Solutions (438)
Budget management can quickly become cumbersome for teenagers living far from their parents. In Nigeria, entrepreneurs have addressed this issue by setting up an interesting alternative.
Sproutly is a Nigerian fintech startup that allows teenagers to open savings accounts with attached debit cards and parental supervision. The startup, founded in 2021, by Pierre Nwoke (photo), Maxwell Agu, and Prince Akachi, is based in the US and Nigeria.
Pierre Nwoke came up with Sproutly’s idea after he went through hell and high water to open a bank account for his underage brother who was preparing for university admission. “...it was one hell of a journey to open a savings account for him being underaged. We ended up doing so after one year and using one of my banks and my debit card for the entire period he was trying to open an account,” he explains.
Pierre discovered that it was a challenge faced by many. So, he decided to find a solution for it. “We took about three months researching pre-existing viable options and alternatives people use currently, like digital banks offering something close to what we wanted to build, and it was an amazing, eye-opening journey,” he told Disrupt Africa.
The startup has an Android and iOS app where teenagers can carry out their banking activities. It also has a mobile app to allow parents to monitor their kids’ spending and take preventive actions if needed. Sproutly also offers financial education and access to child-friendly loans and quick bailouts. The start-up is also developing additional services like school workshops to train children on financial management.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The startup allows users to safely and comfortably travel to major cities in the country.
Easy Matatu is a Ugandan startup founded in 2019 to help commuters access reliable and convenient transportation means. The startup founded by Andrew Ssali, Lema Carl Andrew, and Precious Turinawe has raised US$500,000 in two funding rounds to successfully carry out its mission.
“ We are a platform that is connecting commuters in Africa to safer, more reliable, and cleaner transportation. Easy Matatu is built for the working professional looking to make it in this world, for the bold African woman raising a nation,” the startup explains on its website.
The startup has a mobile app (available on PlayStore and AppStore) through which users can access the various services it offers. Through the mobile app, users can register by filling in a set of personal information, to become an Easy Matatu driver or commuter.
Whenever a user signs in on the mobile app, available pick-up points are shown on the map. So, commuters can choose the closest to them. To keep true to its reliability commitment, Easy Matatu is always on time at the pickup points and its waiting time at those points rarely exceeds five minutes. To facilitate payments, the startup’s mobile app integrates a wallet that can be loaded via mobile money. The startup also has a reward system to encourage its commuters. For instance, commuters can refer their friends and family members and earn up to USh5,000 (about US$1.37).
Let’s note that the startup is one of the 45 startups selected for the first edition of the AfricaTech Awards. It was selected in the category of Climate Tech startups.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
Healthtech startups are gradually becoming better alternatives to addressing healthcare access challenges in Africa. In Côte d’Ivoire, Zencey is one of those startups conquering the health market with innovative offers.
Zencey is a healthtech startup founded in 2019 by Yaya Mbaoua. The startup allows access to healthcare services for its users, in line with its mission, which is to “transform the African healthcare ecosystem by making access to healthcare more affordable and accessible to everyone.”
Through its eponymous platform, accessible via the web and its android app, users can book consultations with doctors by following two simple steps. First, they will have to log on to the platform by providing a set of personal information and choose the doctor they want to book, depending on the illness affecting them. Then, they will set a date and time for the consultation. Once set, the consultation will be carried out via video call through the Zencey app.
The startup explains that its affiliated doctors and specialists are accredited with years of experience in developing countries. It is constantly on the hunt for doctors and health practitioners to join its platform. For that purpose, it has a form allowing interested parties to enroll and set their availability schedule.
Zencey also offers firms the opportunity to guarantee healthcare for their staff. It sees that offer as an affordable alternative to the ever-expensive health insurance. The offer consists of emergency care anytime needed and virtual healthcare assistants to boost employee commitment.
In 2021, the startup announced its selection for Orange Cote d’Ivoire’s 2020 startup acceleration program. It is also one of the 45 startups selected for the first edition of the AfricaTech Awards, to be held in Paris during the Viva Technology 2022 next June.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The coronavirus pandemic forced an acceleration of digital transformation projects in Africa. Almost every sector is now caught in the digitalization fever with startups coming into the picture to solve the population’s pain points. SingPay is one of the solutions developed to solve problems, financial notably.
SingPay is a digital platform developed by business consulting firm SING SA, founded in 2018 and managed by Yannick Ebibie (photo) ever since. The platform allows firms to easily collect payments.
“SingPay aims to facilitate the integration of payment means to digital solutions in our growing ecosystem by reducing barriers to entry, notably for early-stage ventures and public projects,” SING SA explains on its website.
