- Mauritian fintech Black Swan won the MEST Africa Challenge 2025, securing a $50,000 equity investment and access to Absa’s commercial networks across Africa.
- The startup uses alternative data analysed with AI to generate instant credit intelligence, expanding access to financing for consumers and MSMEs.
- Black Swan aims to solve Africa’s fragmented credit landscape by giving lenders the accurate risk ratings they have been missing.
Black Swan, a Mauritian fintech on a mission to “Make Africa Bankable,” has won the MEST Africa Challenge (MAC) 2025, securing a $50,000 equity investment and access to commercial solutions with Absa business units across Africa.
The MAC is a pan-African pitch competition led by the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), this year in conjunction with Absa, a leading African bank. The 2025 edition focused on fintechs, with the ten finalists from across Africa each using technology to increase access to financing for more of the African populations and businesses and bridge divides between jurisdictions.
>> To find out more about the finalists and judges of the MEST Africa Challenge 2025, check out our coverage here!
Black Swan, a Mauritian startup, uses alternative credit and consumer data to give people and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) access to financing by using AI to turn that data into instant credit intelligence. This massively expands access to financing in the continent, as one of the key barriers for lenders in the region is the lack of accurate risk ratings.
In an interview last week, here’s what Derrick Kazimoto, co-founder of Black Swan, told TFG:
What problem in the market does your company address?
Africa’s financial system cannot see the true creditworthiness of millions of consumers and MSMEs because their data is fragmented, informal, and invisible to traditional lenders. This invisibility locks out capable borrowers, limits credit growth, and slows economic mobility.
In one sentence, how does your startup fix that problem and advance the African fintech ecosystem?
Black Swan turns fragmented data into instant credit intelligence that enables precise affordability and inclusive lending at scale.
What do you think is the most significant shift happening in the African finance or economic sector right now?
Africa is moving from informal and collateral-heavy lending to data-led credit, where alternative data finally reveals real risk. This shift is transforming how banks and fintechs trust, lend, and grow.
In one word, how would you describe your outlook on Africa’s future over the next few years?
Bankable.
