Johannesburg – The Milken Institute (https://apo-opa.co/452va1l) and the Motsepe Foundation have announced the UK-based Verto as winners of the Fintech Milken-Motsepe Award.
The $2 million Innovation Award is working to expand access to capital and financial services for small and medium-sized businesses in emerging and frontier markets.
The winners were presented at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles.
UK-based Verto (https://apo-opa.co/4d7wepf) has won the $1 million grand prize on its business-to-business cross-border payment platform that allows emerging market companies to eliminate payments, support 49 currencies, and quickly settle.
FinTech is the third award awarded as part of the Milken Motze Payment Awards program. This is a series of competitive multi-million dollar global competition and awards designed to encourage and reward bold, innovative solutions to address the urgent economic and environmental challenges of Africa.
Strict Award Cycle: From Applications to Awards
Released in May 2024, FinTech's Milkenmotzepe Award attracted over 3,000 entrepreneurs from 126 countries across six continents. A total of 400 teams have been applied, with only 10 teams selected to advance to the semi-finals.
Each team underwent a comprehensive review process that assessed five key criteria that could promote affordability and accessibility, ethical and responsible practices, scalability in other markets, the use of cutting-edge technologies, and equitable access to financial services.
In December 2024, 10 semi-finalists threw innovations to investors at the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit in Abu Dhabi.
From this group, a panel of judges selected three finalists (Chanz, Oz and Welt) to advance to the final stages of the Innovation Award at the 2025 Milken Institute Global Conference.
“Across the African continent, technology and innovation are disrupting traditional financial and banking approaches,” said Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe, co-founder and CEO of the Motsepe Foundation.
“Investing in this sector is profitable and, more importantly, requires financial inclusion.
“We would like to sincerely congratulate the winners and all finalists for demonstrating a feasible and impactful solution that shares economic activity and prosperity in the global South, whilst impacting financial sectors around the world.”
Since its launch in 2021, the Milken-Motsepe Innovation Awards program has awarded more than $6 million in funding to more than 50 innovators around the world.
Participating teams raised almost ten times the grand prize with additional external investments, reaching over 530,000 community members, making an impact.
The Milken-Motsepe Innovation Prize programme not only awards winners, but also offers free curated resources and online events to nearly 9,000 global entrepreneurs.
New Awards in AI and Manufacturing
The fourth Milken-Motsepe Innovation Award focusing on AI and manufacturing began at the 2025 Milken Institute Global Conference.
The new $2 million award is designed to recognize established companies driving innovation in Africa's manufacturing industry.
The award focused on advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence rewards technological breakthroughs that create long-term economic resilience in Africa's supply chains.
Registration is open until July 31, 2025.
With a $2 million prize, including a $1 million grand prize, AI and Manufacturing is looking for companies to accelerate technological advancements, create jobs and improve access to key products and services for communities across Africa.
The award represents an opportunity to support businesses leading the next wave of transformative change in manufacturing.
“We are committed to providing a range of services to our customers,” said Dr. Emily Musil, managing director of environmental and social innovation at the Milken Institute.
“Now we look forward to what bold entrepreneurs are doing for the manufacturing sector to leverage the power of AI and other advanced technologies to improve Africa's supply chains.
“Prizes like these have the power to uncover new, better ways to run in the digital age and shape the ways we can do better for people and planets in the new future we are building.”
For more information about the winners and the Milken-Motsepe Innovation Awards program, please visit https://milkenmotsepeprize.org/.
Additional video links:
Opening Video: https://apo-opa.co/3gjgjpr
Finalist Video 1 – Chumz: https://apo-opa.co/436rmk6
Finalist Video 2 – Oze: https://apo-opa.co/4md7nso
Finalist Video 3 – Verto: https://apo-opa.co/3z9lvzt
