African tech is big, and growing.
Kenya, and capital city Nairobi, are one of the epicenter of tech and startups in Africa.
After attending Afrikoin, a conference on mobile money and digital currencies, the Savannah Fund, an early stage VCs based in Nairobi, showcased 4 startups.
Say hi to Zished (gifting for the diaspora, Ghana), Inforex (better forex information, Uganda), Instaid (Digitizing aid paper vouchers, Kenya) and Zatiti (mobile e-commerce websites for businesses, Kenya).
We'll be publishing shortly our "Innovation Ecosystem" analysis of Kenya as well, and more is on martinpasquier.com blog
2. We believe…
Innovation has no place in a global world, it’s everywhere
Innovation ecosystems can learn from one another
Local context matters and should be a source for innovators
This is why…
We’re on a world tour of innovation ecosystems!
3. A Demo Day in Nairobi
The Savannah Fund showcases 4 African start-ups
4. 4 start-ups from the Savannah Fund
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Founded by Mbwana Alliy
Operating from Nairobi in Africa
9 startups in portfolio, 4 of which presented at Afrikoin 2013
Their website
5. #1 – Zatiti, “Powering mobile e-commerce”
• 81% of sellers in Kenya want a mobile e-commerce solution
• Dev are hard to find, projects are expensive, and long
6. #1 – Zatiti, “Powering mobile e-commerce”
• Zatiti, a mobile e-commerce website builder with CMS
• 98% Kenyans access the web through mobile
7. #1 – Zatiti, “Powering mobile e-commerce”
• Several revenue streams: 2% transaction fee, premium
templates, domain name registration…
• Crafted to the local market (mobile payment)
8. #1 – Zatiti, “Powering mobile e-commerce”
Grace Kiburi
David Njuguna
• 4 years customer
support & Ecommerce
entrepreneur
• 11 years web
programmer &
entrepreneur
• Meet the team!
• Twitter: @Zatiti
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/zatitiOfficial
9. #2 – Zished, “Celebrate special moments in Africa”
• Gifting from abroad to Africa is a pain
• For Ghana only, 310 000 diasporans with 93 000 potential users
(Pop. aged 18-34)
• $100 average order, actual commission 12.5% (Western Union)
10. #2 – Zished, “Celebrate special moments in Africa”
• Zished cuts down on intermediates and link up the gift to a delivery
network directly
• Next steps: implementation of a Voucher app to send immaterial
gifts
11. #2 – Zished, “Celebrate special moments in Africa”
• Potential market of diaspora/remittance is huge
• Obstacles as well: how to ensure logistics/delivery?
12. #2 – Zished, “Celebrate special moments in Africa”
• Meet the team!
• Twitter: @Zished
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Zished
13. #3 – Instaid, “Send Food & Medical Aid instantly”
• Distribution of physical aid & food suffer huge loss along the road:
only $3.5bn out of $17.4bn of aid in Africa reach beneficiaries
• Beyond physical aid, “paper vouchers” also have low reach (33% of
beneficiaries)
14. #3 – Instaid, “Send Food & Medical Aid instantly”
• Instaid is a platform for organizations to create, manage and
distribute medical & nutritional e-vouchers on mobile
• Business model: Setup fees + maintenance/hosting & transaction
fees
15. #3 – Instaid, “Send Food & Medical Aid instantly”
• Aid organizations have access to a dashboard to track voucher
& redeem rates, payments
16. #3 – Instaid, “Send Food & Medical Aid instantly”
• Roadmap for 2014-2015: 5 organizations & 50 000
beneficiaries, online voucher transfers, Card-based solution
17. #3 – Instaid, “Send Food & Medical Aid instantly”
Rodgers Muhadi
CEO
Sam Masinde
CTO
Evelyn Wangari
Operations
• Meet the team!
• www.cardplanetsolutions.co.ke
Maryann Masitsa
Sales & Marketing
18. #4 – Inforex, “A Forex bureau networking system”
• Many gaps of information in Africa Forex can be filled
• For a single forex request, price difference can be more than $100
19. #4 – Inforex, “A Forex bureau networking system”
• Inforex provides better visibility on rates without a need for “scouts”
• Both individuals, companies & institutions can benefit from a better info
20. #4 – Inforex, “A Forex bureau networking system”
• Traders have a dashboard to gather info from the different Foreign
Exchange bureau in the country/city
• Market size is $8bn of Forex deals in Uganda alone
21. #4 – Inforex, “A Forex bureau networking system”
• Roadmap for Inforex Africa: mobile app, partnerships with
institutions and associations of forex bureau
22. #4 – Inforex, “A Forex bureau networking system”
• Meet the team!
• http://inforexafrica.com/