Kevin Nyango
TechInPacific – GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund announced its 3rd cohort of GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund Program. Among the new 11 startups announced, two of them were from Pacific countries—Samoa and Papua New Guinea. The two startups are SkyEye and Pacific Ads Group.
SkyEye is Samoa-based startups specializes in four major services; GIS, GPS, Remote Sensing, and Vehicle Tracking. It was founded in 2013 and currently has developed in three other Pacific countries, including The Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu. It provides ICT solutions that are managed and governed by the local.
Meanwhile, Pacific Ads Group is an online marketplace and service specializing in providing job-matching platforms across its operation areas, spread in 7 countries including Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Fiji Islands, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, and Samoa.
Apart from the two Pacific startups, the other startups are:
- Agrocenta – Ghana, mobile financial services for smallholder farmers
- Coliba – Côte d’Ivoire, a mobile-supported plastic recycling solution
- Eneza Education – Côte d’Ivoire, a SMS-based educational content for K-12 students
- GiftedMom – Cameroon, a digital maternal health support via mobile
- Greenovator – Myanmar, a digital marketplace for agricultural inputs and outputs
- KEA Medicals – Benin, a medical identity solution for patients and hospitals
- oDoc – Sri Lanka, mobile-based telemedicine services for individuals
- Qlue – Indonesia, a civic engagement app to connect citizens with city officials and businesses
- Taskmoby – Ethiopia | Mobile platform connecting skilled workers from the informal sector with customers
Before joining the current cohort, these startup companies have joined the previous cohorts of GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Program held in April 2017 and February 2018. They have generated good results at each cohort, including gaining 1.6 million beneficiaries, £2.5 million of a collective fund, and £32.9 million of crowd-funding raised by the two-thirds of the startups.
The GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Program aims at supporting startups in many sectors through fundraising and partnerships with mobile operators. Moreover, it also helps startups to tackle local challenges as well as generate social and economic impacts through innovations. Additionally, the Program also aligns its activities with the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The Ecosystem Accelerator Program is supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Australian Government, the GSMA and its members.
