NowFloats is an ambitious startup coming out of India -- with offices in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi -- that wants to help SMEs across the globe get an online presence in the form of simple-automated websites. It's created an easy-to-use platform that wants every kind of SME, from your local grocer to the barber, to get a stand-alone website with an advantage. It's essentially what WordPress, Wix and GoDaddy do. The trick that makes NowFloats exceptional, however, is that a website can ...

In order to encourage invention in Africa, Microsoft has unveiled the intellectual property portal, the Microsoft 4Afrika IP Hub. Piloting in Kenya, the Hub will offer developers and software vendors the skills and tools necessary to develop, protect and monetise their innovations. It's argued that most small businesses in Africa are relying on secrecy instead of using established copyright, trademark, trade name and patent programs for protection. This means that many technology advancements miss out on the opportunity to be ...

The Nigerian hotel booking startup, Jovago, has recently partnered up with global travel service TripAdvisor. This partnership will help leverage the massive traffic seen on TripAdvisor while making the travelling options more comprehensive, if not simpler, for those using the service. "TripAdvisor is delighted to partner with Jovago to offer travellers a diverse selection of hotels across Africa," said Adrian Hands, Senior Director, Account Management, EMEA at TripAdvisor. "The partnership helps make booking these hotels as easy as clicking a button, ...

Sanlam / Business Partners Entrepreneur of the Year seeks out talented entrepreneurs who are striving to become leaders in their respective fields. This year's competition has discovered Sam Berger, a 12-year old computer whiz kid that is developing apps for businesses, among other impressive feats. One such app that Berger has created is a patented geyser app designed for home insurance companies in South Africa. The app uses QR codes to confirm whether geysers are in or out of guarantee. The ...

In today’s operating environment the ability to bring dispersed teams together is becoming a critical business advantage. Teams (focused on, for example, software development or support) often operate from scattered locations, their collaboration fittingly facilitated by technology. It is a time-honoured and cost-effective way of sourcing the best talent and input without having to hire for every new requirement or delay development due to a lack of available skills. A jumble of bug and ticket tracking, communication and collaboration tools supports the ...

Traveling for business often sees one against the clock, dashing from airplane to taxi to make that meeting. Taxi-hailing apps, such as Uber or Lyft, provide an option for getting around, but they are on-demand, meaning that you cannot plan your ground travel needs except for on the spot. Enter Flitways, an LA-based startup that offers a pre-booking service for travelers that takes care of all ground-travel needs -- simplifying the booking process. Travelers can use Flitways through its mobile apps ...

MoboFree, a mobile social marketplace that allows African customers to buy, sell, rent and swap stuff with trusted parties has officially reached 3.3 million registered users after just two years since launch. The bulk of its users are based in Nigeria, followed by Ghana and Zimbabwe. "From the get-go we are a person oriented marketplace. Instead of adding in a social element to our service as an afterthought, we have focused on the social aspect of selling and purchasing from the very ...

Recently I had the opportunity to raise a small round of seed funding for my subscription sock company, NicSocks.com. The figure was about US$25 000 and I was raising it from an angel investor. We had an aligned vision, we spent months discussing where the business was going, how we were going to move the company towards our next goal and what we would use the funds for. Everything was on track. We had a handshake agreement that I thought was ...

Tech company Intel South Africa is spurring innovation via its Galileo Board global outreach programme, which wants to offer students from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and University of Cape Town (UCT) a simple and cost-effective development environment. The Galileo Development Board is a microcontroller board based on the Intel Quark SoC X1000 application processor, a 32-bit Intel Pentium brand system on a chip (SoC). If you didn't catch that, it's a simple, cheap piece of hardware that can be used ...

Global travel distribution system, Amadeus, announced a strategic technological agreement with SAP, which seeks to deliver a cloud-based corporate travel solution, including online booking, expense and mobile capabilities. The new technology partnership will see the integration of SAP Cloud for Travel and Expense solution with Amadeus e-Travel Management. This allows SAP to create a unified user interface with a single end-to-end offering for corporate direct clients and resellers. "We are delighted to be partnering with Amadeus for our first Original ...