas often progress into pre-incubation, as seen with iDini – an app designed to prevent funeral policies from lapsing.
“We’re trying to create this pipeline,” said hub manager, Lindiwe Kers. “First we give students the foundation, then we empower them with hackathons, and finally we help them bring ideas into the pre-incubator. Some of those ideas become start-ups.”
Financial support
The hub’s growth has been driven by major donor partners, particularly Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) and the Interledger Foundation. Together they support bursaries, hackathons and early-stage venture development. More than 80% of participating students receive financial support.
This funding directly supports transformation. “More than half of our students are women, and more than half come from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. That’s only possible because of bursary support,” Davids said.
To date, the hub has helped secure nearly R79 million in external funding, including R20 million in bursaries.
Looking ahead, it is expanding nationally. With funding secured for a new fintech lab in East London, UCT is partnering with the Cortex Hub to offer fintech summer and winter schools and incubation programmes for students at the University of Fort Hare and Walter Sisulu University. The goal is to build local fintech capacity in one of the country’s highest unemployment regions.
“This is about impact outside UCT,” Ngcaba said. “The Eastern Cape is underserved, and many students there have never had access to programmes like this.”
The team is also in discussions with UCT leadership to contribute to the university’s planned innovation district on Main Road, Rondebosch, an initiative aligned with Vision 2030’s focus on entrepreneurship. “We’re confident the hub represents what UCT wants – innovation to be inclusive, research-driven and impactful,” Davids said.
The hub is inviting students and early-stage founders to apply for upcoming programmes:
The accolade acknowledges the hub’s work in strengthening fintech skills, empowering student innovators, and developing practical solutions to real financial challenges in the country.
Seven years after UCT launched Africa’s first master’s in financial technology (MPhil specialising in Financial Technology), the Financial Innovation Hub has become a national leader in fintech education, research and early-stage venture support.
What began as a response to an emerging skills gap has matured into a highly productive ecosystem that now includes major donor partnerships, award-winning student projects, a thriving pipeline of start-ups, and transformative outreach into underserved communities.
Transformative ecosystem
According to Dr Allan Davids, the director of the hub, the original motivation was straightforward: industry needed graduates who understood blockchain and fintech. “We had great engineers and great finance graduates, but fintech was different,” he explained. The master’s degree, launched in 2018, has since produced more than 60 graduates, nearly 20% of whom have started their own companies.
As student-led ventures began to emerge, a new need surfaced: structured, ethical support for young founders. “Students have great ideas, but many are first-generation graduates with limited exposure to legal and technical support. It can become quite an exploitative space,” Dr Davids noted. These insights shaped the hub’s tripartite model of education, research and pre-incubation.“The master’s degree has produced more than 60 graduates, nearly 20% of whom have started their own companies.”
Its pre-incubation engine, the GenesisBloc Launchpad, followed a 2020 internal survey led by innovation director, Anda Ngcaba. “We found pitch competitions and scattered entrepreneurship activities, but no set nine-month pre-incubation programme … nothing that took a start-up from idea to MVP,” he said.
GenesisBloc now fills that gap. Across two cohorts, it has supported 11 start-ups that have collectively raised more than R26 million and created over 30 jobs. “Genesis, because it’s the first block of a blockchain; the beginning of a start-up,” Ngcaba added.
Notable projects
Some of the most notable ventures have been student projects. Technical specialist Si-Jia Wu highlighted Brown Financial Services [FS], which offers fuel-advance micro-loans for gig-economy drivers excluded from traditional credit systems. “Their product solves a real equality problem,” she explained. “Many foreign drivers are locked out of the banking system. Brown FS meets them where they are.”
Another success is Tata-iMali, a point-of-sale tool for informal traders developed by MPhil students. These prototypes capture the hub’s strength: inclusive, practical innovation informed by the financial realities of South Africa and the continent.“Many foreign drivers are locked out of the banking system.”
The hub’s partnership with the Interledger Foundation expands this pipeline further. Its annual hackathon and bootcamp have drawn 70 students from the University of the Western Cape, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Eduvos, and other institutions. Winning ideas often progress into pre-incubation, as seen with iDini – an app designed to prevent funeral policies from lapsing.
“We’re trying to create this pipeline,” said hub manager, Lindiwe Kers. “First we give students the foundation, then we empower them with hackathons, and finally we help them bring ideas into the pre-incubator. Some of those ideas become start-ups.”
Financial support
The hub’s growth has been driven by major donor partners, particularly Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) and the Interledger Foundation. Together they support bursaries, hackathons and early-stage venture development. More than 80% of participating students receive financial support.
This funding directly supports transformation. “More than half of our students are women, and more than half come from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. That’s only possible because of bursary support,” Davids said.
A strong example of this ecosystem in action is Takunda Chirema, now a technical specialist at the hub. “My thesis became a start-up, and the hub supported me every step of the way,” he said. His venture later secured early-stage funding from Ripple, a demonstration of what Davids describes as the hub’s “network effect”.“More than half of our students are women, and more than half come from historically disadvantaged backgrounds.”
To date, the hub has helped secure nearly R79 million in external funding, including R20 million in bursaries.
Looking ahead, it is expanding nationally. With funding secured for a new fintech lab in East London, UCT is partnering with the Cortex Hub to offer fintech summer and winter schools and incubation programmes for students at the University of Fort Hare and Walter Sisulu University. The goal is to build local fintech capacity in one of the country’s highest unemployment regions.
“This is about impact outside UCT,” Ngcaba said. “The Eastern Cape is underserved, and many students there have never had access to programmes like this.”
The team is also in discussions with UCT leadership to contribute to the university’s planned innovation district on Main Road, Rondebosch, an initiative aligned with Vision 2030’s focus on entrepreneurship. “We’re confident the hub represents what UCT wants – innovation to be inclusive, research-driven and impactful,” Davids said.
The hub is inviting students and early-stage founders to apply for upcoming programmes:
- GenesisBloc Launchpad – Cohort 3.0
Starts March 2026
Apply.
- Eastern Cape FinTech Summer School & Hackathon
12–31 January 2026
Apply.
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