Leila Serhan, Senior Vice President and Group Country Manager for North Africa, Levant, and Pakistan (NALP) at Visa.
Startups interested in joining the programme can submit their applications through the Visa website, with the application window remaining open until 29 February, as per the statement.
To kick off the programme, Visa will be hosting the first demo day on 13 February in Nairobi.
During the demo day, the first round of startups will present their innovations to influential players in the ecosystem, funding partners, angel investors, and venture capitalists.
The first round, launched in June 2023, featured startups from over 18 African countries, including three from Morocco, one from Egypt, and one from Tunisia.
These participants were selected from a pool of more than 1,000 applicants spanning diverse subsectors.
Meanwhile, 48 percent of the companies either had women founders or included women in their leadership teams.
Following the completion of the programme, Visa plans to extend its support to fintech growth by investing capital in select participating businesses. Additionally, these businesses will receive assistance in expediting their commercial launch through access to Visa's technology and capabilities.
The launch of the second round of this programme came as a result of the success witnessed during the first round aimed at bolstering Africa's burgeoning fintech ecosystem, said Leila Serhan, senior vice president and group country manager for North Africa, Levant, and Pakistan (NALP) at Visa.
Serhan emphasized that the programme will offer entrepreneurs invaluable mentorship and accelerated growth opportunities, while also granting them access to a network of partners and investors.
A startup in the first round said the programme significantly enhanced the skills of all participating startups, contributing to a faster company launch and helping to gain clients and partners in new markets through connections with other startups, according to Visa.
This programme aligns with Visa's broader commitment to invest $1 billion in Africa by 2027, to revolutionize the continent's payment ecosystem and foster digital economic growth.
In line with this commitment, Visa has recently introduced various business initiatives and programmes for advancing Africa's payments ecosystem.
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