The need for an active Mobile & Web Startup ecosystem

Limbikani S.K. Makani

Over past 3 years

Access to mobile improved

$1SIM Cards

2006 2009 2010 2011 2012 800,000

2,800,000

4,800,000

6,800,000

8,800,000

10,800,000

24%

72%9 Million

Year

Zim

Pop

ulati

onZimbabwe Mobile Penetration

Africa too

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 200,000,000.00

250,000,000.00

300,000,000.00

350,000,000.00

400,000,000.00

450,000,000.00

500,000,000.00

550,000,000.00

600,000,000.00

20%

53%

Year

1 bi

llion

peo

ple 543 Million

Access to the Internet has increased phenomenally too

The Dongle

Simple Mobile Phones

All mobile operators in Zimbabwe now offer mobile

broadband

Since2009

2011

2011

Backbone Fibre Infrastructur

e 4 Operators have access to Undersea fibre

cable from Zimbabwe

Competition bringing prices down

& more people connecting

Number of Internet

Subscribers in Zimbabwe

2.5 Million*

*Estimate based on operator stats

Zimbabwe in Top 10 internet penetration in Africa

Africa’s collective GDP in 2020

US $2.6 trillion

consumer spending US $1.4 trillion

Highest in the world Population growth and

urbanisation

The Economic growth opportunity in Africa

Source: McKinsey Global Institute

Private sector is accepted to be

important agent of economic growth,

and hence of povertyreduction

“United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

Who is the private Sector?

That private sector is us. We are the

answer

What is the opportunity?

“ A few years ago, it would cost at least a

million dollars for a team of professionals to produce any commercial

software product… with open source software components, and low-cost development tools, the same job can be

done by one good hacker for a few thousand dollars

- Martin Zwilling

Very low barrier to entry

The opportunity in tech is the low barrier to

entry

It’s so apparent the idea of a

Lean Startup has become ‘cool’

Never been a better time in history to start a

software based business, especially in Africa.

Active ICT Startup communities have emerged in Africa

Tech Hubs, Labs, business incubators

Hive Colab - Uganda

Nailab – Kenya

ccHub – Nigeria

Active Spaces - Cameroon

Appfrica Labs- Uganda

Zambia

Africa has had Some mobile and

Web Startup Successes

Here are some (of the many)

Noteworthy African Startups

Kenya

Crowd sourced mapping

app now used globally to map crisis information

Daily Deals. One of the most trafficked* websites in Nigeria

*http://www.forbes.com

South Africa

global 43 million users over 750 000 messages are sent and received per day.

Recently acquired for

USD 60 million*

*indigotrust.wordpress.com

South African Co-founder

• Premium WordPress themes

• Bootstrapped• 200,000 users globally

and already

• 2 million yearly* revenue & Profitable since founding

*afrinnovator.com

Zimbabwe

One of most trafficked websites in Zimbabwe.More than 8 million pageviews* a month

*techzim.co.zw January 2011

Nigeria*techloy.com

Home of Nollywood on the net.Attracted 1 million visitors in first month*

First launched on YouTube & became

profitable 2 months later*

Ghana

Mobile Game development • Games are available in

Apple’s App store• Over 120,000

users*

*Forbes.com

We can be achieve this and more

A healthier ecosystem will lower barrier to entry even

further

This is what it’s about

We need an active tech community

We need to create a community of

entrepreneurs from where Scalable

Startups are built

We need one that uses technology to effectively address Social & Economic

Problems

We need to expose local tech activity &

celebrate our successes to attract

investment.

We need a community that enables startups to export services & intellectual property

globally

Zimbabwe has the talent,

Some of it spread around the world

What we need is to build the skills locally

Show more people opportunities that are

there and how they can use them

Create a platform for skills contribution to the ecosystem

by Zimbabwe’s Diaspora

A platform for Interaction & collaboration among

Zimbabweans locally & in Diaspora on tech startup issues.

A platform to look at issues on the ground affecting tech

Startups in Zimbabwe to collectively engage

stakeholders

This is all Possible and it’s

up to US to create such a community in Zimbabwe

Thank you

Credit• Image: activerain.com for the germinating plant in • Nokia.com for the Nokia X2 mobile phone image• Image: prices graphic , http://visionlaunchers.com/uploads/articles/335dc61fa1f2c6c34adc8cd8d102a711_thumb.jpg• Lions on the move: the progress and potential of Africa Economies: http://

www.mckinsey.com/Insights/MGI/Research/Productivity_Competitiveness_and_Growth/Lions_on_the_move• Image: Ory Okolloh @ the launch of iHub Nairobi (c) AfricaKnows.com• Image: Active spaces . http://www.flickr.com/photos/activspaces/6322431916/sizes/l/in/photostream/ • Image: A shot of the new location for Hive Colab in Kampala, Uganda. http://hivecolab.com/about/• Image: Nailabs , http://www.flickr.com/photos/thenailab/5690039780/sizes/l/in/photostream/• Image: AppAfrica Labs, http://whiteafrican.com/2009/05/12/ugandas-appfrica-labs/• Image: DealDey Bus, http://webtrendsng.com/blog/dealdey-com-goes-mainstream-take-over-brt-buses/• Information on DealDey and Leti Games, http

://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2011/05/26/five-sexy-african-tech-startups/• Image: iWarrior iPhone App, http://www.letigames.com/letigames/• Information of Zimbabwe’s classifieds platform classifieds.co.zw,

http://www.techzim.co.zw/2011/02/classifieds-8-million-monthly-page-views/• MXit traffic information:

http://indigotrust.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/potential-partners-for-tech-focused-organisations-operating-in-south-africa-and-beyond/

• Information on Nollywood Love profitability on YouTube, http://techloy.com/2011/08/02/jason-njoku-on-nollywood-movies-and-africas-internet-revolution-video/

• Information on iRoko TV, http://techloy.com/2012/01/04/irokotv-bullish-growth-december-2011/• Image: mLab SA, http://www.mlab.co.za/about/• Image: Google Umbono, https://plus.google.com/107200078343546459769/posts/VbonsZ5Jotr• Image: lean startup book and author, http://matthewemay.files.wordpress.com