Growwr Joins Visa Africa FinTech Accelerator Cohort 6

Growwr has been selected for the Visa Africa FinTech Accelerator Program, Cohort 6.

And honestly, this one feels a little different.

This was our third time applying.

I first came across the Visa Africa FinTech Accelerator in 2025 and immediately thought, “This probably isn't for us.” Growwr was a hiring company, not a fintech. At least, not yet.

Then I started looking through some of the companies that had gone through the program and realised there was actually a path for companies working at the intersection of work, technology and financial services. That changed how I looked at the opportunity.

So we applied.

The first time, we made it to the first interview and stopped there.

We applied again for the next cohort. Same thing. First interview. No acceptance.

At that point, I wasn't exactly sure what we were missing.

Then something funny happened.

Earlier this year, Growwr was one of the winners of the AFRISE Challenge, which took us to GITEX Africa in Morocco. While there, I came across startups from the previous Visa accelerator cohort pitching and demoing their products.

Watching them made me think, “Okay. I want to do this.”

So when I got back to Nigeria, I reached out to Amine, one of the program managers working with the accelerator. The applications weren't even open yet.

I basically told him: I've applied before, I keep making it to the first interview, I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I want another shot.

He was kind enough to take the call, hear what we were building and keep in touch with us until applications opened.

We applied again.

This time, we made it through the first interview, then the second, and finally the last interview with the Visa team.

The final interview was probably the fastest interview I've ever done. Three minutes to pitch, a couple of minutes for questions, and then you're out because the next startup is waiting.

I went in with a six-slide deck explaining what we're building with Growwr Pay and why we believe financial services should be part of the infrastructure we're building around work.

A few weeks later, the email came.

We got in.

Growwr is now part of the Visa Africa FinTech Accelerator Cohort 6, a three-month program that brings together founders working on financial technology and related opportunities across Africa. The program includes mentorship, training, expert sessions, industry connections and a final Demo Day. Visa describes the program as supporting startups through knowledge, mentorship, Visa training, partnerships and potential funding opportunities.

For us, the timing makes sense.

We're building Growwr Pay as the financial layer around the work happening on Growwr.

That includes plans for USD wallets and physical USD cards for eligible talent, invoicing so people can receive payments from work outside Growwr, and eventually financial products that can help exceptional talent access things like income advances, devices and other tools they need to keep working.

For businesses, we're also exploring financial tools around payments collection, payroll and other services that can sit directly inside the existing Growwr workflow.

There's still a lot to build.

But that's exactly why we're excited about this program.

We recently spent our onboarding week in Accra, Ghana, meeting other founders and learning from people across the financial ecosystem, including sessions with leaders from the Bank of Ghana, Ghana's payments ecosystem and Visa, alongside mentors and coaches from the program and EY.

The program's final Demo Day is scheduled for November 30 in Cape Town, South Africa, and we'll be sharing more as we get closer.

For now, we're just happy to finally say it:

Third application. Third interview cycle. This time, we made it.

And now the real work starts.

Growwr Pay is coming…