“FinYology -FinTech for Youth” the new initiative by the Central Bank of Egypt and in collaboration with the Egyptian Banking Institute aims to endorse FinTech awareness for university students through conducting FinTech projects as part of their curricula.
Financial technology (FinTech) describes the new technology used to improve and automate the delivery of banking and financial services. In the year 2019, the Central Bank of Egypt sought to improve the Egyptian ecosystem, thus marking it as the hub for FinTech by launching its FinTech and Innovation integrated strategy. Additionally, it has started an initiative named “FinYology – FinTech” in February 2020 with the objective of fostering young talents and inspiring university students of different related majors to conduct financial technology (FinTech) projects and create innovative solutions as part of their curricula’s graded courses. It also aims at spreading awareness about FinTech and put the Egyptian youth on the first steps of mastering the art of financial technology. The FinYology initiative (led by the Central Bank of Egypt in collaboration with the Egyptian Banking Institute) aims to promote FinTech education in Egypt and assists Egyptian students to become future entrepreneurs.
Proudly, NU senior students participated in this exceptional entrepreneurial initiative as part of their graduation project course. On 6th March 2021, 80 students took the FinTech Awareness Session. The course was led by Mr. Khaled Eid, Mr. Ahmed Saleh, and Ms. Menna Kaoud. Two FinTech startup projects, FlashCash & CashVille, have been shortlisted in the final run, thus aiming to engage children on personal financial education through gamified platforms. The first winning team won an internship opportunity for one month at ABK Bank in one of the relevant departments to FinTech and Digital Solutions and was officially certified as a winner by the CBE during the closing ceremony. The second winning team was also recognized by a certificate of recognition from CBE for their participation in the initiative. NU is proud to be one of the pioneering universities that participated in FinYology, and for helping them become the innovators and entrepreneurs of the future.
Rami AboElNaga - Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt stated.
"The initiative comes within the framework of implementing the directives of the President of the Egyptian Republic to support the youth and encourage innovation as one of the pillars to achieve the sustainable development goals of Egypt’s Vision 2030,”
Students from Nile University, the American University in Cairo, the German University in Cairo, New Giza University, and the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport in Cairo, participated in the initiative in the majors of entrepreneurship and innovation, finance, computer science, and computer engineering during the second semester of the academic year 2019/2020 and the first semester of 2020/2021.
The initiative included a number of information sessions related to financial technology, which were held by the Central Bank in collaboration with the Egyptian Banking Institute to educate more than 600 students from different universities, who participated in the initiative, either in-class or remotely to combat the repercussions of the pandemic.
The participating banks were: the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, ALEXBANK, Qatar National Bank, Export Development Bank of Egypt, Emirates NBD, and Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait-Egypt. These banks have provided mentorship and assistance to participating students during the development of their FinTech ideas and projects while providing guidance in the possibility for their implementation, development and future expansion. The banks also provided physical and virtual summer training programs for the winning groups to develop and cultivate their expertise and skills.