The digital solution allows startups and firms offering services or selling products online to collect payments from users, even those without conventional payment systems like bank cards. By integrating SingPay into their digital platforms, users can collect payments via mobile money, bank cards, etc…
SingPay collects no fee from its clients when the volume of overall transactions processed is still below XAF25 million (about US$40,000). Beyond that threshold, it collects 2.5% per transaction for private ventures and 1.5% per transaction for public ventures. Every year, SING SA. reviews the status of every one of its clients via its programming interface.
Thanks to SingPay, SING SA has been selected among the 300 start-ups that will contest to become the Top45 awardees of the first edition of the AfricaTech Awards.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
Technology appears like an important tool to solve some of the most pressing challenges in Africa and many entrepreneurs want to capitalize on it.
GoodTalent is a Nigerian startup that allows users to crowdsource, screen, and onboard talents.
Thanks to its cloud-based social platform, the startup founded in 2020 by Jimmy Braimah (photo) helps “reduce cost and time-to-hire” by being a talent pool and instant messaging platform that recommends talents based on their skills. It also offers the possibility to ask the social community for referrals.
The startup wants to change the way companies select, hire and pay talented engineers. “...We are building a company that will be at the forefront of hiring engineers within 1-2 years. We are giving companies a choice to be flexible in their hiring strategy. We all know how startups are losing the “war for engineering talents”, as a result, we are providing the right tools to make it easier for startups with smaller budgets to compete effectively against the larger companies,” explains Jimmy Braimah.
Currently, the services offered by GoodTalent are accessible only through its web platform. Talents register on the platform by providing a set of information including their last name, first name, and email address. They then become visible to partner companies and recruiters that have subscribed to the services. Depending on their subscription type (pricing starts at US$100), recruiters and companies can publish job offers and recruit a fixed number of talents.
Since its creation, the startup has completed several funding rounds totaling US$50,000. In February 2022, it was awarded the Hackernoon Community Startup of the Year 2021 award.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The coronavirus pandemic boosted the African delivery segment. Unfortunately, some operators are unable to access operational loans. A Zimbabwean startup wants to offer an alternative solution.
Thumeza is a Zimbabwean startup that allows small-scale transporters access to short-term operational loans. Founded in 2018 by Gugulethu Siso (photo), the startup describes itself as an “empathetic alternative financing solutions” provider.
“Access to credit is a lifeline for growth which unfortunately over 70% of small scale transporters active in Africa’s 300 Billion US dollar logistics industry do not have. This is either due to a lack of collateral or credible operational data. This means that as a small scale transporter, options for quick access to assistance are extremely limited should you get a post-paid trip, have a breakdown in transit, need to pay for insurance, or simply need to service your vehicle and meet other day-to-day operational needs,” it explains on its website.
To access Thumeza’s services, users need to register on its web platform (currently, there is no mobile platform) by filling out a Google form. Based on the information collected, Thumeza estimates the volume of credit that can be granted to each user.
In 2021, the startup was named one of 10 finalists in Telecel Group's US$750,000 Africa Startup Initiative (ASIP) program and Startupbootcamp Afritech accelerator. In 2022, the startup expanded its services to Zambia and Kenya with plans to launch operations in South Africa in the coming months.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
TopUp Mama was launched to facilitate restaurants’ access to foodstuff and improve their efficiency.
TopUp Mama is a Kenyan startup which helps restaurants access affordable food products, financial services, and management solutions. Founded in 2021 by Njavwa Mutambo, Emilie Blauwhoff, and Andrew Kibe, the startup completed several funding rounds securing US$2.2 million overall.
For Ventures Platform founder Kola Aina, TopUp Mama helps “restaurants grow their customer base while improving efficiency.”
“I grew up in the restaurant business in Zambia, and I know first-hand the power small businesses have in transforming lives. This is why we’re passionate about increasing restaurant contribution to Africa’s GDP. We believe we have a unique opportunity to build Africa’s most prominent restaurant partner and build one of the largest companies Africa has ever seen,” indicates TopUP Mama’s co-founder and CEO Njavwa Mutambo.
TopUp Mama’s services can be accessed through a mobile app, available for android and iOS users. When the user (a restaurant owner most of the time) registers, he/she can buy goods, pay later, and even get them delivered wherever wanted. The startup awards loyalty points to the best clients among its more than 3,000 clients/restaurants.
In February 2022, the startup was selected to be in Catalyst Fund’s “tenth cohort of fintech companies that are building solutions designed to improve the resilience of underserved and climate-vulnerable communities in emerging markets.”
Adoni Conrad Quenum
In Africa, access to traditional bank loans is hard and stringent. Residents are thus obliged to turn to alternative solutions to meet their needs.
Kwaba is a Nigeiran startup founded in 2019 by Obinna Molokwu. Through its eponymous android app -the iOS app is still under development- the startup facilitates rent payment and real estate investments.
