Keiwa and Legafrik, two Ivorian start-ups operating in the tech sector, have recently joined the portfolio of I&P Acceleration Technologies, a program aiming to finance and support about fifteen digital start-ups in Sub-Saharan Africa.
These two companies will benefit from seed financing and strategic support, provided by I&P Acceleration Technologies and the team of Comoé Capital, I&P's partner in Côte d'Ivoire.
A native of Antananarivo and a graduate of the Institut Supérieur Polytechnique de Madagascar, Ranto Andriambololona worked for 15 years in France before returning to Madagascar in 2018 with two entrepreneurial projects in the tech sector. Three years later, HaiRun Technology and SmartPredict are growing rapidly and have more than 150 employees.
Keiwa is a simplified app dedicated to accounting, financial, and reserve management created by three young Ivorians, Fabrice KOFFI, Bertrand DAGO, and Terrence KONDOU.
The app is for African SMEs with a monitoring need for their day-to-day operations, structures with several sites, and partners providing services to these SMEs (suppliers, financial institutions, and telecom operators).
With this app, the user can save its daily operations, manage its stocks and access a clear activity report in real-time. Keiwa also allows one to monitor its activities remotely and share selective information with selected partners.
Keiwa platform is available on Apple and Google Stores and the web.
The entrepreneurs
Keiwa was co-founded by three young Ivorians, Fabrice KOFFI, Bertrand DAGO, and Terrence Kondou.
Fabrice Koffi is Keiwa's CEO. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting. He accumulates several years of experience in various consulting firms (Administrative and Financial Manager of Agritecno West Africa, Partner and co-manager of Urim Thummim Conseil).
Bertrand Dago is co-founder and CTO of KEiwa. He has a Diploma of Higher Technician in Electronic and Computer Systems (2013).
Terrence Kondou is a co-founder and Programmer. He holds a Master's degree in Computer Engineering (2017) and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Methods Applied to Business Management.
Partnership with I&P
Keiwa is financed and supported by I&P Acceleration Technologies, a €2,5 million program aiming at financing and supporting some fifteen digital start-ups in sub-Saharian Africa. This program is supported by the Digital Africa initiative (AFD).
The partnership notably aims at;
• Reinforcing commercial and marketing teams
• Supporting the pan-African development of the app
Expected impacts
• Support for the financial inclusion of the informal sector
• Evolution of teams' working conditions
About I&P Acceleration Technologies
Launched in December 2019 with the support of the AFD through the Digital Africa initiative, I&P Acceleration Technologies is a €2.5 million program aiming to finance and support around 15 digital start-ups in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on the West Africa, Central Africa, and Madagascar zones.
About Comoé Capital
Comoé Capital is the first impact investment fund dedicated to financing and supporting Ivorian SMEs and start-ups.
Headed by Issa Sidibé, Comoé Capital is the fifth African fund sponsored by Investisseurs & Partenaires as part of the I&P Development 2 fund. Up to date, the network of funds includes a fund in Niger (Sinergi Niger), Burkina Faso (Sinergi Burkina), Senegal (Teranga Capital), and Madagascar (Miarakap).
Jiro-Ve, a pioneering company in rural electrification in Madagascar, is completing its last funding round. Besides Miarakap and I&P (through its program I&P Acceleration Technologies), Jiro-Ve has received the backing of the international humanitarian agency Catholic Relief Services.
The Malian company Teliman, supported by our program I&P Acceleration Technologies, recently received a $50,000 loan through the online platform Kiva. This loan will help the startup provide quality jobs, health insurance, and productive asset ownership to Malian youth moto-taxi drivers.
Teliman is the very first on-demand motorcycle-taxi service in Bamako, Mali.
This edition of I&P's quarterly newsletter focuses on the Tech sector, with an editorial by Samir Abdelkrim (EMERGING Valley, StartupBRICS) and a review of the first financing operations carried out by our I&P Acceleration Technologies program.
Launched a few months thanks to the support of the French Development Agency through the Digital Africa initiative, the program I&P Acceleration Technologies welcomes three high-potential African digital startups in its portfolio.
Jiro-Ve is a pioneering company in rural electrification in Madagascar, launched in 2014.
Jiro-Ve has come up with an innovative, inclusive micro franchise model to provide affordable and healthy lighting for marginalized communities. Its business model allows the company to rent out a rechargeable LED light for a price that is cheaper than candles or kerosene. For 250 Ariary per day (≈ 0,06 €) people get a fully charged light delivered to their doorstep, both incities and remote rural areas of Madagascar.
Jiro-Ve hires local entrepreneurs and uses existing networks, supporting and developing entrepreneurship.
Jiro Ve is managed by Rik Stamhuis, an entrepreneur of Dutch origin located in Madagascar since 2012. He holds 48% of the company's capital.
Rik is a driven and energetic leader with years of experience working for social enterprises. Before founding Jiro-Ve, Rik worked in Kenya trying to find innovative ways of distributing renewable energy.
Thanks to funding from the program I&P Acceleration Technologies, Jiro-Ve plans to expand its activity, initially in Madagascar by distributing the new kits in larger quantities and targeting more regions.
The company aims to extend its offer to other regions of Africa later on.
