The Day Has Come, Meet The Pivot East Contestants

Pivot East

East Africa’s premier mobile startups conference, Pivot East, is here. The mobile startup pitching competition that started in 2011 officially kicks off on Tuesday, 25th to Wednesday 26th July at Kampala Sheraton hotel. This year’s major objective is “To facilitate discovery of the next wave of high potential mobile startups”. An important difference between the 2013 competition and previous years’ competitions is its focus on startups becoming sustainable enterprises as opposed to merely showcasing mobile applications and their developers. This is also in line with another key objective of Pivot East 2013 “To consolidate recent gains of the regional mobile ecosystem and help direct the thinking from mobile applications development to mobile entrepreneurship”.

The competing applications have detailed startup profiles which describe the customer problem, the startups solution, the business model, team composition, commitment and structure, the sales strategy among other aspects. The overall startup profile will be used by the competition judges who will mostly be investors to score the potential of the startup to become a sustainable high growth enterprise.

Advertisement - Continue reading below

The Finalists of Pivot East 2013 listed by category are as follows:

Mobile Finance Category

  1. GO Finance Company Ltd: GO, leverages business value chains & technology to provide MSMEs at the base of the pyramid.- Tanzania
  2. Inforex Africa: Inforex,platform enabling communication and forex trading between Forex Bureaus and offers current Forex information to the public.-Uganda
  3. M-Duka Ltd: M-Duka, an online virtual products platform that allows users to purchase or retail virtual products using their mobile phones.- Uganda
  4. DEPHICS Ltd: TiME, a mobile application aimed at enhancing purchasing and payment of tickets from any location and at any time.-Tanzania
  5. intelworld Ltd:  A solution that integrates into major payments providers to enables businesses to transact online , using feature phones (USSD and SMS) and offline using POS.

Mobile Enterprise Category

  1. SleepOut.com: SleepOut, SMS-driven booking process connects both commercial and peer-to-peer hosts with guests and agents.-Kenya
  2. SchoolMaster Solutions: An information portal for parents and school administrators, available as a web application as well as a mobile app for Android devices.- Uganda
  3. echorest Technologies Ltd: echorest, an android application that is a real-time,proximate-based buyer-powered market place that tries to connect buyers and seller through sms and email. – Kenya
  4. Mank and Tank : Virtual Classrooms on mobile devices that allow users to access educational material,create digital content,present & share info. – Kenya
  5. Binary Logic: Meka,a mobile and web product and price reference platform that gives you information about anything you would like to buy, capability to order online, as well as GPS direction to the store. Uganda

Mobile Society Category

  1. Kytabu: Kytabu, is a micro-leasing textbook subscription application that enables students to get just the material they need to learn, when they need it, wherever they are and pay for just that piece of content while they have it. – Kenya
  2. iDaktari Ltd: iDaktari,a multi-platform healthcare system tailored for doctors with private practices that simplifies information management and security. -Kenya
  3. Skoobox: Skoobox, an academic-networking platform for students that provides them with a platform to share and make the learning process more connected and open.- Kenya
  4. Ecademy Africa: eShule, a mobile app that will offer career and college counseling, and alternative eLearning via online courses and exams for high school students.- Kenya
  5. Code Vision Ltd: BrainShare, a mobile and web application that enables students to easily access academic content such as past papers and simplified notes. – Uganda

Mobile Entertainment Category

  1. Jooist: Jooist, a social gaming network for mobile phones. It enables users to discover, download and play free games, compare scores & achievements with friends. – Kenya
  2. Kola Studios: Matatu, is a two-player card game based on the popular Ugandan game played with a pack of cards.The game can be played on Mobile (Android) and on Facebook. – Uganda
  3. TiVi: TiVi,delivers program guides, gossip, reviews & spoilers direct to your phone. – Kenya
  4. 254Events: 254Events, a mobile and web platform that gives  information regarding events and purchasing of the event’s tickets.- Kenya
  5. Tokelezea: Tokelezea, a mobile application that provides a dynamic guide to your neighborhood fun list, it enables you to find out what your friends are up to and also brings relevant reviews and related news. – Kenya

Mobile Utilities Category

  1. Ma3Route: Ma3Route, crowd-sources for traffic and transport information from locals in order to provide users with up-to-date information that can inform their movements. – Kenya
  2. SmartShop: Smart_Shop, allows supermarkets to be able to offer shopping via the mobile phone by offering a platform where customers can view real prices from and enhance their shopping experience. – Kenya
  3. TrueDine: TrueDine, restaurant recommendation and reservation app that helps you discover restaurants, explore menus and make instant table reservations. – Uganda
  4. The Diet Assistant Ltd: The DietAssistant, a mobile diet solution that recommends healthy and affordable meals composed of locally available and accessible foods. – Uganda
  5. Habari App: Habari app, lets you read the news that matters to you when it’s convenient. – Kenya

Editor’s note: Information from the Pivot East website

LIKE WHAT YOU ARE READING?

Sign up to our Newsletter for expert advice and tips of how to get the most out of your Tech Gadgets

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.