About Fintech Academy
Fintech Academy is a comprehensive program on financial technologies designed for those who want to make a difference, brought by Knowledge Officer and GIZ.
Learners will understand emerging technologies disrupting finance and how they can use them to build their own FinTech startups. Aspiring entrepreneurs will also build innovative, customer-centric Fintech solutions to accelerate Fintech transformation in Egypt.

Program Highlights
- 4 months long
- 300+ hours of online content
- 4 practical projects
- 14+ sessions and panels
- 6+ study groups and participants support sessions
- 60+ hours of mentorship
- Choose from 3 tracks:
- Entrepreneurship
- Product Management
- Development
Who is this program for?
Key Topics
Stage 1
Fintech Fundamentals
- Fintech Landscape Overview
- Lending & Investement
- The role of technology in Fintech
- Digital Payments
- Cryptocurrencies & Blockchain
- Regtech, Regulation & Standards
- Reshaping Banking Industry
- Alternative Investement
- Ask me anthing sessions
- Hackathon
Stage 2
The learners are divided into 3 tracks based on the interest they expressed in the application stage. Each learner can only be present in one track.
Track 1:
Fintech Entrepreneurs
- Customer Development
- Product Design & Product Metrics
- Business Models/Pricing Models
- Fundraising 2.0
- FinTech Panel
- Ask me anything sessions
Track 2:
Fintech
Product Managers
- Why Product Management & What is the PM Role?
- Customer Development and Validation
- Design Thinking & Product Design
- Product Metrics & Data Analytics
- Agile & Product Development Lifecycle
- GTM strategy / Product Marketing
- Product Leadership & Stakeholder Management
Track 3:
Fintech
Developers
- Backend Developers
- Frontend Developers
- Android Development
- IOS Developemnt
- AI & Machine learning
- Ask me anything sessions
Stage 3
Showcase Stage
Connecting learners to Ecosystem
Learners will be connected with eco system experts based on tracks with potential for matching making with experts, investors to materialize their work during the Academy.
Our Partners
Program Phases
Fintech Academy is divided into 3 phases:
01
Fintech Fundamentals Phase
5 Weeks
Participants are going to learn through online content, workshops, sessions and group projects.
02
Specialization Phase
9 Weeks
Participants will be encouraged to form, break and re-form teams of co-founders.
03
Showcase & Pitching phase
2 Weeks
Every team will be assigned a mentor to follow up on their execution and advise them on building traction until the end of the program.
Frequently Asked Questions
The FinTech Academy is a 4-months online program that will aim to cover Fintech Fundamentals: Banking and Future of Payments, Applying Technology in Fintech, Infrastructure & Regulation, Digital Identity & Privacy and Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies. In addition to that, participants will cover 4 main Entrepreneurship components/modules: Startups Fundamentals, Product Discovery, Business Fundamentals and Investment Cycle.
The goal is to increase capacity and literacy based on the mandate of the Egyptian government in fintech and disrupting financial technologies. Based on the tracks chosen from Entrepreneurship, product management or development. the program aim to input these calibers back to the eco system in the form of funded startups, component product owners and impact driven developers aligned with the growing fintech industry.
The program is fully funded for all accepted participants by our funding partners. There is no actual fee to join.
The program will start on the 20th of June, 2021.
The program is 100% remote and all the phases will be conducted online.
The selection process will make sure that we have as close to 33% split as possible between a domain edge and background in FinTech, Tech edge and execution (product or sales) edge among the participants. All the participants must share passion and ideas towards building in Fintech nevertheless.
Despite the obvious growth that Egypt has witnessed in the past couple of years, the industry is still facing big challenges and we need more and more capable entrepreneurs who are equipped with the right knowledge, skills, tools and network to be able to elevate the state of Fintech in Egypt.
For any inquiries about the program, please contact fintech-academy@knowledgeofficer.com
Everyone can give us a hand to graduate capable candidates who are willing to build for a better Egypt that we always dream of! If you are willing to be one of our partners to support achieving this vision, please send an email to partner@knowledgeofficer.com.
Yes, you can fill in the form of the program mentors
Round 1 Mentors

Ahmed Monir
Head of Regulatory Sandbox @ Central Bank of EGYPT

George Yaryura
Chief Product Officer @ Allfunds

Sami Abou Saab
CEO @ Speed Accelerator

Nada Elshazly
Head of Economics and Fintech @ Swiss School of Management

Hosam Mahmoud
Advisor for Startup Finance @ GIZ

Mahmoud Nour
MINT Hub Director @ EGbank

Rafeh Saleh
Managing Partner @ Cubit Ventures

Ren Yi Hooi
Founder @ Lighting Social Ventures
Ridhwaan Ahmed
Compliance Operations @ Gocardless

Ahmed Elsherif
Managing Director @ Openner Ventures - Egypt

Mohamed Ali Soliman
Senior Supervisor @ Bank of England
Gehan Fathi
Investment Advisor and Angel Investor

Mostafa Ashour
Managing Partner @ NowPay

Mohamed Elsabry
Product Manager @ Transferwise

Gaia Ines
Head of Growth and Business Development @ Ikigai Data

Sara Enan
Associate @ Global Ventures

Eslam Darwish
Venture Partner @ Global Ventures

Mahmoud El Zohairy
CEO @ EFG-EV

Amal Enan
Venture Capital @ Global Ventures

Noha Shaker
Founder and Secretary-General @ The Egyptian Fintech Association

Nader Abdelrazik
Chief Business Officer @ XPay

Mohamed Abdelmottaleb
CEO @ XPay

Parker Crockford
Vice President of Growth @ Upvest
Mohamed Abdou
Founder & CEO @ Pravica

Hassan Ali
Founder & FinTech Advisor @ Teknolojia

Ibrahim Hassan
CEO @ Digified

Inji Amr
Senior Managing Consultant @ Mastercard

Hani Soliman
General Manager @ PayTabs Egypt

Adel Boseli
Founder @ VFLOCK

Mirna Soliman
Founder & CEO @ Fintech Galaxy

Mohamed Sameh
Investor Relations Officer @ Fawry

Maury G
Managing Partner @ Levels Ventures

Karam Kanan
Product @ TransferWise

Yasser Ahmed
Head of Digital Banking @ aiBANK

Kareem Tabbaa
CPO @ Wahed

Omar Alalami
Senior Strategy Consultant @ Accenture

Yasmine Ibrahim
Compliance @ Tether.to

Atilla Kaiser
Advisor, Financial Inclusion & Technology @ GIZ

Sameh Behairy
Digital Innovation Manager @ Banque Misr

Ahmed Abaza
Founder @ Synapse Analytics

Galal Elbeshbishy
Artificial Intelligence Strategist @ Synapse Analytics

Mohamed Hamza
Associate Director @ AUC Venture Lab

Malek Sultan
Partner @ Disruptech VC

Walid Hassouna
CEO @ EFG Finance

Salah Awad
CTO @ Berytech

Suleiman Arabiat
FinTech Investment Lead @ AB Ventures LP

Ahmed Mazhar
Vodafone Cash Business Development @ Vodafone Egypt

Ivo Detelinov
VC Business Development @ Hambro Perks

Abe Karar
Digital Transformation Consultant @ ALCHEMY Digital Studios
About Knowledge Officer and GIZ


Promoting Access to Financial Services for Small and Medium Enterprises (PAFSME) is a bilateral technical cooperation project, under the guidance of the Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) with technical assistance provided by GIZ on behalf of BMZ.
Knowledge Officer collaborates with GIZ to deliver data-driven learning in Fintech to the Egyptian learner community on a mission to upskill professionals and accelerate region's digital transformation.