NU Students Participating in "FinYology" Initiative launched by the Central Bank of Egypt
“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 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 started an initiative named “FinYology – FinTech” in February 2020 to foster young talents and inspire university students of different related majors to conduct financial technology (FinTech) projects and create innovative solutions as part of their curricula graded courses. It also aims to spread awareness about FinTech and put the Egyptian youth on the first steps toward 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 assist Egyptian students in becoming 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 study 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 in 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 of FinTech and Digital Solutions. It was officially certified as a winner by the CBE during the closing ceremony. A certificate of recognition also recognized the second winning team from CBE for their participation in the initiative. NU is proud to be one of the pioneering universities that participated in FinYology, 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 several 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, ALEX BANK, 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 while developing their FinTech ideas and projects while guiding the possibility of their implementation, growth, 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.