m:lab | *iHub

Kopo Kopo grows out of incubation at m:lab East Africa

For Kopo Kopo Inc, a Nairobi based mobile payment services startup, growth could not have been more rapid over the last 12 months. In August 2010, the company was formed, setting up base at the iHub co-working space in Nairobi beginning in early 2011. The company started with a skeleton workforce of two, with Dylan Higgins and Ben Lyon who are its co-founders. A couple of months later the company would succeed to become one of the twenty five mobile startups pitching at the inaugural regional mobile app and developer conference Pivot 25 (now called Pivot East). By the time of pitching at Pivot 25, the company had grown to a team of four by adding Dennis Ondeng and Kibet Yegon to lead the product development team.

The Kopo Kopo team discussing human-centered design

July 2012 was a moment of change for the young company when it won a chance to be one of seven companies incubated at m:lab East Africa’s newly launched facilities. The new incubation space offered a more quiet and dedicated space conducive for team building and “heads down” focus. Incubation at m:lab East Africa also meant improved access to resources, whether investors, mentors, or potential partners.

Apart from raising a Series A financing while at m:lab East Africa, the company also grew its team to twelve by March 2012. Kopo Kopo also completed several iterations of its mobile money-based business intelligence platform and developed an Android version of the service. Other milestones achieved while the company was at m:lab East Africa include establishment of strategic partnerships with mobile operators and business leaders.

Kopo Kopo team at their new premises on 1st floor of Bishop Magua Centre

With the above milestones met and having acquired several hundred enterprise customers, Kopo Kopo officially outgrew incubation at m:lab East Africa on 30th April 2012. The company has since moved location from m:lab East Africa on 3rd floor Bishop Magua Centre to its newly acquired premises on the 1st floor of the same building. The decision to secure space in the same building as m:lab East Africa and iHub was strategic. The company intends to continue tapping into opportunities and access networks associated with being in the technology hub that Bishop Magua Centre has become over the last two years.

Opportunity for Pivot East Finalists

The graduation of Kopo Kopo from m:lab East Africa creates room for other mobile tech startups to join the list of companies benefiting from the Lab’s business growth services. The now vacant incubation slot left behind by Kopokopo is now reserved for the deserving company winning either category of this year’s Pivot East pitching conference on 5th and 6th June 2012

By: John Kieti

06-05-2012

Applications Community Events m:lab

Using mobile tech to overcome post harvest challenges in horticulture – Wireless Wednesday Recap

On Wednesday 25th April 2012, m:lab East Africa hosted the second Wireless Wednesday meetup in a series aimed at promoting the use of mobile technology in agriculture. The theme of the meetup was “using technology to overcome post harvest challenges in horticulture”.

Mobile developers, entrepreneurs and other enthusiasts of mobile technology use in agriculture engaged agricultural domain experts from the grassroots in a lively discussion. Three farmers growing fruits and vegetables in the South Eastern part of Kenya contributed their thoughts and insights especially on the post harvest challenges that farmers are often faced with. A community based food processor – Chuluni Growers and Processors from Kitui County enriched the debate by sharing insights on challenges facing processors and other stakeholders in the post harvest stage of the agricultural value chain. A representative from KIVA also shared information on credit financing opportunities the non-profit organization presents to farmers and other entrepreneurs.

A summary of key observations made during the meetup is as follows :-

1. Awareness and uptake of mobile tools for agriculture

Most farmers are unaware of the existence of market transparency and productivity tools using mobile technology such as Mfarm, iCow, FarmPal and Mkulima Calc. Awareness creation, and driving uptake of these tools continue to be a priority for mobile entrepreneurs, farmers and other stakeholders.

In the two agriculture focussed meetups held so far in the year, younger farmers were quick to single out mobile technology as the way out for delivering information services to farmers. An opportunity was noted therefore to target the emerging class of younger farmers to drive initial uptake of mobile solutions for agriculture.

Wireless wednesday participants networking and sharing insights

It was observed that uptake of mobile solutions for agriculture is not necessarily impeded by illiteracy or cost of devices and services. As with the case of M-PESA, adoption of mobile technologies in agriculture was noted to be driven by farmers’ demand to access information services on mobile devices. Participants noted that adoption of technology by farmers could be accelerated through awareness creation and capacity building among farmers by community workers.

