The methodology behind this list of startups had two simple directives. First, the startup had to have African roots and secondly it had to be brilliant.
More specifically, we were looking for that type of brilliance that exudes intelligence, talent, quality or simply, something fresh. Of course brilliance, like most things in life, is subjective, so we went into this journey with an open mind. Tabula rasa if you will and we hoped to recognise brilliance when we saw it. We did, over and over again.
Why did we focus on Africa? The continent’s one-billion people are coming online and 600-million of them already have mobile phones. It is estimated that by 2040, Africa’s working age population will be the largest in the world, making for a large number of young, active consumers — the brand conscious, aspirational demographic businesses covet. In the last 10 years 117-million Africans have migrated to cities, establishing a larger, wealthier concentration of people in need of goods and services and making Africa more urbanised than India and almost on par with China. Consumer spending grows by four percent a year and by 2020, Accenture estimates that poverty levels in Africa will fall to 20% from nearly 45% percent in the1980s.
The secret is out. Wired likens the opportunities in Africa to those of the pre-dotcom boom in 1995. Says the magazine: “If you want to become extremely wealthy over the next five years, and you have a basic grasp of technology, here’s a no-brainer: move to Africa.”
So what opportunities are indigenous African tech startups seizing? Let’s take a look. Please note that this list is not exhaustive by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, consider it a sampling of African talent and be sure to let us know about brilliant startups that should also be on this list. We look forward to hearing from you and compiling a sequel to this article.
22seven – South Africa

This startup made a disruptive entrance into the personal finance management scene just a few weeks ago when it launched to equal measures of censure and praise. The closest thing to the wildly successful Mint to come out of the African continent, 22seven shows you how you’ve spent your money, helps you think about why and suggests changes you can make to better manage your income.
Why is it brilliant? The user interface design and experience is both exceptionally powerful and beautiful. Yes, the Flash platform is an offbeat choice and yes, it’s scary to entrust your banking details to anyone, let alone a faceless site on the web, but don’t let that detract from the fact that 22seven is an ultra compelling service created with plenty of swagger and style.
This Army – South Africa

Two apps in particular called, Tank and Ammo, developed by this South African startup with a penchant for militant naming conventions, caught our attention. Tank is an easy-to-use browser based app for building websites and Ammo helps you build mobile optimised eCommerce stores.
Why are they brilliant? Both of these apps are ridiculously intuitive, user friendly and exude a type of magnetic elegance that sucks you in. Tank supports Markdown as well as standard HTML markup so it manages to be newbie friendly, without being too restrictive. While setting up an Ammo test account, we began wishing we had things to sell on the platform. It’s just such a pleasant environment to be in.
Taxi Rank – South Africa

Down in Cape Town, Taxi Rank makes it easy for the city’s 4-million citizens to catch a cab. Simply enter your pick-up and drop-off destinations to compare estimated quotes from multiple cab companies. Once you select a quote, the cab company will send you a text message confirming the pick-up time and cost. Taxi Rank’s mobile site can automatically pinpoint your location if your phone supports browser based geolocation — no need to provide a pick-up point.
Why is it brilliant? The Taxi Rank design is intelligently simple and it works beautifully. It follows Google’s less is more approach to deliver a supremely useful service in uncluttered style.
Dropifi – Ghana

The team behind Dropifi are re-imagining one of the web’s oldest and most resolute elements, the “Contact us” form. The Dropifi solution consists of a website plug-in, optional QR code (for print-outs) and an analytics tool.
The plug-in simplifies and speeds up contact form implementation on company websites and presents an unobtrusive interface to customers. The novelty QR code can be printed out and is a fun way of directing users to a company’s online Dropifi contact form. The final part of the solution allows companies to extract intelligence from messages received through their Dropifi contact forms and makes responding to incoming messages easy.
Why is it brilliant? What was the last big innovation in “Contact us” forms? Autofill? Dropifi boldly pushes the age-old convention forward. It gives companies better organisation of customer correspondence, while at the same time providing customer insight.
Companies can for example, gain insight into recurring issues through “trending topics” harvested from customer messages and how well (or badly) the company measures up to the industry query response average. For end-users filling in contact forms, the Dropifi experience is simple, quick and even fun.
Lekoua and Son – Cameroon

