Several days ago, we asked on our Facebook Page if there were any fans that are still using biNu. Most of the responses we got show that people still do. Lots of them. Some even said they are actively selling biNu credits locally. We are learning this shouldn’t come as a surprise; The Australia –based Startup has made quite some impressive achievements since we last checked back in September 2011.
Recently, we were in touch with Mark Shoebridge the guy in charge of business development at biNu. He says the service has grown phenomenally over the last year. “We achieved over 3 million monthly active users in January,” he told us, ”10 times where we were a year ago”.
And they have been getting recognition for it. biNu has been shortlisted in the Most Innovative Mobile App category for the renowned GSMA Global Mobile Awards for 2012. They are shoulder to shoulder at the awards with the likes of Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Cisco, Square and other global brands.
And that’s not all. This week, biNu announced a partnership with Worldreader to deliver digital books to biNu users in the developing world. The partnership with Worldreader allows biNu users to access a cloud-based library of digital books via a Worldreader App for biNu.
“Worldreader improves the lives of millions of people in the developing world,” Gour Lentell, CEO for biNu is quoted in the release, “I am pleased we are able to extend their coverage and I hope biNu will play a part in their overall success.”
Worldreader’s state mission is to make digital books available to all in the developing world, enabling millions of people to improve their lives. The US-based organisation partners with publishers to bring millions of books to underserved children and families in the developing world with the help of local schools, teachers and the communities they work in. Other Worldreader partners include Amazon (makers of the Kindle), iHub in Kenya, USAID, Dropbox, Longhorn publishers and Penguin Young Readers Group.
The Zimbabweans reading this (most of you) will love knowing that biNu was cofounded by a Zimbabwean, Gour Lentell, who now lives in Australia.
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2 comments
I am happy for the biNu guys and good on ya Gour Lentell. I went to the biNu website and “about” says – “biNu approached this challenge by devising a patented software platform…” here are two guys who actually code, and even have patents! Need i say more?
Reading the statistics of biNu in the last article (in the month of August 2011, biNu had in excess of 60,000 unique users,
1.9 million sessions and 22 million page views in Zimbabwe alone. )…I only hope Mr Lentell would be generous enought o tell budding techies here what kind of set-up/investment would be needed to support such a system. There is a belief by some that you can have “Facebook” with 800 million users in a $9,95 a month shared hosting account. Like in Project Brandify which offers unlimited webspace and traffic for only $9,95 a month, more here: http://www.techzim.co.zw/2012/02/project-brandify-will-build-you-a-website-for/ It would be nice if he could even just suggest/hint what kind of hardware set-up (diskspace and traffic) could support say 20 000 users a month website with say 20 million page views.