True Mobile Africa
True Mobile Africa seeks to leverage the power of mobile phones and information technology for social and economic progress in Africa.
“Africa Rising” is the unifying theme, drawn from the deeply rooted African values of ambition, openness, hope and respect. True Mobile Africa will target, as core users, metropolitan professionals whose creativity, drive and imagination are a key to Africa’s economic future.
The founders of True Mobile Africa, one of which is a native Togolese entrepreneur, are experienced and have been successful, drawing on an extensive network of media and retail partners in the West African region, a key to future success. The founders have knowledge of its African customers, and as such True Mobile Africa has the resources and potential to become a strong African brand.
The Problem
The informal economy employs 80% of the workforce in Sub-Saharan Africa. Notably, painters, carpenters, hairdressers and many other professionals at the bottom of the pyramid rely only on traditional yet inefficient word-of-mouth to drum up interest in their businesses. As a consequence of these market inefficiencies, the potential of the informal economy remains largely untapped.
The Context
As our initial market research in Lomé, Togo confirmed, many service providers in the informal economies lack the means to formally generate interest in their quality services. At the same time, mobile phones are widespread. It is very common for individuals at the bottom of the pyramid to own several SIM cards.
The Impact
We will put 100,000 bottom of the pyramid professionals on the map within 12 months.