2. Technologically organized groups of farmers and agro-processors

As the discussion of challenges faced by farmers and agro-processors went on, it was increasingly apparent they struggle to organise themselves into groups. For instance a tomato farmer in the meetup wished they could be linked up with other tomato farmers to make tomato paste when prices are low. Grouping of farmers was seen to be useful in facilitating collective produce storage, transportation and bargaining with buyers. Benefits of groups among farmers were also seen to revolve around knowledge sharing and access to information.

Community based agro-processors also experienced challenges managing their membership. These challenges affect access to produce for processing and contributions from members. Further this threatens the existence and sustainability of such community based organizations.

Where players in the agricultural value chain succeed to form groups based on geographical proximity and special interests, the groups often experience challenges such as difficulties in communication, governance and access to information for the groups. Participants noted that creation and optimal running of stakeholder groupings can be facilitated through through mobile technology solutions. Mobile developers and entrepreneurs were challenged to create mobile platforms for farmers and other players in agriculture addressing the above needs.

3. Agro-processor Financing Challenges

Challenges noted among community based agro-processors included accessing capital for acquiring refrigeration and modern food processing facilities. This was noted to relate to access to information on opportunities such as grants, debt and equity financing. Such information could be publicly available but is not easily accessible to community groups operating away from capital cities and major towns. An opportunity therefore existed for mobile solutions to facilitate dissemination of such information on raising funds for capital investment and expansion among community based agro-processing organizations.

: Kiva representative sharing on financing opportunities for entrepreneurs at the meetup

4. Middlemen and their contribution to the value chain

The topic of middle-men continued to elicit varied reactions among participants. The matter was highlighted in a previous Wireless Wednesday event. Many participants in the meetup continued to consider middlemen as being exploitative of farmers. Some participants also noted the middleman’s action of aggregating produce and providing transportation to markets as being facilitative to the agricultural ecosystem.

The next wireless wednesday meetup on using mobile technology for agriculture is scheduled for 27th June 2012. The theme and further details for the event will be announced through the Pivot East and iHub blogs.

Additional Information

In East Africa, mobile developers and entrepreneurs have in the recent past attempted to introduce new innovations intended to inject efficiencies in the agricultural value chain. It is in an effort to amplify these attempts and their potential impact that m:lab East Africa has got support from USAID to organize a series of “Wireless Wednesday” meetups throughout the year. The focus group discussions are aimed at facilitating knowledge sharing between developers and subject matter experts in agriculture. Wireless Wednesday meetups are also opportunities for networking among mobile developers, entrepreneurs, domain practitioners and development partners. The expected outcome of these events in increased development and uptake of mobile innovations to improve productivity and livelihoods in the agricultural sector. Results of this are already being seen as is described in this Business Daily Article.

By: Leo Mutuku

01-05-2012

Community Events iHub iHub-Research m:lab Uncategorized

Kenya’s Mobile Money Revolution: M-Pesa turns Five

courtesy of Squad Digital

Safaricom’s mobile money phenomenon, M-Pesa, clocked 5 years, early this year on March 6, 2012. These five years have seen M-Pesa grow from humble beginnings as a small unit, when it was started in Kenya by a Safaricom -Vodafone partnership, to a fully fledged department.

To celebrate its five years of existence, Safaricom came up with a campaign dubbed ‘celebrating five years of changing lives’ which has been captured in both interactive and static infographics (HT the Safaricom Limited and Squad Digital teams respectively). This campaign highlights the key milestones that have been marked by M-Pesa over the years including various awards and innovations coming from that end.

courtesy of Safaricom

A snapshot of M-PESA:

The number of MPesa users has risen from 19,671 in 2007 to an astounding 15 million users to date transacting between them over Kshs.1.4 TRILLION .
The number of MPesa agents has also risen from 355 in 2008 to over 37,000 agents countrywide.
Safaricom reduced the minimum value of MPesa transaction from Kshs. 50 to Kshs. 10 in this first five years of operation to cater for all segments of the population while the maximum value of an MPesa transaction has also risen from Kshs. 35,000 initially to Kshs. 140,000
There are 25 banks in the M-PESA network with a coverage of 700+ ATMs where you can withdraw your money from. Further, through Western Union, we can now receive money on M-Pesa from over 70 countries worldwide.
Safaricom has been recognized by GSMA as the Best Mobile Transfer Service, by Africom for Innovative Technology and Life Changing Solutions, among many other international acclaims.
Kenyans for Kenya successful campaign to raise funds for the 3.5 million drought-stricken people facing starvation in Kenya in 2011 used M-PESA as one of the main platforms to receive donations; over 150 million raised via M-PESA alone.