“Kwaba is helping to bridge the gap between property and finance. We understand the economic reality of Nigerian renters and have built our product to reflect this. We aim to improve the financial well-being of renters as we grow,” explains Molukwu.
With Kwaba, users can save or receive instant loans for real estate projects. They can also conveniently pay their rent or when they are unable to pay security deposits, they can receive up to 40% of their rent savings and pay in monthly installments.
The startup claimed to have received NGN115 billion (close to US$277 million) of rent payment requests from its over 30,000 users in 2021. A year earlier, the startup was selected for the second edition of ARM Labs accelerator program, entitling it to US$20,000 funding.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
In Nigeria, only 7 million out of the estimated 200 million population is subscribed to a health insurance policy. Of the 7 million, 98% were enrolled by their employees. A local startup wants to change that situation by leveraging technology.
In 2019, Nigerian tech entrepreneur Kayode Odeyinde founded NucleusIS, a startup that wants to leverage technology for universal healthcare in Nigeria. Through its eponymous digital platform, the startup allows individuals and firms to subscribe to health insurance policies.
It offers users access to hundreds of subscription plans created by dozens of insurance firms. The information to be provided for registration and subscription depends on the user’s insured and employment status as well as location.
Recently, NucleusIs introduced a plan allowing users to buy health insurance on credit. “NucleusIS will continue to look for ways to use technology and financial initiatives to drive health insurance adoption across the continent. (...) The platform is one of the many initiatives the company will be rolling out to make health insurance truly accessible and affordable to the average person,” indicated its head of Communication Godwin Awuya.
The startup currently claims more than 200,00 health insurance policies sold and 600 corporate clients managed. “We want to provide about 180,000 touchpoints across the country and add over 20 million people to the insurance net annually,” explained Odeyinde in 2021. The startup is already active in Nigeria and Ghana but it plans to enter new African markets in the next three years.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The number of e-commerce businesses operating in Africa is growing daily. The ecosystem has become so competitive, threatening the survival of a large number of those businesses. In Kenya, a startup wants to use artificial intelligence and big data to help businesses avoid stories that touch.
Lisa is a business assistant launched in January 2022 by Kenyan startup Phindor. By combining artificial intelligence and big data, it analyzes commercial data and network firms, service providers, and clients via its web/mobile platforms.
Lisa, the startup founded in 2018 by Pheneas Munene (photo), anticipates shifts in demand and market trends by collecting online and offline market data, analyzing clients’ feedback, and organizing surveys. The business assistant also does so many things like forecasting business performance and recommending market segments to explore.
“It is usually a “wow” moment when we walk into someone’s shop and explain to them what the app can do. Surprisingly for us, we found out that most of the users had ideas of such a product but have never had a solution that fits all these needs in such a way they would adopt it. We have had challenges explaining the app to the least tech-savvy, but overall, the adoption has been smooth,” Pheneas said.
Phindor started as a website allowing users to compare the price of school items. However, in 2018, its founder decided to offer data management and analytics services. “We decided to work towards creating a simple, lightweight, and affordable app to help businesses capture data, keep it and use AI to draw insights from this data, just like giant companies are doing,” Pheneas Munene told Disrupt Africa.
Thanks to Lisa, Phindor enables businesses “to apply the power of AI to make sense of this data by helping them segment customers in their markets, generate smart supply chain networks, analyze their markets and predict the future performance of their businesses, as well as track sale items over time to enable them to make proper purchase decisions,” he added.
To access its services, users just have to chat with a dedicated chatbot or converse with the startup’s voice assistant. Once registered, users pay a flat US5 monthly fee plus a percentage of their monthly sales.
According to Phindor, 500 users are already registered on Lisa. Its ambition is to expand into Rwanda, Nigeria, and Ghana but for that, it needs more funds. So, the startup hopes it will complete a funding round to raise US$100,000.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
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According to the GSMA’s Mobile Economy 2021, 40% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population will be connected to the internet by 2025. To allow brands and communication agencies to reach that growing client base and let social media users earn money by facilitating that outreach, Wowzi is developing mobile solutions.
Wowzi is a Kenyan startup that connects social media users with advertising agencies and brands. The startup was co-founded, in 2019, by Mike Otieno, Hassan Bashir, and Brian Mogeni.
Via its mobile app -available on PlayStore only- it helps content creators earn money by publishing brand messages on their pages and accounts. The startup focuses on pages and accounts with less than 10,000 followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok for authentic engagement. Unlike influencers with tens or hundreds of thousands of followers, those accounts and pages have better trust relationships with the followers, which translates to better engagement.
