In its August 2011 edition, WIRED UK Magazine switches on its searchlight with a feature on Africa’s new tech opportunities. The magazine which is now on sale, showcases five African technology entrepreneurs including Encipher‘s Saheed Adepoju (Nigeria) and mPedigree‘s Bright Simons (Ghana).
According to WIRED, Encipher will give Africa’s market leading mobile-telephony company MTN a demonstration of its Android-powered tablet, Inye once internal testing has been completed. MTN, on the other hand would be a major distribution platform for the product, thereby putting the co-founder’s work in shops alongside international brands such as Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy tab.
Beyond its functionality, the founders hope that the Inye’s local origins will give it an edge on rival brands, as they have also been working on local-language services, including a product that helps health workers to identify and explain symptoms in local languages.
As for mPedigree, Simons has signed deals with every telecom company in Ghana to convince them to work not just with mPedigree but with each other to create a single toll-free number across all networks, so that the service would be available free of charge to all Ghanaians.
The company is also working with government bodies and pharmaceutical manufacturers in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda and has already closed deals
to protect six million packs of antimalarials, amebicides, anti-inflammatory agents, oral care products and nutritional supplements, and has discussions and trials going on across Africa and south Asia.
The magazine also features Agosta Liko of Pesapal (Mpesa), Joe Muchero, Google’s Head of sub-Saharan Africa, Isis Nyong’o of Inmobi and Stephan Magdalinski of DealFish and Kalahari.
Download a PDF version of the magazine feature here.
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