M-Pesa’s success has been attributed severally to the fact that it provides options to many of the country’s unbanked to move and receive money in a relatively easy and affordable manner. We congratulate Safaricom for their flagship innovation’s 5 years anniversary and wait to see what greater impact M-Pesa will have on our society in the coming years.

In case you missed the links, check out these infographics: Celebrating 5 Years of M-Pesa and M-Pesa’s Timeline, Celebrating 5 Years of Changing Lives

By: Simeon Oriko

30-04-2012

Applications Competitions m:lab

Pivot East Finalists Announced

Cross posted from the Pivot East Blog

A panel of judges drawn from industry in the last two weeks extensively analysed details of 50 semi-finalists of the Pivot East regional mobile apps competition. The process culminated in the selection of 25 applications which will be pitched at this year’s Pivot East conference. The conference will be at Ole Sereni Hotel on 5th and 6th of June 2012 where five category winners will get $10,000 each in prize money.

Finalists of Pivot East in 2012 are :

Financial Services Category

Application	Brief description	Company	Country
MobiKash	A mobile commerce platform that is agnostic to mobile network operators	MobiKash Afrika Limited	Kenya
mCollector	An App based on the use of Mobile Money to send bulk payment from a group to the MFI	Software Group Ke Ltd	Kenya
Pay4Us	An App that unites mobile money and micro-finance by offering financial collaboration	Zege Technologies Ltd	Kenya
SchoolBursar	Streamlines the process of receiving and managing payments at schools through M-Pesa	Fomobi Solutions	Kenya
Chamapro	A platform that helps informal financial self-help groups and savings clubs digitize their information management and record keeping	Bityarn Consultant Company Ltd	Kenya

Business and Resource Management Category

Application	Brief Description	Company	Country
Get-it! App	An App that Facilitates restaurant goers to know the location of restaurants on the go.	Sail Ltd	Rwanda
Dairy Sacco App	A mobile credit tool on agricultural cooperatives that provide inputs and merchandise to their members on credit against produce deliveries.	Infocentra Ltd	Kenya
SMS Offline and Online virtual Market place	A platform that integrates money transfer and delivery of goods and services.	Bei Nafuu Ltd	Kenya
Easy Order	SMS based ordering and supply chain management application that simplifies the way customers order for goods from manufacturers and distributors.	Easy Order Operations	Rwanda
SMS Based Health Insurance Members Verification	Verification system for health insurance of members when they go to access services at hospitals.	Multics Systems Co.Ltd	Tanzania

Entertainment Category

Application	Brief Description	Company	Country
TUBET	Enables users especially football fans to place and collect bets	Squad Digital Ltd	Kenya
Ma3racer	A racing game set on the busy Nairobi highways	Planet Rackus Ltd	Kenya
Mingle	A chat app	Dotideas Technology Ltd	Kenya
Angry Kenyans	A satirical mobile game aimed at mocking the Villains in the daily life of Kenyans	Xema Labs Ltd	Kenya
Tough Jungle	An action game app with an African jungle setting	Elan Telemedia Ltd	Kenya

Mobile Society Category

Application	Brief Description	Company	Country
MPrep	An SMS-based study solution for students, teachers, and schools	M-Prep Ltd	Kenya
eLimu	An ed-tech initiative that is focused on Primary School education	Elimu Foundation	Kenya
StorySpaces	A digital storytelling portal	The Kuyu Project	Uganda
mpoultry	Brooder poultry monitoring using a mobile phone	MLFocus (U) Ltd	Uganda
Sarura	An application which provides weather updates and agricultural advice to farmers	Osca Connect Ltd	Rwanda

Utilities category

Application	Brief Description	Company	Country
Crowdpesa	Location based service that enables its users to find the nearest Financial and Retail services.	Space Kenya Networks Ltd.	Kenya
Mafuta Go	Helps users find the nearest fuel stations with the prices and Services that best suit their needs.	AppsDivision Ltd	Uganda
6ix degrees	A system that allows users to back up all their contacts and later restore them when need arises	Binary Science Ltd	Kenya
mTracker	An app that enables users manage security of their possessions	Fomobi Solutions	Kenya
m-verified	An application for Verification of documents legitimacy	Mobilab Ltd	Kenya

In the month of May 2012, the finalists will undergo training, coaching and mentorship to improve their pitching skills and business aspects of their applications. For each category the 6th best application has been placed in a waiting list and may pitch at the conference if a finalist in the category have to drop out for any reason. Companies in the waiting list will also benefit from the training, coaching and mentoring given to the above listed finalists.

