These African entrepreneurs are finding their own solutions to their country’s needs. Meet the founders altering the continent with their innovative verification apps, job websites and payment plans.
Patrick Mutahi – MVERIFIED
Verifying documents can be a huge undertaking in Kenya. Mutahi, 24, and two colleagues decided to do something about it, founding mVerified last year. Using Web and Android interfaces, mVerified checks real estate and auto titles, diplomas and more against data stored online by Kenyan government agencies. It charges $10 a document and has screened 29,000 of them so far.
Ayodeji Adewunmi – JOBBERMAN
Adewunmi was a student at Nigeria’s Obafemi Awolowo University in 2009 when he and two friends launched what has grown into sub-Saharan Africa’s most popular job search engine. Companies pay to post job listings at Jobberman.com; users apply for those jobs for free. More than 35,000 have found employment through the site, and it gets 1.5 million visitors a month.
Stella Njoki and Kariuki Gathitu – MPAYER
The M-Pesa system has revolutionized money handling in Kenya by replacing cash payments with mobile phone transactions, but it didn’t work well with bank accounts until Gathitu, working at Kenya’s Equity Bank, joined Njoki to start MPayer in 2010. MPayer now processes more than $70,000 a month for hundreds of small businesses, charging for monthly subscriptions plus 2% transaction fees.
Source: Forbes
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