Meet the 8 African recipients of GSMA’s Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund

The GSM Association, through its Mobile for Development team and as part of the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund, yesterday announced the 15 startups that it will award grants and add to its startup portfolio.

Max Cuvellier head of the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator said the addition of the 15 now bring number of startups in the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund portfolio to 24 companies.

“Collectively they tackle thirteen of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals introduced by the United Nations and embraced by the mobile industry as a whole,” Cuvellier said in a statement.

Eight of the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund’s latest grant recipients are African startups

The GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator initiative aims to bridge the gap between mobile operators and startups, and by doing so enabling strong partnerships that foster the growth of innovative mobile products and services.

The fund provides selected startups in Africa and Asia with grant funding, technical assistance and the opportunity to partner with mobile operators in order to scale their products and services into sustainable businesses with positive socio-economic impacts.

Eight of the selected recipients are African startups.

The eight are from Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Kenya

Lynk: Johannes Degn and Adam Grunewald founded Lynk’s platform to connect informal workers to suitable jobs

The startup will use the grant to develop a worker-facing mobile app.

Nigeria

Farmcrowdy (US$325 000 grant received): The agritech startup, which was founded in 2016, enables Nigerians to venture into the agricultural sector and sponsor farms they are interested in.

The grant will allow the platform to develop a mobile app for smartphones and feature phones that will enable farmers and technical field specialists to interact about farm related activities. In addition, the app will also deliver other services to farmers, such as information, electronic payments and training.

Senegal

MaTontinte: MaTontine provides financial services through the digitisation of traditional savings circles.

The grant will enable the startup, which was founded by Tosan Oruwariye and Bernie Akporiaye, to scale and incorporate a credit scoring feature.

SudPay: This fintech company, founded by Samba Sow and Ngom Pathe Faye, has developed a solution that allows municipalities to automate and digitise the collection of local taxes.

The grant will be used to roll out the solution in municipalities across Dakar.

Tanzania

Jamii Africa: This insurtech startups was founded by Lilian Makoi, it offers a mobile management platform for health insurance policies.

The grant will help the startup to facilitate mobile-based on-boarding of users.

Uganda

Enibuuko (US$250 000 grant received): Founded by Gerald Otim, this fintech startup uses mobile money and the cloud to assist savings and credit cooperatives to mobilise and manage savings.

The startup will use the grant to design, develop and integrate a mobile banking platform to its existing infrastructure to improve the quality and range of financial service available to savings and credit cooperatives in the country.

LipaMobile: This Ugandan fintech startup has developed mSomesa, a school fee management and payment system.

LipaMobile’s founder Laban Jemba intends to use the grant to expand the mSomesa offering as well as develop and scale another product, Mslapp.

Zambia

Musanga Logistics: This Zambian delivery service, which was founded by Njavwa Mutambo and Emmanuel Kwenda, uses motorbikes and bicycles to carry out last-mile deliveries.

The grant will be used towards expanding the platform and its operations three cities across the country.