Digital Entrepreneurship in Kenya 2014

Marissa Drouillard, Intelligence Consultant, Mobile for Development at the GSMA, discusses the findings of their recent report on Digital Entrepreneurship in Kenya which looks at current opportunities and challenges for the Kenyan entrepreneurship ecosystem. Pete’s Coffee, nestled in Nairobi’s Bishop Magua building, is the kind of place where aspiring Kenyan entrepreneurs mix with international investors and more mature startups. Spend an hour on the patio sipping a cappuccino and you will likely encounter a number of Kenya’s uber-hyped tech company founders having meetings with their team or …

Improving Mobile Services for the Bottom of the Pyramid in Africa

Africa has the fastest growing mobile market in the world and opportunities to use mobile technologies for social upliftment abound. More Africans have access to mobile phones that to clean water and by 2016, predictions indicate that approximately one billion people in Africa will have access to a handset. As a mobile-first (and often mobile-only) region, mobile is the perfect technological conduit to provide demand-driven, real-time information and services to a variety of audiences. However, there are numerous barriers that must be overcome if we are truly to see the full power for mobile …

5 minutes with… Spinlet

In our 5 minutes with profiles, MEF members talk about their business, their aspirations for the future and the wider mobile industry. This week CEO and MEF Africa Steering Committee member Neil Schwartzman introduces Spinlet. What does Spinlet do? Spinlet is Africa's premier digital music distribution service. The free Spinlet app allows artist's to monetize and digitally distribute their music in over 180+ countries. Spinlet also provides music lovers, worldwide access to thousands and thousands of African and international songs on their Blackberry, Android, Nokia Asha - and soon to be …

MEF Launches Research on Mobile Content and Commerce Trends in Africa

MEF Africa General Manager Jo Crawshaw writes... It’s no secret that Africa is an incredibly exciting place to be involved in the mobile industry. Contributing 3.5% towards to continent’s total GDP and home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies, the African mobile market is forecast to quadruple in seven years, growing from a combined value of US$60 billion in 2013 to around US$245 billion in 2020. Despite the impressive growth and countless innovations coming out of Africa, barriers to market entry still exist. Challenges for those navigating the various regulatory …