Absa Announces The Expansion Of Its Digital Partnership Ecosystem
Absa Announces The Expansion Of Its Digital Partnership Ecosystem. South African banking corporation Absa Group has announced that it has signed partnerships with the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) in Ghana, the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi) and Grindstone in South Africa to support and collaborate in initiatives that are aimed at growing emerging technology and other businesses in Africa.
The agreements expand Absa’s Digital Partnerships capability, established in 2020 to facilitate collaboration with innovative, mature start-ups from around the world. The capability connects Absa and its partners through key local, regional and global networks to promote co-creation potential, particularly in the technology and digital space. “At Absa, we understand that informal markets and small businesses are instrumental in the growth of African economies. Through the Absa Digital Partnerships ecosystem, we aim to drive and support the growth of innovative and mature tech start-ups as well as their impact in the different communities,” said Michelle Anderson, Head: Information and Technology Office Strategy and Group Partnerships at Absa on the company’s website.
Absa’s collaboration with Grindstone will provide entrepreneurs with the strategic, management and technical skills needed to scale up their businesses and improve their functioning and ensure that they become more sustainable and fundable. Grindstone Accelerator provides a structured entrepreneurship development programme. The company believes that entrepreneurs play a key role in solving some the challenges that exist in markets across the continent and are often the pioneers that create the new technologies and systems that bring change to society.
“The significant value that start-ups and entrepreneurs can bring to Africa’s economies can be amplified through collaboration and acceleration programmes such as those facilitated or supported by Absa, in line with our digital transformation and our aim to be an active force for good in everything we do,” Anderson added.
