Kenya’s Mobile Decisioning (MoDe), a mobile nano credit startup, is this year’s overall winner of the IBM Africa SmartCamp contest at Tech4Africa.
“MoDe and all the finalists of SmartCamp demonstrated great tech innovation for SA and the African continent. Its solution addresses a unique need in the market and is infinitely scalable which demonstrates the global aspirations we’d like to encourage in our partner start-ups,” Clayton Booysen, ISV and developer relations lead for IBM SA, was quoted saying.
MoDe was praised for its business solution with innovative technology-enabled emergency airtime payments. The company competed against four other finalists in Cape Town. Requirements for qualification included private ownership and software-based product or service development.
Celebrating only its second anniversary this year, MoDe has a staff of more than 50 members and setups in five countries.
IBM awarded all startups IBM Global Entrepreneur of the Year participants with access to free software and assistance of project management team to advise on product development on a universal scale, back by a network of 40 IBM Innovation centres.
MoDe will further receive extra attention and guidance from IBM in preparation for the next round of competition in Sao Paulo next month. They will also be in the privileged position to observe and experience IBM’s venture capital and partner ecosystem.
The IBM SmartCamp is a worldwide initiative with the objective to network investors, mentors and entrepreneurs.
For the first time, South Africa hosted the awards.