Companies in the waiting list under the 5 categories are as follows :-

Financial Category: Roverscompass Enterprise LTD with the Changamka app
Business and Resource Management Category: Intellisoftplus Solutions Co. Ltd with the Wakili app
Entertainment Category: Run for Africa with the Run For Afrika app
Mobile Society Category: Gorecycler Enterprise with the gorecycler app
Utilities category: Partechs Solutions Ltd with the Mare Mare app

Background information
The Pivot East competition began with a call for applications in January 2012. Eligible participants were companies or individuals domiciled in East African countries (Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia and South Sudan). The Pivot East team went to various places in Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya reaching out to developers and entrepreneurs to take part in the competition. 206 applications were received by the deadline of 31st March 2012. A panel of judges reviewed all the applications, a process which culminated with 50 semi finalists being announced here.

Pivot East is an initiative of m:lab East Africa and its consortium partners to showcase mobile applications development and entrepreneurship talent in the region. It is the second edition of the regional event organized in 2011 as Pivot 25. More information about the Pivot East competition and conference can be found here –www.pivoteast.com. For more specific information or for inquiries contact the organizers through email (pivot-at-mlab-co-ke) or twitter( @PivotEast )

By: Simeon Oriko

23-04-2012

Events m:lab

Wireless Wednesday: Using Technology To Overcome Post Harvest Challenges

After a successful first, USAID sponsored Wireless Wednesday on 29th February 2012 hosted by m: Lab that focused on Agriculture, the second one comes up next Wednesday. The event themed “Using Technology to overcome Post Harvest challenges”, will be at m: Lab East Africa, Bishop Magua Center premises on 25th April 2012, from 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm.

This year’s first Wireless Wednesday meetup on mobiles for agriculture was on “Using Technology to enhance productivity in agricultural value chains“. A recap summary of the discussion points can be found here. The scheduled second meetup aims to continue targeting agricultural value chains with an increased focus on the horticultural sector. It particularly focuses on the post harvest challenges faced by farmers in the horticultural sub sector of the larger agricultural sector.

The horticultural sub sector is among the fastest growing industry within the agricultural sector, recording an average growth of 15% to 20% per annum according to Kenya Horticulture Council (K.H.C). The sub sector contributes to the Kenyan socio-economic development through generation of income, creation of employment opportunities and foreign exchange earnings, as well as providing raw materials to the Agro processing industry.

Small scale farmers in the sector however continue to face numerous post harvesting challenges. The challenges may include but are not limited to: determining correct times and stages for harvesting, use of Agro-chemicals, getting to processors without being adversely affected by activities of middlemen and adhering to market quality requirements just to mention a few. It is in this spirit of trying to solve these challenges that USAID and m: Lab East Africa encourage stake holders in the sector through forums like Wireless Wednesday to come together with the Tech community and talk out possible technological solutions to these challenges.

The event will bring together farmers and food processors from the South Eastern part of Kenya, software developers and members of the tech community. At the meetup startup companies incubated at m: Lab East Africa, mobile phone manufacturers, mobile network operators are also expected to contribute to the discussion. The meetup aims at getting the attendees to engage each other in a focus group discussion setup exploring how technology can be effectively used to help farmers cope with the challenges faced after crop harvesting. The discussions will particularly explore the role of mobile phones and mobile applications technology in creating solutions to highlighted post harvest challenges.

The meetup is expected to deepen the mobile entrepreneurs’ understanding of the agricultural sector and the opportunities it creates. It is an event which contestants in the Pivot East Competition such as GreenHouse Pro, FishMate, mPoultry and FarmPal might find useful for insights to enhance their pitches and business plans for the Pitching Conference in June 5th and 6th 2012.

Interested individuals may register to attend here through event brite HERE…. – there are limited slots available.

Those interested and are unable to attend may follow and contribute to the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #WirelessWednesday.

By: Simeon Oriko

19-04-2012

m:lab

Pivot East: Semi Finalists Reviews

Crossposted from the Pivot East Blog

50 semi finalists of this year’s regional mobile apps and developer competition – Pivot East were announced on 11th April 2012 HERE The top 50 are competing to be in the list of 25 finalists who will present at the regional pitching conference on 5th and 6th June 2012. Below are brief descriptions of the applications that made it to top 50 list out of 206 applications.

