Yesterday saw the African launch of Truecaller's Software Development Kit (SDK) programme in Nigeria. The launch event, which held at CcHub, Yaba, Lagos, was pioneered by Truecaller's global team; Priyam Bose (Director and Head of Global Developer and Startup Relations), Ted Nelson (Chief Commercial Officer) and Kim Fai Kok (Director of Communications).
The Truecaller SDK is a mobile identity product that enables 3rd party app developers, digital businesses and startups to verify end users quickly and frictionlessly by utilising their Truecaller profile with a one-touch and password-free experience.
Currently, the Truecaller SDK is available on Android, iOS, web platforms and can be used by any app or a website to instantly onboard, autofill user information, or verify the user's phone number identity with the users' consent.
We see Nigeria as one of the most promising ecosystems in Africa, that’s why we have decided to kick-off our tour in the market. After engaging with some of the top tech startups and digital businesses in the country, we are even more convinced that Truecaller SDK -- mobile identity solution -- will help solve many of their challenges when onboarding and verifying new users,” -- Priyam Bose
It is imperative to note the SDK initiative is coming after Truecaller successfully rolled out its ads platform for the African market. However, Priyam affirms that the initiative is totally free, as it is Truecaller's way of "contributing to the global ecosystem".
Since inception in 2009, the Swedish company has had the mission to build trust everywhere by making communication safe and efficient. Indeed, Truecaller has become one of the fastest growing consumer apps in Africa and according to the company, has consistently been topping the App Store charts across Africa for the past 2 years.
With already more than 50 million users in Africa and over 6.2 million users in Nigeria, Truecaller is proud that its mission to build trust globally is fast becoming a reality; it has a milestone of blocking more than half a billion spam calls and more than 50% of all messages filtered are considered as spam on a monthly basis in the region.
In Nigeria especially, Truecaller claims it blocks more than 13 million calls, and 25 million spam SMS on a monthly basis. And in its recent study, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt rank among the top 20 countries in the world being plagued by unwanted spam calls.
The company provides a suite of unique services such as a dialer that offers caller ID, spam detection, messaging and more. During the event, the company revealed it will be setting up headquarters in the region and hire key personnel to further push its operations.
