Middletrust

middletrust

HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your background. In 2014 I graduated with a BSc in Accounting. Since graduating, I’ve been working as a Front-end developer/designer (Yeah, I always knew life as an accountant wasn’t for me). It was my experience as a designer that made the idea of starting Middletrust an appealing one. What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do? Our startup is called Middletrust, and we provide escrow payment services to individuals and businesses. What is the origin story? One common thing for the founders was that we have at some point in time lost money to clients who find a way to wriggle out of paying for the services we rendered. It became a necessity to find a solution to solve this problem. When we didn’t find a pre-existing solution, we decided to build one. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? We are young-spirited creatives who have experienced transaction irregularities first-hand, we understand the problem like few would. Since we can build a product capable of fixing the problem, we felt it would be a great disservice to others like us if we do not at least try to solve it. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? I’d be designing products (I never really stopped designing actually), I’m a pretty good UI designer/Illustrator. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics? We measure success by “Value of Transactions Processed” and the “number of users we have managed to keep protected in the business transactions.” What technologies are you currently most excited about and most worried about? And why? I’m excited about Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain, given their potentials, but I’m a bit skeptical about Driverless Vehicle Technology. What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform? I received an email about a nomination, and I felt obliged to give it a go. What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself? A funny but honest answer would be, “ ” buy as much bitcoin as you can afford What is something surprising you've learned this year that your contemporaries would benefit from knowing? I’ve learned that it’s okay not to have all the answers. What matters is that keep an open mind and continue learning. Vote for Middletrust as . the startup of the year, Lekki, Nigeria

