MTN has taken one of its most aggressive steps yet towards its own digital transformation by providing a platform for better digialisation of other services. It has launched a new pan-African API marketplace called Chenosis, providing a platform for third party application program interfaces (APIs) that allow integration of apps and services.
It will allow developers and businesses to discover and subscribe to what MTN claims will become the largest library of open APIs published on the continent.
It says Chenosis will enable developers to tap into a broad spectrum of API products and services from across the continent, ranging from telecommunications, e-health, e-government, IoT, fintech, e-commerce, identity and authentication, payments and collections, and location.
“Chenosis is a separate brand and entity, and will have an arms-length relationship with MTN so that it remains open to all mobile network operators, fintech start-ups, payment service providers, mobile wallet operators, financial service providers, and more,” says Charles Molapisi, MTN Group chief technology and information officer.
The Chenosis Marketplace allows businesses and developers to publish their APIs, as well as providing tools for publishers to monetise and promote their APIs, by creating subscription plans and product bundles that developers and businesses can purchase. The Chenosis Marketplace portal has dashboards for publishers and consumers to track revenue and credit balances, and view consumption analytics and API performance.
The platform offers the potential of creating mashup APIs that can connect cross-industry APIs and facilitate innovation and the ability to build new services and new business models. Mashups are new product and service orchestrations created by developers from two or more existing APIs.
“We have exciting pan-African and international partnerships lined up to publish and monetize their APIs in the marketplace over the coming months,”says Molapisi. “These partnerships will enable Chenosis to become the largest and most diverse developer ecosystem on the African continent.
“This is one of the ways in which MTN is investing in the emergence of an open African API ecosystem that is powered by African ingenuity and innovation.”
The Chenosis Marketplace will be open to the public from 10 August 2020. Developers can start exploring it at www.Chenosis.io .