• Visa Everywhere Initiative tasks startups with solving today’s most pressing payments and commerce challenges, with monetary prizes, global exposure, and validation from one of the world’s most trusted brands

Georgia, 20 April 2023: Applications are now open in Georgia for the 2023 edition of the Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI), a global open innovation competition that sees startups pitch their innovative solutions to solve tomorrow’s payment and commerce challenges.

In addition to monetary prizes, VEI winners gain access and exposure to Visa’s vast networks of partners in the banking, merchant, VC, and government sectors. The winners also benefit from receiving recognition from one of the world’s most trusted and valuable brands.

The Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) finals will be livestreamed on July 27 on TechCrunch – a leading online publisher focused on the tech industry and the startup ecosystem. The startup that wins at the CEMEA Regionals will participate in the global finale, which will be held on September 19 at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.

This year, Visa's VEI CEMEA is set to introduce for the first time an award in the Risk and Security domain - Fintechs Innovating in Risk Excellence, or ‘FIIRE’, Award. Through this Special Edition, Visa in partnership with Emirates NBD are scouting for global Fintech players across fraud management, cybersecurity, and credit risk, among others. Following a joint review by Visa and Emirates NBD representatives, the winning Fintech will receive a $25,000 prize and an opportunity to work with Emirates NBD, a leading bank in the region.

“The Visa Everywhere Initiative is a platform that empowers fintechs and entrepreneurs to showcase the most ground-breaking, impactful solutions in the world of payments and commerce,” said Diana Kiguradze, Visa Regional Manager for the Caucasus “Through their technology-driven, innovative solutions, fintechs have the potential to offer broad social benefits to the markets they operate in – particularly when it comes to providing financial services to those who have traditionally been underserved. At Visa, we believe access to the digital economy drives equitable, inclusive growth, and VEI is an important means of supporting the innovators playing a leading role in this space.”

Since its launch in 2015, VEI has helped startups representing more than 100 countries collectively raise more than $16 billion USD in funding, with a network that includes nearly 12,000 startups from across the globe. Last year, VEI awarded more than $530,000 USD in prize money over the course of the competition, which saw over 4,000 startups participate from five regions. VEI 2022 saw Nigeria’s ThriveAgric take home the VEI Global grand prize of $100,000 USD. ThriveAgric also won the $20,000 USD Visa Direct prize. In 2021, PAYZE of Georgia became the winner for the CEMEA region, for representing the best innovative payment and commerce solutions to solve the payment challenges of tomorrow.

VEI is seeking innovative and ambitious entrepreneurs who are uplifting communities by solving payment and commerce challenges faced by businesses of all sizes and sectors, including:

What we are looking for

Enablers of digital services and digital issuers

• Blockchain and cryptocurrency
• Crowdfunding
• Banking-as-a-Service
• BIN sponsors
• Issuer/processors
• Program managers

Digital issuance

• Blockchain and cryptocurrency
• Alternative lending
• Personal financial management
• Money transfer and remittance
• Digital banking (aka neo banks)
• Digital wallets, peer-to-peer (P2P) and transfers
• Employee benefits
• Payables
• Corporate cards (aka expense management)

Value-add for merchants and/or consumers in the finance space

• Data and analytics
• ID, authentication and security
• InsurTech
• Loyalty
• Merchant services and tools
• Process and payment infrastructure
• Retail technology
• Other

Small- and medium-sized business recovery

• Money movement (disbursements, Intra-account, P2P vendor and payments)
• Acceptance (e-commerce and mobile acceptance)
• Risk management (chargebacks, etc.)
• Brand management (Community building, etc.)
• Other

New categories for 2023:

• Sustainable fintechs
• Risk
• Urban mobility

This year’s prizes

• VEI CEMEA Regionals 1^st place: $20,000
• VEI CEMEA Regionals Audience Favorites: $10,000
• VEI CEMEA Regionals Risk Winner: $25,000

Global Finals awards and cash prizes

• VEI Global Overall Winner: $50,000 USD
• VEI Global Audience Favorite: $10,000 USD
• VEI Global – Visa Direct: $10,000 USD
• Additionally, all 5 finalists will be able to exhibit their companies at the TechCrunch Disrupt in a branded pavilion in the Expo Hall.

The overall winner and the Visa Direct winner are also eligible to win the Audience Favorite prize.

The application deadline for VEI Georgia is May 14^th.

For more information about VEI, please visit our website.  

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About Visa

Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating payments transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at visa.com.ge

Take part in the #EU4Energy photo competition between 17th and 23rd June for the chance to win an electric scooter.

Who can participate?

The contest is open to citizens over the age of 18 from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine.

How to participate?

What does the future of energy look like? Will it be solar and wind energy, or maybe sustainable biomass and hydropower? Or is the future to be more efficient in how we use energy?

