Startups
In nearly a decade, hundreds of entrepreneurs have emerged with innovative startups across the African continent. We provide insights on their experiences and highlight the activities of investors who fund them.
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“Asana is a beautiful tool, Prowork is a great tool, Slack is an awesome tool but Termii is a never ending network and family of ventures, teams and services.” My journey this week is into the world of Termii, a corporate networking and collaborating platform that’s working at helping businesses improve office collaboration and boost productivity.…
Jumia has now formalized the appointment of Francis Dufay at the head of its subsidiary in Côte d’Ivoire. This announcement follows the appointment of Fatoumata Ba, with whom Francis Dufay led JUMIA Côte d’Ivoire since April 2014, to the position of Managing Director at JUMIA Nigeria. Having arrived in April 2014 as Co-Managing Director, he…
Weekends, especially when you’re in your late teens and early twenties, are avenues to relax with buddies, go on dates or just relax. But at the same time, not over spending is key. Kaku.com.ng is a discovery website that allows people locate amazing places where they can hang out with friends, family or loved ones…
I imagine that the headline above will spark indignation in a number of people, especially entrepreneurs. But I’d encourage you to read to the end of the post and see if you still feel the same way. I was reading a piece on VentureBeat when I came across this post by Mark Weiner, the chief…
Nigerian ecommerce giant Konga.com gave a peek view into it’s Cape Town office in South Africa with a picture tweet from the company CEO, Sim Shagaya. With the talented propeller heads of the konga cape town dev office. Yaba + Cape Town building tech for African SMEs pic.twitter.com/dfnyDJOBDW — SS (@SimShagaya) April 2,…
“Outdoor advertising isn’t going anywhere, people still spend time on the road – in transit.” – Tunji Alao Next on the startup series is a journey through the cosmos of VacantBoards, a startup working out of the Co-Creation Hub in the heart of Lagos, trying to maximise unused outdoor advertising spots. The Problems Before April…
When things are going really bad, make sure you put on your lipstick. People are watching you and they want to see that you are confident – especially in times of trouble.” – Lisa Gersh Women nowadays are becoming more and more noticed for their exceptional success in the tangentially male dominated corporate world of global business…
In case you were wondering, which I’m almost sure you’re not, the Jumia-Konga rivalry runs deeper than who is the superior online retail store in Nigeria. Last Saturday, Jumia defeated Konga by 2-0 at the Truppr Tech Football Tourney. Of course, mischievous jokes were also making their way through the spectators, you know, about valuable…
It was the March edition of the CcHub‘s Developers’ Parapo and the final item on the agenda was the usability testing of Jekalo – an application in its demo stage that helps people to offer or join a ride based on proximity. The name Jekalo is a Yoruba phrase for ‘let’s go.’ How does Jekalo help you? The platform uses the…
“Technology must always be subordinated in the pursuit of solving a business problem, and for Delivery Science technology means nothing if it’s not solving any problem.” Last week, I had the opportunity of chatting with the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Delivery Science, Lanre Oyedotun who talked about the challenges, opportunities, prospects as well as…
Rocket Internet’s transport service, Easy Taxi, is about to launch an in-app cashless payment option – Easy Taxi Pay (ET Pay). The way the ET Pay works, is reminiscent of the payment option used in competitor transport startup, Uber. Using ET Pay customers simply add their credit/debit card details, request for a taxi and pay…
Building a start-up is really exciting. Only a few people can give up on so many other options for this. It gets less exciting if the startup is being built in Lagos, Nigeria. The environment is not so startup friendly if you have little or no support. If you are lucky enough to get a…
In collaboration with Fate Foundation and Mara Mentor, Microsoft has launched the ‘Cloudpreneur Project’ in Nigeria to enable and empower young business owners, so that they can contribute to the social and economic growth of Nigeria. The project will provide 100 participating Nigerian start-ups with entrepreneurship, Cloud and ICT training. At the end of the…
Here’s an highlight of what made headlines on TechPoint this week Dear Nigerian Startups, You Need To Stop Copying European and US Counterparts – Marek Zmyslowski A lot of the Nigerian online business struggle takes place offline, as attested to by Marek Zmyslowski, MD Jovago.com. He is also of the opinion that too many Nigerian startups…
In what appears to be an aggressive takeover move, popular classified ads platform, OLX.com.ng recently bought over its competition TradeStable.com.ng, and then shut it down. Visitors to the TradeStable website are greeted with a modal box announcing the takeover. However, according to sources, operators of the two companies have been in talks for a while…
JUMIA Côte d’Ivoire continues its rapid expansion process with the opening of six new hubs in Cote d’Ivoire in the cities of Yamoussoukro, Bouaké, San Pedro, Daloa, Gagnoa, and Korogho. Jumia intends to achieve its goal to revolutionize the shopping habits of all Ivorians. The new JUMIA hubs are service points where customers can pick items…
Mark Essien’s online hotel booking platform, Hotels.ng is now offering a chance to win free hotel reservations to people who participate in the in the upcoming national elections. The startup is giving this incentive to encourage and improve participation in the coming polls. Participating in the competition is simple, post a selfie of you alone,…
Marek Zmyslowski is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Jovago.com, an online hotels booking service, backed by Rocket Internet, MTN and Millicom. In a recent chat with Techpoint, he had a lot of interesting things to share about how Jovago manages to surmount the obstacles to running an online business in Nigeria Zmyslowski tells us Jovago has…
Audax Studynet, launched in August 2013 as a Code School – situated on the Island – created to offer an in-depth Introduction to Computer Programming in a fun and collaborative environment to primary and secondary school students, has officially announced a three-days training program for Students interested in having their career of Programming shaped at…
Former Apple CEO and former VP and president of Pepsi-Cola, John Sculley, yesterday announced the launch of a new Venture Capitalist firm, Obi Ventures to invest in early stage startups in Africa and emerging markets. Yesterday, at a media chat held at the iHub in Nairobi, John Sculley unveiled Obi Mobiles, an affordable brand of…