Startup Interview with Efe Ojadua, Co-Founder and CEO of Middletrust

240 Stories To Learn About Startups Of The Year

82 Stories To Learn About Digital Payments

* * Achievement unlocked: With more than ‘4 billion’ in total votes -- almost half the population of earth voted for startups! JUST KIDDING! Some companies had a to accumulating their votes. unique approach In 2021, decided to host to highlight the backbone of the future - tech startups! for the first time in forever (make sure you sing it in Anna’s voice), HackerNoon.com Startups of The Year More than 44,000 startups were nominated all across the globe, spanning over 4,553 cities. That’s.Just.Spiffy! To see who is a winner in each respective city, visit and pick a city. The name at the top of the list is the winner. (Compromised awards are under review.) startups.hackernoon.com The will announce the winners per region in their respective cities. Startups Winners Announcement Series We’d like to take a moment here and thank every single person who cast a vote and every single company, both nominated and not nominated yet this year. Furthermore, we thank you for existing and opening more opportunities for the wonders of the future to come. Even if you don’t win anything today, you’ve won something much more valuable - our hearts <3 Okay, sorry for the long introduction. Below are all the Startups Winners: Startups of the Year (SOTY) in Africa Johannesburg, South Africa With more than 900 votes cast, #SOTY calls.... MiBRAND Thank you for connecting businesses and consumers, great job! Lagos, Nigeria With 836 votes in the bag, let’s give it up for... Goodtalent Thanks for helping tech companies build great engineering teams. Cape Town, South Africa Want to learn more about finance and use that knowledge to make better financial decisions? Look no further. Introducing winner of Startups of The Year, Cape Town: Revix With 527 votes cast, it seems like a lot of people have more money in their pockets thanks to . Revix Mahé, Seychelles With around 515 votes cast, #SOTY summons... DAOLaunch Thank you for bridging the gap between investors and startups. Lusaka And the winner for #SOTY in Lusaka is... ComGrow Thanks to them, people here are getting closer to the reality of the digitization of village banking. Nairobi, Kenya With 252 votes cast, UTU came out top as the Startup of The Year. Thanks for building the trust infrastructure of the internet to help businesses and consumers engage and transact in a more reliable way. Yaoundé Accounting for more than 73% of total votes, CamPay won this award fair and square. Thank you for making sending and receiving payments easier between online merchants. Abuja, Nigeria A proud winner in the prestigious capital of Nigeria, Elesaro deserves all the plaudits it gets. is a suite crowdfunding protocol built on BSC, Reward, Equity, Lending & NFT Marketplace. Congratulations! Elesaro Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania Jamii Africa is the name that will always be engraved on the #SOTY trophy. As a mobile micro-health insurance, Jamii Africa has done a great job for the health sector in Tanzania. Kigali, Rwanda Another #SOTY medal in the bag for none other than …wait for it… BAG Innovation BAG Innovation applies Gamification to offer real-time access to experience-based learning for University students in East Africa. Everybody loves playing games, but using games to learn in school is on another level. Gauteng, South Africa And the award goes to... Planet42 Thanks for democratising mobility by enabling people ignored by banks to get access to a personal vehicle through a car subscription service. Once again, congratulations! Port Harcourt, Nigeria Cryptocurrency is the present and the future, as we’ve all come to know. FLITBASE makes these digital assets more accessible to everyone. #SOTY is proud to add you to our Hall of Fame. Cairo, Egypt With 18 votes won out of the 91 cast, it seems there was fierce competition. Congratulations to... SubsBase for winning Startups of The Year. SubsBase allows businesses to manage their subscribers, automate recurring billings, set pricing plans, and monitor subscription KPIs. Tunis, Tunisia Come one, come all! Witness the greatness of yet another wonderful startup in the #SOTY. Thank you... VYND for providing a fully integrated digital platform to help venue owners better serve their customers and grow their businesses. Stellenbosch, South Africa BankTech connects clients to a payment network where it provides a convenient interface to meet various payments needs. You’ve won #SOTY proudly! Pretoria #SOTY acknowledges... Grays Pharmaceuticals Thank you for all you do. Lekki, Nigeria Middletrust provides reliable escrow services in Africa. Congratulations on winning a #SOTY medal. Addis Ababa Thank you... Hello Solar for consistently accelerating sustainable energy solutions, especially for remote communities. With half of the votes cast, you beat the odds. Accra, Ghana UT Bank Ghana provides various commercial banking services to individuals and companies in Ghana. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of financial services to humankind. #SOTY is proud of all you do. Gîza, Egypt Big congratulations to... HOVO for winning this award. Your on-demand mobile app for ordering trucks is truly appreciated! Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo Congratulations for coming out on top of #SOTY, SillonBlue Technologies As an ICT Consulting and SaaS company, SillonBlue Technologies focuses on software and mobile app development, and data collection. Yaba, Nigeria With more than half of the votes cast, this nominee conquered undisputedly. Let’s give it up for... Kuda a no-fee full-service digital bank making banking affordable for all Africans on the planet. Morocco City Almes provides infrastructure and logistics services. Congratulations on earning a #SOTY medal. Dakar ShopMeAway provides families and businesses with new ways to shop around the world with reduced shipping costs. You deserve the plaudits you’ve received! Casablanca Sheaply provides crowd shipping and crowd shopping solutions. This reduces cost and improves efficiency on shipping and shopping. Congratulations on winning a #SOTY medal. Nguru, Nigeria Accounting for 88% of the votes, TradeBuza wins #SOTY almost flawlessly. TradeBuza is a tech-enabled commodities sourcing platform for commodities aggregators and out-grower schemes. Ikeja, Nigeria PropertyPro Nigeria is now pronounced Startup of the Year in Ikeja. Let’s admit, who doesn’t appreciate a platform built to search for real estate properties? Ibadan, Nigeria No Bank, No Problem! (That’s probably not their motto, by the way) Shield Finders is a fintech and financial service provider to the unbanked. Congratulation on winning most of the votes! 