We invite you to share your photos showing how the transition to the future of energy is already happening where you live - solar panels, wind farms, sustainable energy sources such as biomass and hydropower, electric cars and scooters, energy efficient homes and appliances. Look around and share your vision with us!

You can participate in the competition by:

1. Submitting your photo directly on our site by clicking the “Upload your photo” button. 

2. Posting your photo with the hashtag #EU4Energy on your own Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account.

3. Posting your photo with the hashtag #EU4Energy on your own Facebook, Instagram stories and tagging @euneighbourseast page.

The competition runs until 18:00 (CEST) on 23rd June. Up to three entries are permitted per applicant.

What are the prizes?

Up to 10 prizes will be awarded to winners based on jury selection and online voting. A grand prize of an electric scooter will be awarded to the most popular photograph.

This #EU4Energy photo competition is organised by the EU4Energy communications project as part of the EU Sustainable Energy Week and is financed by the European Union.

https://www.euneighbours.eu/en/east/stay-informed/news/eu4energy-photo-competition-future-energy

A social media competition launches today on Facebook, Instagram and Vkontakte with a main prize of a virtual reality headset for the winning entry!

Running until 25^th March, the contest features the #EU4Energy “Babushka”, sharing valuable tips and tricks about how to save energy and money by being more energy efficient.

Participants are invited to post their own energy efficiency tips and tricks in the comments section underneath each Babushka tip. It can be something they have learned at school, work, or at home, or picked up from a book, a friend or parent. Any piece of advice or tip that shows how to consume less energy can be posted.

Open to citizens from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, ten prizes will be awarded in total, with the first prize of a virtual reality headset.

This #EU4Energy competition is organised by the EU4Energy communication project, financed by the European Union.

For more information: http://bit.ly/2Ep9yyF

Moroccan Youth Organization Volunteered to Promote the Value of Peace and Develop Global Communication Skills of Competitors.

AIT MELLOUL, 29 April – A global English spelling competition was held in the cultural complex of Aït Melloul by Moroccan Association of Youth's Access Alumni (MAYA), a committed youth group benefited from the English Access Microscholarship Program by the United States Department of State.

28 student competitors from Agadir, Inezgane and Aït Melloul competed with each other to find correct spelling of around 200 English words such as coexistence, philanthropy as well as extremism, genocide, which are distinctively dedicated to the theme of ‘peace and war.’

Mr. Omar Bourass, the president of Association of Parents and Teachers of Saada High School, addressed “Aït Melloul is a small town and known for its multi-cultural ethnicities such as Amazigh and Sahara people. All these elements make it so far from adopting a foreign culture or language. We don’t see these kinds of contest here in Aït Melloul or in Agadir, despite the fact that we’ve got the brilliant students in the region when it comes to English. I’ll always support MAYA in the making of such events that also support peace” Saada High School and Campus University Aït Melloul supported this event.

Not only contributing to the development of global communication competency of the local students, MAYA provided student competitors and audiences with the opportunity to reflect upon the value of peace in collaboration with its international partner, International Peace Youth Group (IPYG), an international youth organization with whom it shares the same vision of youth engagement in peacebuilding.

Mr. Adnane Abderrahmane, the vice president of MAYA said, “As a young leader in MAYA association, I always proposed the idea of organizing a peace-related event, and the chance finally showed up with the IPYG. The whole vocabulary list related to war and peace was specifically made to encourage youths and teens to engage peacebuilding and also so that they could start reading and analyzing the ways and methods of bringing world peace.”

Before starting the 1^st round of the competition, the congratulatory video from the IPYG was presented and it addressed that the global community should not leave words such as ‘refugee,’ ‘genocide,’ and ‘massacre’ to the future generation, but rather brighten the word ‘peace’ and ‘harmony,’ by working to stop wars and conflicts which are severely violating human rights.

Farah Galil, the third prize winner of the competition said, “When it was time for the IPYG video exhibition, I was already on the stage with the other competitors stressing out. [But] as the video started, I was overwhelmed with a story of a loving and caring mother raising her son for good, only until war came and took it away. The introduction video really got my attention and made me motivated and curious about how can we as a youth to support peace more.”

The prizes were awarded to Mouna Wamra and Imane Majidi of Lbakkali high school, and Farah Galil of Saada high school in order. The next competition will be held on March next year.

MAYA aims to continuously introduce the global youth movement for peace. IPYG with partnered youth associations around the world are spreading a culture of peace through peace movements such as walks, seminars, youth camps and public art projects.

TAIEX is a demand-driven tool that supports partner countries with the approximation of national laws, regulations and quality standards to those of EU Member States in the framework of Cooperation or Association agreements signed with the EU. In the Eastern Neighbourhood, TAIEX works with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. (EU Neighbourhood Info).