VirtualBank in Africa’s top 40 startups

without credit cards, bank accounts and those who want a cheaper alternative for remitting money.”
VirtualBank will participate at the inaugural DEMO Africa technology startups event in Nairobi, Kenya, from October 24 to 26.
Of the 40 startups, 14 are from Kenya, 11 from South Africa, four from Ghana, three from Nigeria, two from Senegal, with Tanzania, Cameroon, Egypt, Uganda and Zimbabwe contributing one each.
According to the organisers, a total of 500 applications were processed in the lead-up to this event.
Out of these 150 were shortlisted and another short-listing process produced the 40 startups. The 40 cover five categories — Social Media, Cloud Services, Mobile, Consumer and Enterprise Technologies.
Said DEMO Africa Executive producer Mr Harry Hare in a statement: “This has been a very enriching exercise seeing the kind of quality innovation coming out of Africa.”
ICT experts believe that the success of a startup basically lies in its ability to monetise ideas as quickly as possible.
The showcase is expected to expose these startups to global investors. DEMO Africa is one of the flagship initiatives of Liberalising Innovation Opportunity Nations (LIONS@FRICA) Partnership, a new public-private alliance to enhance and deepen the startup and innovation ecosystems of targeted fast-growing African economies.
Says the organisation on its website: “DEMO Africa will be the place where the most innovative companies from African countries come to launch their products and announce to Africa and the world what they have developed.”
Zimbabwe is expected to experience a bump in ICT startup activity as the country’s mobile tele-density has continued to rise from around 10 percent in 2008 to 90 percent to date.
However, there is a glaring disparity between ICT penetration as measured by tele-density, and ICT penetration as measured by internet use in the country, which is probably indicative of the extent to which Zimbabwe has adopted the more significant new technologies, as well as its integration in the global information society.
Nonetheless, a survey conducted by African Business Panel last year, echoing the sentiments of 800 business professionals across Africa noted that Zimbabwe is expected to be among the continent’s top 10 ICT hubs out of a total 53 states in the next five years.
ICT experts contend that Zimbabwe’s key strength and justification for being in the list can be found in its world renowned human capital which propels a significant number of the continent’s leading ICT players.