⇒ Jiro-Ve aims to eliminate poverty by helping local entrepreneurs to have a better income.
⇒ Jiro-Ve's model allows the most disadvantaged consumers to access a source of energy that is less polluting, less dangerous and less expensive than petroleum lamps.
⇒ According to the studies carried out by the company, each lamp used would avoid the emission of 0.37 tons of CO2 per year.
⇒ This energy source also has a positive impact on the health and well-being of users, by reducing the toxic fumes emitted by the candles and kerosene lamps that most target customers currently use.
About I&P Acceleration Technologies
Launched in 2019 with the support of the French Development Agency through its iniative Digital Africa, I&P Acceleration Technologies is a €2.5 million program that aims to finance and support some fifteen digital startups in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on Western Africa, Central Africa and Madagascar. Click here to read more →
About Miarakap
Miarakap is the first impact fund dedicated to the financing and support SMEs and start-ups in Madagascar. Managed by Emmanuel Cotsoyannis, Miarakap is the fourth African fund sponsored by Investisseurs & Partenaires as part of its program I&P Development 2. The network currently includes impact funds specialized in SME-financing in Niger (Sinergi Niger), Burkina Faso (Sinergi Burkina), in Senegal (Teranga Capital) and Côte d'Ivoire (Comoé Capital). Click here to visit Miarakap's website →
SmartPredict is a SaaS platform using artificial intelligence for predictive analytics that helps companies in the deployment of their projects. There are multiple uses in all sectors: consumer forecasts (industry), product recommendations (marketing), default predictions (banking and insurance), etc. With their latest tool, RetailForecastor, the company enables retail companies to predict their sales and optimize their activities by avoiding over- or underproduction.
SmartPredict has been developed since 2018 by Malagasy developers and data scientists and has required one million lines of code to date.
SmartPredict is led by Ranto ANDRIAMBOLOLONA, a Malagasy entrepreneur in his 40s with a passion for artificial intelligence since his studies.
Graduated from ISPM (Institut Supérieur Polytechnique de Madagascar) and the University of Marne La Vallée, he has more than 10 years of experience in the ICT sector in Paris (Axway, PriceMinister, etc.). He came back to Madagascar to launch HaiRun and SmartPredict, driven by the conviction that Malagasy developers and datascientists have the skills to match those of European companies.
He quickly demonstrated his ability to lead young, ambitious and growing companies. His first company HaiRun grew from 6 to 100 employees in the space of two years and raised €250,000 through its partnership with the impact investing fund Miarakap.
Miarakap has committed itself alongside the promoter in the structuring of the young company, the launch of SmartPredict and the future fundraising efforts it aims to achieve.
Thanks to the partnership between the French Development Agency (AFD), Investisseurs et Partenaires (I&P), and Miarakap within the framework of the program I&P Accélération Technologies, SmartPredict benefits from a funding notably dedicated to Research & Development, as well as commercialization.
⇒ Promoting a Malagasy company that performs in the technological and innovative sector of artificial intelligence
⇒ Creation of qualified and well-paid jobs for Malagasy developers and "data scientists", whose retention in Madagascar is a challenge.
About I&P Acceleration Technologies
Launched in 2019 with the support of the French Development Agency through its iniative Digital Africa, I&P Acceleration Technologies is a €2.5 million program that aims to finance and support some fifteen digital startups in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on Western Africa, Central Africa and Madagascar. Cick here to read more →
About Miarakap
Miarakap is the first impact fund dedicated to the financing and support SMEs and start-ups in Madagascar. Managed by Emmanuel Cotsoyannis, Miarakap is the fourth African fund sponsored by Investisseurs & Partenaires as part of its program I&P Development 2. The network currently includes impact funds specialized in SME-financing in Niger (Sinergi Niger), Burkina Faso (Sinergi Burkina), in Senegal (Teranga Capital) and Côte d'Ivoire (Comoé Capital). Click here to visit Miarakap's website →
Teliman is the very first on-demand motorcycle-taxi service in Bamako, Mali. Teliman is co-directed by Hawa Traoré and Abdoulaye Maiga, two young and talented professionals from the Malian diaspora. The company's vision is to revolutionize intra-urban transport in West Africa.
Teliman offers city dwellers a faster, cheaper, safer and door-to-door mode of transport. It provides drivers with attractive working conditions (access to motorcycle ownership via leasing, income above the minimum wage, social security).
Teliman has succeeded in creating and introducing a Motorcycle Taxi offer that was previously non-existent in Bamako.
The consortium of investors include Yamaha, Mercy Corps and I&P through the program I&P Acceleration Technologies. This financing will mainly allow the acquisition of new motorcycles and the investment in IT and marketing.
The expansion plan should cover 15 countries with a fleet of more than 20,000 motorcycles.
⇒ Improving the drivers' living standards: job creation, remuneration above the minimum wage, social insurance, financial education, etc.
⇒ Improving mobility in large cities: time savings, cost savings, better accessibility
⇒ Tax revenues for cities
About &P Accélération Technologies
Launched in 2019 with the support of the French Development Agency through its iniative Digital Africa, I&P Acceleration Technologies is a €2.5 million program that aims to finance and support some fifteen digital startups in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on Western Africa, Central Africa and Madagascar. Cick here to read more →
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