Last week we began this list – Kenya’s Most Innovative Apps (web & mobile) – and these apps have shown Kenya to be Africa’s forerunner in the positive use of mobile apps in impacting the lives of the people, as their implementations have not been restricted to people with internet access alone, as most are SMS/text based. Its obvious Kenya’s paving the way to accessible technology, and it’s time for the rest of Africa to tailor our technological innovations to our needs. Here are the five remaining apps Kenya has used to better the lives of its citizens.
RUPU: Voted among the ‘Top 20 African Start-Up’ by Forbes Africa Magazine (February 2012), Rupu, a daily deals and discount website, which started operations in December 2010, helps get the best deals for a variety of items and holiday treats within Kenya. A place to find gifts and publicize business ideas, by providing online marketing resources for small, medium and large businesses to the millions of Kenyans who access the internet. Rupu, who emerged runners up on the Kenya ICT Board Innovation Awards - Wholesale, Retail & Trade category, is based in Nairobi, Kenya.
M-PEPEA: A fully automated app used to offer instant loans to workers at a fee through their mobile phones. M-Pepea has set out to revolutionize Kenya’s credit system by targeting employees on full-time basis registered for the service and offering small emergency loans ranging from KSh5023.96 (US$58) to KSh30317 (US$350) depending on pay-scale. Users can access loans anytime anywhere without the necessity of having to wait for advance approvals or having to visit a financial institution to request for emergency money.
h ttp://mpepea.co.ke/
M-PESA: An award-winning mobile money transfer service, launched by Kenyan mobile network operator, Safaricom, in March 2007. M-Pesa had already captured 14 million subscribers as at November 2011, with 2 million daily transactions and over 28,000 agents across the country. M-Pesa has since expanded to East Africa (Uganda and Tanzania) and has also been launched in South Africa, Afghanistan, India and Egypt; as it has emerged winner at the 4 GSMA awards, 2011 Mobile Money Award and UN-Habitat. It’s innovative, yet simple and practical solutions have set it apart worldwide.
iCOW: As the name suggests, iCow is an SMS and voiced based app for small scale dairy farmers, acting as a virtual veterinary nurse and midwife for subscribers, giving advice on cow breeding, animal nutrition, milk production efficiency, gestation and fodder. Voted by Forbes.com as the best new African Mobile App of 2011 and winner of the US Department of State sponsored Apps 4 Africa contest in 2010, iCow has emerged the world’s first mobile phone cow calendar.
MEDAFRICA: Developed by Kenya’s Shimba Technologies in 2011, MedAfrica helps users diagnose symptoms and provides directories of doctors and hospitals with the aim to revolutionize how people in developing areas, particularly on the African continent, access and use health information. It brings basic information about health and medicine to all phones, enabling people to use that information on their own.
http://www.medafrica.org/
Written By: Olusola Agbaje
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