4 Founders Making Waves in African Technology Sector
The rate at which technology is booming in Africa is quite applaudable. By the day, the technology sector is welcoming new inventors with speed.
Below are five of the African continent’s up-and-coming entrepreneurs who are making some serious waves in the technology space, either by reimagining established products or services, expanding radically into new areas, or developing better solutions for Africa.
1. Bankole Cardoso
Bankole Cardoso is the CEO of EasyTaxi Nigeria. Born in Nigeria, Cardoso attended Boston College in the USA to study Accounting and Business Management, after which he moved to New York City to work as an associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), where he earned a Certified Public Accountant qualification.
After a brief period at The Carlyle Group, he moved back to Nigeria as an entrepreneur.
Easy Taxi is one of the world’s largest taxi booking apps, and Cardoso was offered the CEO position after he returned from the US.
The Nigerian branch recently teamed up with Samsung to offer its services to even more customers across Nigeria.
The Easy Taxi app will be pre-installed on all new Samsung Galaxy S5 devices as part of the Galaxy Gift Exchange.
2. Rebecca Enonchong
Tech entrepreneur Rebecca Enonchog is the founder and CEO of AppsTech, a global provider of enterprise application solutions.
The Company, established in 1999, is reported to have a client base that includes 50 countries over three continents – Africa, Europe and North America.
Enonchong has been selected as one of the 2013 WIE Africa Power Women in the Business and Technology category. AppsTech’s valueproposition is the provision of enterprise software, service and support to international clients.
Enonchong is also serving as a mentor and advisor to several African-based technology startups and sits on the board of VC4Africa, as well as serving as the director of the award winning Salesforce.com Foundation.
3. Ashish J. Thakkar
Ashish is the Founder and Managing Director of Mara Group. At the tender age of 15, Thakkar started his first company, and 16 years later the self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur has secured a position at the top of the pan-African multi-sector business conglomerate Mara Group.
He considers himself a native son of Africa, as he moved back to the Continent with his parents after surviving the historic Rwandan genocide.
The Mara Group has operations covering IT, BPO, real estate, asset management, infrastructure, hospitality, packaging, and media, and operates across 19 African countries.
Of all the countries that the Mara Group has operations in, Nigeria is Thakkar’s favorite. “Apart from the basic facts, the energy there on the ground is very good, there is a buzz. The first time I went there, as soon as I got out the car, I received two pitches from individuals. The government is also looking at transforming things there”.
4. Derrydean Dadzie
In Africa’s rapidly growing startup business community, differentiation is critical and global exposure an objective.
For some, this may take time, for others it has been a quick progression – as is the case for Derrydean Dadzie, co-founder and CEO of DreamOval Limited, a provider of internet and mobile solutions, and developer of payment platforms for the financial and telecommunication sectors.
Since its inception in 2007, the Company has established a partner network that includes Kenya, Singapore and the US.
It has also been said that Dadzie has also captured the attention of global media, with Crunchbase pointing out one international publication’s description of the entrepreneur, in which it was written of him: “… part of Africa’s emerging class of young entrepreneurs who are presenting a serious challenge to Western ideas of African economic development.”