FINANCIAL SERVICES CATEGORY
1. Changamka: A crowd funding platform aiming at pooling funds from the community to finance promising creative or social change initiatives and projects – Submitted by Charles Kimani.
2. School bursar: Streamlines the process of receiving and managing payments through M-Pesa – Submitted by Jacob Mwema (** see explanatory note)
3. Chamapro: A platform that helps informal financial self-help groups and savings clubs digitize their information management and record keeping – Submitted by Mimano Muthondu
4. MobiKash: A mobile commerce platform that is Telco network-agnostic – Submitted by Jude Okello
5. mCollector: An App based on the use of Mobile Money to send bulk payment from the group to the MFI – Submitted by Oskar Himmelreich
6. Kwachu Tiko: An event ticketing management App for smart phones - Submitted by Emmanuel Nyachoke
7. M-Tafiti: A short code and USSD based system that allows research organizations to collect data from respondents through Micro Worker - Submitted by Weda Moses
8. Pay4Us: An App that aims to unite mobile money and micro-finance by offering financial collaboration – Submitted by Kariuki Gathitu
9. Future Magnate: A parent monitored web and mobile money management and shopping system for children and teens - Submitted by Macharia Kihahu
10. QuickElec: A mobile solution that allows electricity consumers to reach to the service provider and eases transaction and relations – Submitted by Jacob Shaviya

BUSINESS AND RESOURCE SERVICES CATEGORY
1. Dairy Sacco App: A mobile based credit tool modeled on agricultural cooperatives that provide inputs and merchandise to their members on credit against produce deliveries – Submitted by Joram Kinuthia
2. Art Pakacha: A platform that builds an online community of creatives where they can buy, sell, hire and barter tools of their trade – Submitted by Wambui Kamiru
3. SMS Based Health Insurance Members Verification: SMS based members’ verification system used to verify health insurance of members when they go to access services at hospitals – Submitted by Anthony Kigombola
4. AFRILANCE: A business outsourcing web/mobile portal where freelance service providers meet customers and do business – Submitted by George Mwangi
5. MyBusiness App: An app that helps entrepreneurs to audit their business books by enabling their cashiers to record all sales and expenditures on to the web database – Submitted by Kizito Masaba
6. SMS Offline and Online virtual Market place: A platform that integrates money transfer and delivery services – Submitted by Dominic Njihia Mbiriri
7. Get-it! App: An app that intends to facilitate restaurant goers to know the location of restaurants on the go – Submitted by Charles Eloi Cyusa
8. Procurement Office: An app that offers clients with existing tenders to submit them online and let the public offer various quotations concerning the specific tender – Submitted by Mukhwana Kennedy Maikuma
9. Wakili: A platform that helps Lawyers handling their cases more efficiently – Submitted by Louis Openda
10. Easy Order: Mobile ordering and supply chain management application to simplify how customers order for goods from manufacturers and distributors – Submitted by Kaye Billy Branks

ENTERTAINMENT CATEGORY
1. Ma3racer: A racing game set on the busy Nairobi highways – Submitted by Mwaura Kirore
2. AngryKenyans: A satirical mobile game aimed at mocking the Villains in the daily life in Kenya – Submitted by Idd Salim
3. RUN FOR AFRIKA: A game application on running for wife to be across the African continent – Submitted by Kevin Okeyo
4. KenyanEnt: A project that involves streaming of live/archived entertainment materials – Submitted by Charles Kimani
5. Tough jungle: An action game app with an African jungle setting - Submitted by Gerald Kibugi
6. Mingle: A chat app – Submitted by Kennedy Nyaga
7. TUBET: A mobile-based service that enables users especially football fan to place and collect bets – Submitted by Asif Khan
8. Mag Preview: An application that provides a brief preview on the contents of magazines before they hit the stores – Submitted by Karumba Charles Gatama
9. Andromaid: An app that is an educational game for young children to simulate quick learning and problem analysis – Submitted by Muhebwa Aggrey
10. Magaziine: An app that facilitates sharing several media content – Submitted by Titus Mawano

