For startups, the fintech space is a good industry to be in. People are always looking for ways they can make the most out of their money -- no one's ever happy with their account balance. In South Africa, especially, we see a lot of support from the local banks. We decided it's time to give them some credit recognition, so take a look. Ever since the MPesa story grabbed the attention of the world’s tech fans, a lot more confidence ...

The massively popular international tech startup incubator, Rocket Internet, has just dropped a new name onto its list of world-hungry startups, called ShapeWays. SpaceWays is an on-demand storage service that recently launched in London, UK. Rocket Internet says that SpaceWays is perfect for anyone in need of more space -- cheaply and conveniently. For instance, students wanting to store their belongings while on exchange abroad, or people keen to store there winter wardrobe. Moreover, it's looking to get into the ...

This week, I read a very insightful piece in the Guardian about failure and the culture of failure that currently exists in Silicon Valley. In the startup community, the concept of failure has both positive and negative connotations depending on what continent or country you are in. The Guardian's piece talks about Silicon Valley's need to not just invoke failure but celebrate it as well. The oft repeated phrase most entrepreneurs have begun to live by is: "Fail fast, fail ...

StartupBus Africa last year saw a bus packed full of engineers, designers, media and creatives tour through the Southern part of the continent, from Harare, Zimbabwe to Cape Town, South Africa. Out of the 40 people who joined the trip, eight startups were born. This year, the bus is back under a new brand which will focus more on emerging markets -- Ampion Venture Bus Africa, and has decided to go big! The basic principle of StartupBus remains, it's just on ...

The popular food delivery startup, Hellofood, operates in ten countries across the African continent and goes by the name Foodpanda abroad. By keeping up with the trends, it's recently launched a new app which highlights the Africa Internet Holding (AIH) backed venture's commitment to becoming a mobile-first company. Based on recommendations of restaurants and dishes, the startup allows you to quickly order food in your city. Based on your location, the mobile app (iOS and Android) is able to narrow ...

The popular mobile payment startup, SnapScan, was the overall winner of the MTN Business App of the Year Awards 2013 and was soon acquired by Standard Bank. Entries for this year's Awards will close on Monday 7 July so get your app signed up so you can get free recognition and possible success for your hard work. The core ideas behind the Awards is to promote and celebrate locally developed apps that innovate and solve real world problems. In this ...

Ideas to Reality is an article series where I take look at easy tools to help entrepreneurs get their projects up-and-running. We all have these ideas that we think could change our world but never do. Ideas that lie dormant and ultimately die. It’s sad, isn’t it? So why not change that and turn them into something tangible, a prototype and see if it's worth anything. The excuses used for closet entrepreneurs not unleashing their ultimate remedy of all remedies are ...

One thing that's extremely prominent in South Africa's culture, both socially and professionally, is that it's extremely fragmented. While there might be great ideas looming, without coordinated direction and collaboration they are neither here nor there. A new initiative called Entrepreneur Traction believes that the Western Cape's tech innovators are to play a critical role in driving job creation in South Africa. Raised out of the Silicon Cape's foundation, Entrepreneur Traction is building an established network of tech experts that ...

There is a very popular notion that Africa hasn't been able to shirk for some time now, namely that it's a dark continent in need of saving. If we liken Africa's story to that of a Disney fairytale, the continent is always the damsel in distress waiting for her prince to come in with his sword and slay the dragon guarding her. Truth be told, I doubt the many innovators and billionaires in the West getting ready to save Africa ...

Hailing from Nigeria, ecommerce outfit Jumia has unveiled its online marketplace in Kenya. The platform allows traditionally offline suppliers to sell their products to the company's huge customer base. It basically gives merchants a store front in the cloud. Entrepreneurs are given the tools to market their products on Jumia's site while the company takes care of product storage, marketing, customer care and delivery. Sellers can furthermore monitor their sales, as well as pending, shipped and cancelled orders on their ...