The X-NetPhone is the result of a collaborative effort by Lekoua and Son (L & F) and three expatriates based in Germany and the USA. Assembled in China and now sold in Cameroon, the creators proudly underline the phone’s simplicity. The bare-bones approach means the phone is dirt cheap at EUR€16 for a standard version and EUR€19 with a camera. Other features include dual SIM slots, MP3/MP4 player, radio and flashlight.
Why is it brilliant? The X-NetPhone was tailor made for the Cameroonion market. Nothing more, nothing less, just a simple, practical phone for under US$25.
Pulse – Cameroon

Pulse is ambitious. Born out of frustration with inefficient communication channels at the University of Buea and other universities in West Africa, it aims to connect students with teachers through a social network. Another social network, yes, but with a twist.
The project differs from similar projects, such as the South African Obami, by offering students and teachers US$50 Android based tablets which they can use at free university Wi-Fi hotspots.
The project aims to bring offline notice boards, in-class announcements and word of mouth communication online and will cast the communication medium net as wide as possible, allowing correspondence through SMS, the web and email.
The pilot program launched in Q4 of 2011 at the University of Buea with about 1000 test users. Full roll-out is planned for March of this year.
Why is it brilliant? Some West African universities have 3000 students in classes intended for 500. Pulse is a fantastic, bold initiative aimed at improving normal and long-distance communication between students and teachers. The idea of offering US$50 tablets is great too and has been proven to be both feasible and successful in emerging markets. If you’re interested in helping the project gain traction feel free to check out Pulse’s fund raising page.
ForgetMeNot Africa – Zimbabwe

ForgetMeNot (FMN) Africa wants to bring all African mobile phone users online. The company provides internet type services to users who don’t have smartphones or data connections. Through partnerships with six mobile carriers in Africa, FMN allows mobile phone users to to send and receive email and Instant Messages on basic handsets without any internet connection through standard USSD and SMS services.
Think internet-free email, Facebook, Windows Live and Yahoo! Messenger. FMN also provides a platform that third parties can utilise to bring their own internet based services to those without data access. Its primary investor is LonZim, a UK company focused on investing in businesses in Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Why is it brilliant? Thanks to ForgetMeNot Africa, cash-strapped consumers can opt for an inexpensive phone — as low as US$15 — and still access basic internet services, even on carriers with limited or no data infrastructure.
Iroko Partners – Nigeria

One of the company’s most compelling new projects is called IrokoTV. Launched in December 2011, it allows its over 100 000 registered active users to view films from Nigeria’s film industry for free. Well, at least until June of this year, it’s not exactly clear what happens beyond that, but the company relies mainly on advertising revenue to support its business, having initially made a living through streaming full-length Nollywood movies on its YouTube channel.
Iroko Partners is the only company with the sole rights to distribute Nollywood movies online.
Why is it brilliant? The Nigerian film industry is the second largest in the world and IrokoTV provides a robust service for Nollywood film buffs across Africa and the world to get their fix.
TruSpot! – Nigeria

Remember when Apple announced its social network for music, Ping? Remember when Spotify initially rose to fame? TruSpot! has been doing all of that since 2006. The African social music platform and streaming service, utilises its strategic partnerships with African record labels and artists to bring a free African music and music video streaming service to listeners. Through Afritunes, TruSpot! also allows for digital music purchases.
Why is it brilliant? TruSpot! offers one of the largest African music catalogues available on the web — for free.
Njorku – Cameroon

Much like Indeed.com, Njorku is a jobs-listing aggregator, but with an African focus. Njorku is based in Cameroon, and also covers Egypt, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda.
Why is it brilliant? Instead of visiting and searching for job sites individually, Africans can go to one place to find jobs across many sites, for free. Apart from convenience, Njorku users have the ability to receive SMS and email alerts if new jobs matching their search terms become available. Njorku also gives smaller, boutique job sites that pop up from time to time, more visibility.
iSign – South Africa
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Original Article - http://ventureburn.com/2012/03/25-brilliant-african-tech-startups/