IProcure, an online electronic procurement platform that connects suppliers to sellers online to make the bidding and tendering process transparent emerged among third top startups at the Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) Startup Boot Camp – East Africa.
Stefano Carcoforo and Mohamed Gharib Mazrui the co-founders of IProcure took home a Bronze Award of Excellence after they came behind Tanzanian Arnold Minde of Safari Yetu at first place and Isaac Urio of AIM Vault of Tanzania at second place.
The event held May 7 – 8, 2013 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, invited entrepreneurs from the region and took them through raising funds from banks, friends, family, VC’s or selling their products. GIST has helped entrepreneurs in over 40 countries across the Middle East, Turkey, Asia and Africa by identifying, coaching, and funding the most promising technology entrepreneurs via competitions, start-up acceleration, online social media platform and interactive mentorship programs. It also forges partnerships among technology entrepreneurs, investors, mentors and experts, locally and globally for human developement.
Founded last year, the online electronic procurement platform expectats to connect SMEs to a base of domestic and foreign buyers. It also wants to enable regional and international business buyers to source for goods and services from regional and local service providers in various industries.
With verified local suppliers on site, the platform does more than just connect the buyers and sellers. The team say that once a buyer issues a procurement notice for goods or services, pre-screened suppliers registered on IProcure platform receive it and submit a proposal to the buyer via the system. The buyer then decides who has the best offer or follows their own preference.
IProcure team says: ‘Our objective is to facilitate and encourage local procurement, in Kenya, by providing a secure and functional platform where businesses and Institutional buyers can connect to and source goods and services from a base of reliable pre-screened vendors.”
It also adds that e-procurement in the country will increase and ensure bidding and tender award process are open and fraud free.
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IProcure aims at helping buyers procure goods or services minus administrative costs, lower transactional costs, from reliable suppliers and probably eliminate collusion and fraud between suppliers. It also allows buyers to monitor the entire procurement process and compare all the proposals received, and the more one uses the more the supplier networks they get.
Sellers on the other hand receive email and sms alerts from buyers looking for their products and services. Can target buyers actively searching for their products or services ad they can advertise their products and services directly to buyers.
The founders say theirs is a quick, easy and fair tendering process open for the public and private sector and complete with Local Purchase Orders, buyer metrics and stock management capabilities.