MOBILE SOCIETY CATEGORY
1. eLimu: An ed-tech initiative that is focused on Primary School education – Submitted by Nivi Mukherjee
2. FarmPal: An App where farmers can access information to help them increase their productivity – Submitted by Thomas Kioko
3. FISHMATE: Application that engages the public on fish-farming industry – Submitted by Mukeli Matei
4. Gorecycler: An app that provides a platform for people to find recycling resources and institutions – Submitted by Samuel Ngoda
5. GreenhousePro: An application that provides farmers with information on the greenhouse production from planting to sale – Submitted by Elijah Ngahu
6. Mpoultry: Brooder poultry monitoring using a mobile phone – Submitted by Mwanje Musa
7. MPrep: An SMS-based study solution for students, teachers, and schools – Submitted by Toni Maraviglia
8. Mtu wa Job: A mobile service that allows workers who do electronic repair services get clients who require their services – Submitted by Macharia Kihahu
9. SARURA: An application which aims at providing weather updates and agricultural advice to farmers – Submitted by Esther Kunda
10. StorySpaces: A digital storytelling portal – Submitted by Victor Miclovich

UTILITIES CATEGORY

1. 6ix degrees: A phone backup system that allows users to back up all their contacts and later restore them when need arises – Submitted by Shadrack Ogechi
2. Crowdpesa: A location based service that enables its users to find the nearest Financial and Retail services – Submitted by Christian Kakoba.
3. iTravel: An application used for booking flights, and hotels and bus seats – Submitted by Victor Olweny
4. Mafuta Go: An application that helps users find the nearest fuel stations with the prices and Services that best suit their needs – Submitted by Ampaire Christine
5. Mare-Mare: Provides a platform where goods and services are traded without using a medium of exchange such as cash credit-cards or cheques – Submitted by Moses Kimani
6. Migwa: An app that enables users find houses, or residential rooms or buildings for rent or sale around them – Submitted by Kooma Benjamin
7. mTracker: An app that enables users manage security of their possessions – Submitted by Mwema Jacob
8. M-Verified: An application for Verification of documents legitimacy – Submitted by Patrick Mutahi
9. Smart Drive 360: An application that provides information on traffic signs and other traffic rules – Submitted by Gerald Kibugi
10. Tell-a-Friend: SMS based system that lets marketers, market their products to their friends and contacts – Submitted by Weda Moses

** In our previous post we had erroneously listed mPermit instead of School Bursar in the Financial Services Category. The correct application is School Bursar as submitted by the developer of mPermit. Our sincere apology for the error.

The final 25 companies who will pitch at the conference will be announced within the next week. For more information about the competition see the earlier explanatory post here.

By: John Kieti

14-04-2012

Entrepreneurship m:lab Mentorship Start-Ups Uncategorized

Mini-MBA Training and Start-Up Capital for Early Stage Businesses in Kenya

In Kenya, entrepreneurs with big ideas in the start-up or early stage of growing their businesses continue to find increasing opportunities to access capital and training needed to succeed. One of the opportunities is through the Sinapis 2012 Entrepreneur Fellowship Program. Sinapis is an NGO in Nairobi providing advanced business training, investment capital and mentorship for the most innovative, scalable and sustainable start-ups in Kenya.

Sinapis partners with Acton Business School, an accredited and highly ranked MBA school in the US. Accepted entrepreneurs receive six months of intensive, advanced business training that is customized for early stage businesses. The highest performers that graduate from the Sinapis Entrepreneur Fellowship Program get to compete in front of investors from the US for investment capital of between $10-$100,000. Those that graduate from the program also receive a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from Acton Business School giving them more credibility as business leaders and are presented to other growth financing institutions for larger, secondary rounds of financing. Sinapis is highly selective and is looking for serious entrepreneurs that are dedicated to bringing their idea to fruition.

Businesses must be less than 2 years in operations to qualify, and the CEO must be Kenyan. Though Sinapis accepts businesses across all sectors if they meet their criteria, this year they are especially interested in Agribusiness, IT and Green Technologies businesses. The program is not academic or theoretical in nature but rather practical and focuses on applying concepts learned in class in each entrepreneur’s business. Entrepreneurs joining the program will attend 6 hours of class per week in the evenings and be expected to spend 15 hours on implementation within their businesses.

The program is one of Kenya’s most comprehensive efforts in entrepreneurship training with an access to capital component. Sinapis estimates it to cost nearly Ksh 1 million to put each entrepreneur through our program. In exchange for tuition, Sinapis asks that each business accepted into its program donate 10% of its equity to the NGO. Should Sinapis graduates do well, Sinapis will use the returns from this equity to fund the next generation of start-up entrepreneurs to go through its program. In this way, it is expected successful Kenyan entrepreneurs of today will help tomorrow’s entrepreneurs to be successful and a virtuous cycle will be sustained. If a business does not successfully receive investment capital from the program’s investor base, Sinapis will relinquish the equity in that business. Sinapis also charges a small materials fee of Ksh 24,000 which will be paid in three installments over the six month period. Scholarships may be available for those who truly need it.