6 October City, Egypt Wuilt is a website builder where you can create your own Arabic website in under 5 minutes. Thank you for making this technology accessible to people. One #SOTY medal for you! Algiers The only nominee who outvoted all others, please give it up for... Yassir Thank you for providing convenient transport services using your app. Enugu In an area that usually suffers from inconsistent electricity, Greenage comes to the rescue with their green cape and spandex suit. Greenage Technologies is a Nigerian startup solving electricity problems in Nigeria using solar energy technology. Congrats, Greenage. Abeokuta, Nigeria A government organization creating opportunities for entrepreneurs and the unemployed - no one deserves the title Startup of The Year better than Ogun Innovate Congratulations! Ariana And the award goes to... E-Stores Factory a web platform that helps rent and manage e-shops for enterprises seeking to sell online. Thank you for making the (not a typo) more friendly! e-cosystem Benin City Health really is wealth. MOBicure provides mobile technology solutions for Africa's biggest health problems. Thank you for all you do. From #SOTY with love <3 Centurion GameZBoost offers white label gaming platforms, including online desktop solutions, fully responsive mobile and social platforms. Thank you for making the world a more fun place! Gaborone Augmenta Cyber Security provides services in cyber security, safe data storage, SCADA security, SAP Security, etc. Congratulations on winning 10/10 of the votes. You rock! Garki There can never be enough medical platforms in the world. Congratulations to... Wella Health an operator of a healthcare technology company intended to provide treatments and medicines for malaria. Thank you for all you do! Lilongwe Yellow is a digital platform enabling informal merchants in Africa. #SOTY welcomes you to its hall of fame. Make yourself at home ;) Luanda Access to finance is important for any company or sector to succeed. And no other company deserves the title Startup of The Year more than Deya the first Angolan and PALOP crowdfunding platform that aims to increase access to financing for social impact causes and entrepreneurs. . 10/10 will recommend Mombasa Life can be hard, and so a little humor helps ease these hardships. Congratulations to this political satire puppet show, The XYZ Show for winning #SOTY. Thanks for putting smiles on our faces. Port Louis Town Bet you’ve never heard of a Smartcup. Thanks to Intellicup that exists now, and therefore earns this startup a #SOTY badge.  Intellicup is a unique high-speed beverage dispensing solution with integrated smart technology. While this cup won’t be able to wake you up in the morning, you have to agree that it’s still pretty impressive. Rabat Atlan Space is a startup building AI to autonomously pilot any fixed-wing drone, to monitor and take measures over very large areas. You deserve the #SOTY medal. Réunion Imagine having the power to do ultrasound scans on your handheld device. OSCULT by Oscadi is a handheld ultrasound imaging device interfaced with the Apple iPad. Congratulations on making it into the #SOTY! Somerset West Winning the award fair and square is Sticitt a cashless payment platform that is also aimed at teaching learners at school the basics of finance. The future of the world would be in good hands when our children know how to adequately manage finances. Thank you for saving the world in advance. Thika Flowers make the world a beautiful place to live in. Wilmar Flowers exports summer flowers grown by small and medium-sized farmers from Kenya. Kudos for making the world beautiful, #SOTY is honored to have you in our Hall of Fame. Kampala, Uganda Yo-Waste Limited is an African startup that provides waste, recycling and “smart city” solutions to businesses and governments. Your #SOTY gold medal shines as much as you do <3 Harare, Zimbabwe The world is becoming more and more digital every day. Thanks to companies like Golix that provide services of digital currencies for people in Africa, the digitization of the world is becoming more robust. Freetown Easy Solar is a distribution company making energy, durable goods and financial services affordable and accessible through pay-as-you-go tech. Thumbs up! Kicukiro FOODLINE specializes in non-genetically-modified grocery farming and production lines. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! #SOTY Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo Startups Nuru is a renewable and environmental company that specializes in the fields of storage micro-grids and solar energy. After racking up all the votes, #SOTY honors you. Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire Digitech provides a fully integrated and cloud-based InsurTech platform to incumbent insurance companies. You are awesome! Durban Security can never really be enough. We’d like to honor Blue Security the title Startup of The Year, for specializing in the installation and monitoring of intruder detection systems, and in providing armed response services. Ikoyi And the Startup of The year goes to... Winich Farms an Agritech Startup leveraging tech to connect rural farmers to Finance & Market, thus, increasing productivity and cutting post-harvest loss. You rock! Lomé The last recipient of #SOTY in Africa calls for... Gozem a transport technology platform for Francophone West and Central Africa. Thank you for providing a platform for transportation. We are honored to have you! *Winners missing from this list will be added accordingly. More Information If you’re a winner, please answer ! If you’re a reader, participant, just a curious individual, consider answering one of our interviews . this interview here Read the FAQs about or . Startups here here To see all of the winners you may visit , pick any city and view the name that appears at the top. this site If you’re interested in partnering with us, we invite you to look through some of these or reach out to our business department. unique sponsorship options Perhaps creating your very own tickles your fancy or maybe you have a whole new idea for how we can partner! writing contest Thank you to all of our sponsors! We truly appreciate your contribution to the tech world and thus the future! The Startups Awards are sponsored by: , , , , , , , , , , Blockster Brex FreeCodeCamp LaunchDarkly Coil Udacity Udemy Vercel Asia Pacific Transgender Network Bybit Everscale Network This post was written and edited by Kien Dao and Joshua Omale. 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