“Brands want to have more authentic engagements or endorsements for products, from people who use and love them and can talk about real practical applications. Our campaigns show that nano influencers deliver better sales leads because of the higher trust with their following,” explains Johnny Falla, chief development and growth officer at Wowzi.
“We offer a really comprehensive reporting dashboard online. So, brands can check in to see exactly what happened, what posts were made by the influencers, which ones performed the best, and analytics of the demographics for people who were actually reached,” he adds.
To earn money with Wowzi, social media users need to register and provide detailed information that will allow the startup to assess eligibility. As for brands and advertising agencies, they must create an account, set up advertising campaigns, select the social media users they want to work with, brief the selected users, and monitor performances through the dedicated dashboard.
Wowzi currently claims more than 50,000 registered nano-influencers, 150 clients (advertising agencies and brands), and 15,000 campaigns already launched. Its services have already been used by renowned groups like Netflix, Coca-Cola, and Nestlé. It is already present in eight African countries but, it plans to expand further, in Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa notably. For that purpose, in late December 2021, it secured US$3.2 million to fund its expansion plan and upgrade infrastructure.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
In Africa, most firms and individuals face credit challenges because traditional banks are more inclined on lending funds to governments, large firms, and high net-worth individuals. In Nigeria, Lendsqr wants to address that issue by decentralizing credit access for individuals.
In Nigeria, fintech startup Lendsqr wants to solve credit problems. With its eponymous cloud platform, the startup founded in 2018 by Adedeji Olowe (photo) facilitates loans to small firms and middle-class individuals.
“At Lendsqr, we’re on a mission to simplify the lending process with an easy, but sophisticated technology that can guarantee an awesome lending experience. We strongly believe that our technology will solve the credit gap in developing countries and improve the lives of millions,” the startup promises.
With its cloud platform, it automates the loan process, allowing lenders to personalize, manage and optimize their offers. To access its services, borrowers must register and confirm their identities using official documents.
Lendsqr is currently more focused on small firms. Its ambition is to help them get access to the credit they need for their development. It has no mobile apps but, it is accessible through a USSD code that allows users, those living in remote areas notably, to easily request loans. In March 2022, the startup raised US$1 million to support its growth.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
In Africa, startups usually face management problems due to limited financial resources. Egyptian startup Milezmore wants to address that issue in the e-commerce sector by offering logistics and supply-chain management solutions.
Milezmore is an Egyptian startup founded in 2021 by Ahmed El Attar and Mohamed Abdulaziz. Through its eponymous platform, it offers a range of reliable, scalable, and cost-efficient logistics solutions. Its technology is based on cloud computing, which allows better supply chain management as well as optimization of performance and profitability.
“What I witnessed during the past four years is that the traditional supply chain wasn’t built to solve today’s problem, and I believe Milezmore was built for that. In one year, we were able to build a strong and passionate team that drove the company forward and achieved tremendous results,” says MD and co-founder Ahmed El Attar explaining the idea behind the startup.
The services offered by Milezmore are accessible through its SaaS platform (there is currently no mobile Milezmore app) with one simple subscription. They include stock management, warehousing, order fulfillment, last-mile delivery, return management, and payment collection. Small businesses, in the e-commerce sector notably, can therefore contract Milezmore for their logistics needs to save costs and reduce financial risks.
The start-up has over 20,000 square meters of warehousing space and 15 delivery centers. With more than one million parcels delivered, it claims a 94% success rate. In February 2022, it raised US$5 million in pre-seed funding to upgrade its technology and support growth.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
Agriculture is the cornerstone of several economies in Africa. Yet, the sector is underexploited. With the emergence of innovative digital solutions, hopes are high that the agriculture sector will actively contribute to development on the continent.
Apollo Agriculture is a Kenyan startup founded in 2016 by Benjamin Njenga, Earl St Sauver, and Eli Pollak. Through its digital platform, accessible through an android app only, it allows farmers access to inputs, funding, and previously inaccessible markets.
It aims to help its users maximize their profits. Since its creation, the startup has completed several funding rounds, totaling US$52.2 million, to upgrade its technology and support growth.
“We are continuing to invest in growing faster; serving more farmers, helping them increase their acreage, and speeding up business. And So it will be a continued expansion in both Kenya and new markets,” said CEO Eli Pollak.
To access the services offered by Apollo Agriculture, farmers must register through the android app, and provide information including their marital status and their cultivated areas. After that step, Apollo Agriculture collects satellite imagery of the farms and uses artificial intelligence to estimate solvency and machine learning to make better decisions concerning the loans that can be granted to a specific farmer.
The startup claims over 100,000 farmers, more than a thousand retailers, and 5,000 agents, who operate across the country to attract farmers even from the most remote areas. For 2022, its ambition is to double the number of farmers in its portfolio.
Adoni Conrad Quenum