The application deadline for the fellowship program is May 15, 2012. Interested candidates may apply online here www.sinapisgroup.org/entrepreneurs.php

More information can be found on their website www.sinapisgroup.org. In addition, an info session on the fellowship program has been scheduled with details below:

Where: Biblica Africa conference room, Dennis Pritt Road, Caledonia Nairobi

When: Thursday, April 19 7-9pm

Why: To answer questions about the Sinapis Entrepreneur Fellows Program from potential applicants. Light food and beverages will be served.

Entrepreneurs interested in the information session may RSVP to karibu@sinapisgroup.org

By: Simeon Oriko

12-04-2012

Applications iHub m:lab

Top 50 List For Pivot 2012

Crossposted from the Pivot East Blog

After a gruelling post Easter selection process,the list of the semifinalists for this year’s edition of Pivot East is finally unveiled.The selections were as exciting as they were diverse.The next stage of the competition will see the stakes raised as the creme de la creme of the categories will be identified.

The semifinalists of Pivot East 2012 listed by category are as follows:

Financial Services Category

Chamapro
Changamka
Future Magnets
Kwachu Tiko
mCollector
MobiKash
mPermit
M-Tafiti
Pay4Us
QuickElec

Business and Resource Management Category

AFRILANCE
Art Pakacha
Dairy Sacco App
Easy Order
Get-it! app
MyBusiness App
PROCUMENT OFFICE
SMS Based Health Insurance Members Verification
SMS Offline and Online virtual Market place
Wakili

Entertainment Category

Andromaid
AngryKenyans
KenyanEnt
Ma3racer
Mag Preview
Magaziine
Mingle
Run For Afrika
Tough Jungle
TUBET

Mobile Society Category

eLimu
FarmPal
FISHMATE
Gorecycler
GreenhousePro
mpoultry
MPrep
Mtu wa Job
SARURA
StorySpaces

Utilities category

6ix degrees
Crowdpesa
I travel
Mafuta Go
Mare-Mare
Migwa
mTracker
m-verified
Smart Drive 360
Tell-a-Friend

The choice of semi – finalists from the list of 206 applicants that met the threshold for selection is the first stage of a two tier process for the final 25.The announcement of the finalists will be made within the fortnight.

Congratulations to the innovation community for the eager participation.To the semi-finalists Hongera! and Good luck!!

By: John Kieti

28-03-2012

Entrepreneurship m:lab Start-Ups

$20,000 up for grabs in the Mobile MicroWork Challenge

infoDev, a global partnership program in the World Bank, focusing on technology entrepreneurship and job creation, in February 2012 launched m2work for East Africa. Backed by funding and support from UKaid and the government of Finland, M2Work is a worldwide online challenge and a joint project of infoDev and Nokia’s Ideas Project. It asks for innovative ideas for mobile applications that enable people in the developing world to become microworkers.

infoDev uses its vast network of Mobile Applications Labs (mLabs) and business incubators to help tech entrepreneurs from a seed-stage idea to a thriving start-up that creates sustainable jobs. One of these is m:lab East Africa. It is one of infoDevs’ five mlabs in the world. m:Lab East Africa is intended to serve the East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Southern Sudan.

M2Work aims to fuel the race for the best ideas and to spark a goal-oriented, global discussion on mobile microwork. Entrepreneurs, developers and creatives need to submit their ideas before April 2, 2012 for a mobile micro-work application that has market potential and can have a meaningful impact.

The ideas need to tackle existing problems or needs that can be addressed by micro-work. Ideas may be submitted alone or as part of a team. It is not just an individual challenge, teams and small organizations with fewer than 50 employees can participate as well. Any tech-savvy students and innovative young entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and experienced professionals ‘hungry’ for new business, are encouraged to submit their ideas.

With individual cash prizes of up to US$20,000, organizers of the challenge will be assembling a high-profile jury consisting of representatives of Nokia, the World Bank, academia, the micro-work industry and the wider technology investment sector, who will select the prize winners. A total of US$ 40,000 in prize money, with an individual 1st prize of US$ 20,000 will be awarded. The m2Work jury will also award spot prizes and regional cash prizes. The six finalists, who will receive coaching before a final pitching event, from whom the main prize winner will be selected, will be announced on April 25.

The jury will judge all submissions based on the criteria of potential development impact, innovativeness, feasibility and clarity of presentation. They will decide who will be awarded the prizes based on this criteria.

