5 tech start-ups to watch in Africa
Forbes has identified a list of five ‘hot’ start-ups in Africa which are expected to excel in 2013. The list features South African firm, CorruptionNET, which aims to tackle corruption and abuse of public resources.
“There has never been a more exciting time in Africa’s tech start-up community,” said Forbes. “The sector has reached an unprecedented level of maturity and growth. Africa’s techies and developers are no longer building mobile apps, software and websites just for the love of it; they are adopting a rather aggressive approach towards business planning, commercialization and profitability,” the media firm said.
Compiled by Mfonobong Nsehe, a contributor at Forbes, the list includes:
mVerified: A Kenyan mobile and web-based app that verifies the authenticity of documents such as title deeds, car log books and graduation certificates in the course of transactions.
The app checks the credentials of documents against data stored by Kenyan governmental agencies including Kenya Revenue Authority and the Kenya National Examinations Council.
Dodgy documents not corresponding with official records are then flagged as potential counterfeits. mVerified can be accessed online via WAP or GPRS-enabled phones.
Nsehe notes that while the system is free to download as an app, it costs approximately $7 to make a verification inquiry.
Mara Online: Founded by Ugandan tycoon Ashish J. Thakkar in 2012, this platform claims to be Africa’s first online mentorship social network, connecting African entrepreneurs to established, prominent enterprises and businessmen who serve as mentors.
Kuluya.com: This start-up develops and publishes online games and is based in Lagos, Nigeria. The games are Nigerian-centric with a large focus on African characters and themes.
Kuluya already boasts more than 100 games in its portfolio with titles including Monkey Run, Bush Meat and Zulu and Mosquito. The company raised $250,000 from institutional investors earlier this year. All Kuluya games are currently web browser games.
BudgIT: This civic start-up aims to make the Nigerian government budgets & public data more understandable, accessible and transparent by leveraging an interactive platform and using creative tools including infographics and charts to break down government budget allocations.
The site also aims to stimulate conversations about open governance, data transparency and citizen participation in governance.
CorruptionNET: Founded by Nimi Hoffmann, a South African social science graduate student at Oxford University, CorruptionNET is an open-source mobile platform that enables citizen reporters to file anonymous journalistic reports to newsrooms about corruption and abuse of public resources. Citizen reporters can report via SMS or SA based social network, MXit.
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