Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 03 | Page 21

FEATURE would incur if they were to come here independently. During their 3-month mentorship programme they can test their solutions with partners in the programme for regulations and governance, local and regional market response, and receive feedback. They can identify potential sources for their next round of finance, sources of future partnership, or get sufficient confidence to go-live on their own. “You are getting all that stuff sitting out of this place literally free of cost,” he adds. “And then you decide, it is a great market, it has got great demand and I want to launch. That is what you achieve.” A key benefit for programme participants is access to a regulator within the financial institution. However, Aich points out, “Most of fintech innovation that is happening, probably 60% at first does not have to be regulated.” It is for this reason that DIFC follows a bottoms-up approach, first seeing what needs to be regulated and then creating a regulation. “This will be the only place literally in the world where the regulator is not first jumping in and saying, we got to regulate. We are building it around the need of the market and we believe that is the future.” Dubai’s unique position as bridge between north and south, east and west, its older heritage as a trading hub, and modern vision of being best of breed smart city, justify its attempt to be the regional centre of future fintech activity. “There is a huge thirst from institutions in this part of the world to embrace innovation to solve business problems. That is necessary in order to meet the needs of consumers, global trade, commercial multinational customers, who use Dubai as a hub given their trading activities. That does continue to enforce the fact that Dubai is a good choice of location for establishing a regional hub for fintech innovation,” sums up Saluja. Accelerator programme for fintech’s FinTech Hive at DIFC is about mentoring and collaboration, rather than purely sales. While new business may be one positive outcome for participants, it should not be the primary objective. To get the most from the experience, participants should come with an open mind and a willingness to learn and collaborate with financial institutions from across the region and the globe. FinTech Hive at DIFC has been developed to help refine and test a proposition with the support of the world’s leading financial firms. Application into the FinTech Hive accelerator programme are open to all companies, regardless of size, under various conditions: • You are not already an established, public, listed or known technology business in financial services • You are not an established business in other industries looking to branch out • You are not a financial services professional who wants to commercialise their intellectual property • You have a minimum alpha or beta product to demonstrate and are prepared to share access to programme partners under non-disclosure • Your senior team can commit to being based onsite throughout the 12-week programme • You can show access to senior-level executives in the financial services firms will have an impact on your growth prospects • You are an early-stage business with an innovative idea • You are an established company with fresh take on financial services • You are an IT entrepreneur with industry-changing intellectual property www.intelligentcio.com The FinTech Hive accelerator programme. Benefits for participants • Fast track the concept • Convert into commercially viable proposition • Tested in the most demanding industries • Mentoring from industry leading firms, senior financial services executives • Insider knowledge • Direct feedback from target user groups • Workshops and panel discussions on procurement, regulation, industry trends • Opportunities to raise profile amongst partners and investors • Workspace for two employees throughout programme FinTech Hive at DIFC differs from other accelerators across the globe, as both FinTech and financial institutions are housed under one roof. This self-contained environment is a nurturing ground for creating an exceptional FinTech hub that meets the needs of the financial services industry, stakeholders, customers alike. INTELLIGENTCIO 21