After the announcement of Grand Prize Winner on 18 May, 2012, the global m2Work hackathon from 18-20 May, 2012 will commence. The 48 hour global microwork Hackathon will be organized in the five InfoDevs’ mLabs around the world. The Objectives of the Hackathon will be to help best m2Work ideas to gain momentum toward a sustainable business through a prototyping event, Help ideators to find complementary talent (especially technical skills) and to identify talented team(s) to gain from pre-incubation services offered by mLab.

M2work gives the East African tech community an advantage to also submit their applications for Pivot East and vice versa. Pivot East is an initiative of the mLab East Africa that aims to bring focus on the Mobile developer and entrepreneur community in East Africa. It’s a regional mobile apps. developer competition which will culminate in a pitching conference on 5th and 6th June 2012. The competition also gives companies the opportunity to showcase their applications to Operators, Venture Capital Community, Angel Investors and the ICT community at large, and at the same time the chance to win prize money of up to USD 50,000 for their companies and applications.

Please take a look at the m2Work FAQ and Terms of Service for more details on how to submit as a team or organization.

For more information, visit m2Work’s official website, www.ideasproject.com/m2Work

To apply for Pivot East please Visit www.pivoteast.com

Note: This article is cross posted from the Pivot East Blog

By: John Kieti

28-03-2012

Community Entrepreneurship Events m:lab

Wireless Wednesday Recap: 9 take away points for implementing mAgri Services

On 29th February 2012, the m:Lab, hosted one of the frequent meetup dubbed Wireless Wednesday. Wireless Wednesdays are aimed at getting incubatees, members of the tech community, industry stakeholders and thought leaders to engage each other in a focus group discussion on a specified theme in the mobile space. The event provides mentorship opportunities for incubatees and extends the same to the tech community of developers and trainees.

The event sponsored by USAID, had a focus on agriculture. This event was themed on using Technology to enhance productivity in agricultural value chains. A blog that captured the full recap on the event was done.

The social media community was not left out in this event because there was a live twitter stream during the event which attracted the notice of a number of people using the hashtag #WirelessWednesday. A recorded video footage of the event with some of the notable clips is now accessible on YouTube.

The set-up was such that the lead discussants started by talking about the different issues that are affecting the value chain and then the conversation were taken up by the developers and other industry players. This paved way for discussions on the problems and their solutions in the agriculture sector in terms of mobile space.

Just a recap on the Learning’s from the discussions here is brief summarized notes on that.

1. Prototyping and iterative improvement

Mobile application developers need to make prototyping a part of their daily routine as they work on various aspects of their apps. This means developers should also work on testing their apps with the actual consumer target audience before they launch their apps to the market. Ideally, developers should spend much time out in the field understanding problems in agricultural value chains so as to come up with more compelling and demand driven solutions.

2. Focus

Mobile developers may be better off focusing attention to address one main problem to avoid getting overwhelmed with the multiplicity of problems that farmers experience or duplication of what is already in the market.

3. Learn from other people

Farmers would like to learn from other farmers mistakes thus developers should think of a platform that can make this possible. An opportunity exists for mobile developers to help build a social network.

4. Information Authenticity

Information that is passed onto farmers needs to be authentic and verifiable.

5. Feedback mechanisms

A Feedback mechanism needs to be included in all the platforms that are developed to ensure that people learn.

6. The middleman

This seems to be a very hot topic which can be taken even further going forward there misconceptions exist among mobile developers, farmers and others in the innovation ecosystem.

7. Mobile devices and affordability

Farmers can afford smarter and with more features mobile phones. They can potentially buy more expensive phones and pay for related data costs if solutions in the phones are compelling enough and directly add value to their farming activities.

8. Diversity of Farmers

Developer need to understand that farmers are diverse in their scale of farming and income levels. Farmers range from those who make millions of shillings in a month from commercial farming to those who barely produce enough for subsistence.

9. Value addition processes

Mobile developers need to explore opportunities to enhance value addition processes for raw agricultural produce.

With those learning points the event came to a close with several remarks and discussions on the way forward in the agribusiness mobile sector.

In the spirit of networking the developers and the trainees stayed on after the session to brainstorm ideas with the farmers. This event was held as part of the developer outreach for Pivot East to help developers generate ideas for the mobile society category. This encourages and ensures that the developers make applications that are relevant to the society. Apps that tackle real time problems faced by the community and need solutions.

The next meetup sponsored by USAID is scheduled for end of April 2012.

This article is cross posted from the Pivot East Blog