Posted inConnectivity Startups

World of Avatar acquires MXit

World of Avatar (WOA) has just acquired 90% of the legendary South African mobile social network and chat application, MXit. According to Memeburn the deal is valued at a reputed R500m(USD $71 million) and also involves Craig Knott Jnr taking over as CEO of MXit.
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Posted inConnectivity Startups

Gikko.net strikes new deals

Gikko, a start-up we featured here not too long ago has continued to gain ground with its offline & online thrust. The start-up recently concluded a nationwide deal with OK Supermarkets and has begun running a competition across most stores. It has also sealed an extended partnership with TM which will see its flagship till slip advertising having a presence across retail outlets owned by the retailer. The last time we sat down with Winston Taylor of Till Roll Ads (the company behind gikko.net), he ran us through his company’s holistic presence on the web, mobile and offline.
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Posted inConnectivity Startups

Some thoughts on the ZOL Startup Challenge

Nearly 2 weeks ago, we had our first ZOL Startup Challenge final where 3 talented winners were chosen from a very strong field. Since then the dust has settled and a number of people have made comments on the Challenge and process. I thought I'd give some thoughts as the idea originator, main sponsor and one of the four judges.
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Posted inStartups

Eco-cash:Opportunities for Zimbabwe’s technology entrepreneurs

The announcement that Econet will be launching Eco-cash, a mobile payment solution is good news for the country. This will bring in new opportunities for technology entrepreneurs if the service takes off. We have to start thinking about businesses that will run on the platform. I will share some of the businesses that could be set up, using examples mostly from Kenya where the M-Pesa mobile money service has been very successful.
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Posted inConnectivity Startups

Double Standards: Why Facebook should be locked out of China

For those who don’t know it yet, China is now the second hottest hub for startups and internet based enterprises in the world ( after Silicon Valley). Investors and entrepreneurs everywhere you think of are cracking their heads to figure out a way to be a part of the world’s biggest market by internet users and most other metrics.
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Posted inStartups

CSZ: Entrepreneurial Development Using ICT

We received the notification of this month’s Computer Society function and we thought we would share it with you. First because the speaker at the function, Mr. Cosmas Rashama, is one of Zimbabwe’s most known Cisco instructors, and second because he’s speaking on a topic most of you would love to discuss, Entrepreneurial Development Using ICT.
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Posted inStartups

A critique of the Start-up Challenge

The depth of talent showcased at The Start-up challenge gave me renewed optimism for Zimbabwe. I wish to congratulate the deserving finalists and the organisers for putting on a fantastic show. Although some projects didn't end up making the finals, most had strong concepts and I hope the entrepreneurs are not discouraged but continue to pursue their ideas. Even as we celebrate this success, we need to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the format used, to build on the strengths and improve on the weaknesses to ensure even more successful events in the future.
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biNu
Posted inConnectivity Startups

biNu registers rapid growth in Zimbabwe mobile app market

We came to know about biNu some several months ago when we wrote articles about eTXT. There was a lot of mention about it on our Facebook page. Readers compared it to eTXT and later Dasuba. The messaging component of biNu at least. I personally didn’t try biNu until 12 days ago, and what an impression it has left on me! The stats we received from biNu are impressive too. biNu usage has grown rapidly in the country. According to the startup, just 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.
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SC-2011-winners
Posted inConnectivity Startups

And the winner of the ZOL Start-up Challenge is…

We’re here at the Crowne Plaza in Harare and the winner in the ZOL Startup Challenge 2011 has just been announced. It is the Mukela Travel team. The prize money for Mukela Travel is US $10,000. Of that, US $5,000 is cash and the other half in Internet services.
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ZOL Startup Challenge: Predict and win competition!
Posted inBroadband Connectivity Startups

ZOL Startup Challenge: Predict and win competition!

As you probably know, tomorrow is the big day; Five finalists in the ZOL Start-up Challenge will battle it out for the top prize at the finals. The top start-up will be awarded US $5,000 cash and US $5,000 worth of internet services from ZOL. Two runner-ups will each get US $2,500 cash and US $2,500 in internet services. Today, we're happy to announce that one of you our readers also get to win something in the challenge.
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Startups, pride and open source
Posted inConnectivity Startups

Startups, pride and open source

Since I started working with the internet back in 2001, I have used open source software to create. Indeed, back then open source software was the only opportunity to create online for a lot of people. I was in a Zimbabwean city called Gweru, and software piracy then was not as rampant as it the case now.
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ZOL Startup Challenge Finalists: FUNZA
Posted inConnectivity Startups

ZOL Startup Challenge Finalists: FUNZA

Funza is an online recruitment platform targeted at grassroots recruitment. It is the only concept stage startup to qualify for the finals. Escar concludes will also provide its development, placement and consultancy services in the greater sub-region.
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Financial Express
Posted inConnectivity Startups

Financial Express: a startup takes aim at Goliath

Not too long ago, Kabweza and l met Tommy Deuschle of Big Africa - a start-up that has gone through many pivots. According to Tommy, the current focus of the company is to become a virtual startup/business accelerator by leveraging on the power of relationships in business. His aim is to create a self sustaining network of businesses that compliment and consolidate each other. One of these startups that Big Africa is a part of is Finx (Financial Express).
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ZOL Startup Challenge Finalists: Softwarehouse – Hardware Inventory
Posted inConnectivity Startups

ZOL Startup Challenge Finalists: Softwarehouse – Hardware Inventory

Hardware Inventory is a proprietary Windows based application developed by Softwarehouse, a local startup that began on the back of their Quickstem Suite-a floriculture management software that has been used by farmers in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, and the Netherlands among others. Quickstem was beginning to gain traction until the global recession resulted in less demand for the product, combined with local challenges the flower growing sector has faced locally.
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ZOL Startup Challenge Finalists: Ribe Networks
Posted inConnectivity Startups

ZOL Startup Challenge Finalists: Ribe Networks

Ribe Networks is a local chat application that has set its sight on disrupting internet based messaging. It intends to do so by offering users across all mainstream mobile and pc platforms the ability to interact with peers through the lightweight and locally hosted Ribe Chat application. Users can link their Ribe account to Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, MSN, Yahoo Mail and others.
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ITU
Posted inBroadband Connectivity Startups

Startups: The International Telecoms Union is waiting for your pitch

Two weeks ago, ITU (the International Telecoms Union) launched a global competition that seeks to give 60 Young Innovators and Digital Innovators the chance to travel to its flagship event, ITU Telecoms World in Geneva (October 24-27). Entrants will be able to pitch their ground-breaking ideas to leaders of the world’s ICT industry. Techzim would have wanted to publish this sooner however we have just found out about it. And it's not too late!
startup-challenge-contestants
Posted inConnectivity Startups

Startup Challenge: One swallow doth not a summer make!

I thought it important to share with you my recent experiences as a judge at the inaugural Zimbabwe Tech Start-Up Challenge. First of all go take a look at "3 more finalists are selected for the Start-Up Challenge" which will give you a good idea of what happened. Part one is on this link! The long and the short of it is that the innovation and skills that were on show far exceeded my expectations, which were admittedly pretty low, but nevertheless……
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