Kenya’s MoDe takes first tech honours

IBM has announced the winner of its first Africa Smart Camp at Tech4Africa Conference yesterday. Kenyan mobile nano credit firm Mobile Decisioning (MoDe) took the honours for its tech enabled emergency airtime payments business solution.

MoDe will now compete in the regional finals of IBM’s Global Entrepreneur of the Year Competition in Sao Paulo in December. They will also gain support and mentorship from an IBM team of experts to prepare for the competition as well as benefit from exposure to the IBM venture capital and partner ecosystem. The IBM SmartCamp is staged in 20 different at locations around the world, bringing together investors, mentors and entrepreneurs.

The event, staged for the first time in Cape Town, South Africa, saw four finalists presenting their ideas. To qualify and participate in the programme, the companies had to be privately owned start up company less than five years old, and actively engaged in developing a software-based product or service. The winner, MoDe, is a two year-old company with over 50 employees, and a presence in five countries. Its product has now been used by millions across the continent.

“MoDe and all the finalists of Smart Camp demonstrated great tech innovation for South Africa and the African continent. MoDe’s solution is sophisticatedly simple, addresses a unique need in the market and is infinitely scalable which demonstrates the global aspirations we’d like to encourage in our partner start-ups. What’s more exciting is their supporting teams, business model and future plans are solid and will definitely attract positive attention of the investment community to help accelerate their commercial aspirations .‚”” said Clayton Booysen, ISV and Developer Relations Lead for IBM South Africa. ‚”” We are excited about being part of assisting Mo-Do and being able to take them to the next level in their business venture.‚””

Startups who participate in IBM’s Global Entrepreneur initiative receive access to free software, as well as a team of dedicated project managers to assist in product development through the global network of 40 IBM Innovation Centers.

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