Most promising startups in Kenya: Kenya has become the African hotspot for startups. This is, at least in part, because the country is blessed with a rich education system and a nurturing environment for its tech industry. It even has its own Silicon Valley, dubbed the Silicon Savannah.
These hospitable conditions have allowed for a large number of startups to emerge. Not all of them succeed, of course, given the high failure rates of startups across the board. But some are showing great promise. These rising stars are solving a wide variety of market problems with innovative approaches.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at some of the most exciting Kenyan startups of the year.
Food4Education
Food4Education serves as a remedy for the ills of poverty. Created by Wawira Njiru, this social enterprise seeks to provide and deliver medical aid, food, tuition support, and mentorship to financially disadvantaged Kenyan children. Thus far, it has helped feed more than 500,000 children.
This startup furthers its reach using innovative technology, including its Tap2Eat fintech mobile platform. This initiative has already garnered some attention, having received funds from the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation.
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Bluewave Insurance
The founder of this startup, Adelaide Adhiambo, aims to provide people with the insurance services, tools, and products they need to make their lives more comfortable. With their help, a person can pay as little as US$0.4 week to cover their insurance costs.
Bluewave’s work has already received plenty of recognition, especially in 2018 when it dominated the Seedstars Convention in Nairobi. It also attended the Switzerland Summit edition of Seedstars, where it was among the running to win $1 million in funding.
Tulaa
A helping hand for farmers in Africa’s rural regions, Tulaa grants its users access to the wider agricultural market. It connects farmers, financial institutions, and input suppliers to enable rapid money lending and spending via mobile devices.
Tulaa came to fruition as an offshoot of Hillary Miller-Wise’s Esoko in 2017. Since then, it has gained plenty of traction. The business helps some 10,000 farmers with their work, and has entered into partnerships with world-class brands such as Toyota.
FlexPay
With FlexPay, founders Dennis Karanu, Martin Maina, Richard Machomba, and Johnson Mwangi are making everyday spending more affordable. Those who’ve been observing 2018’s Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa initiative may have already heard of this startup and been following its success.
The principle behind FlexPay is, as the name suggests, giving users more flexible payment options for purchasing both services and products. It covers everything from routine shopping to tuition payments, allowing for a range of payment plans with flexible options regarding installments and rates.
WorkPay
Among the newest SaaS innovators on the scene, WorkPay promises to streamline Africa’s workforce-management industry. Pangae Accelerator certainly seems to believe this, as it gave the company’s founder, Paul Kimani, $50,000 to develop his product.
WorkPay combines top-notch payroll and HR software to facilitate a comprehensive cloud-based platform for worker management in Africa. The software gives businesses complete oversight of their workforce, allowing them to manage every aspect of their workers’ schedules from start to finish.