Hoovi, a location based media platform which lets people know what’s happening where they are by leveraging on location technology to deliver content to the right target population has launched today to ensure Kenyans get the right information and deals which are both relevant and useful to them.
“Through this we are actually able to help businesses and organizations reach their intended target market in real time and our users are actually able to select the most important locations they would like to receive notifications from and their interests ensuring that they don’t miss out on anything which may be important to them,”said its founder Onsongo Moseti.
The Android app has a web interface that allows users to download the app, select their geographical locations and areas of of interest such as their home area i.e. Buruburu and while topics of interest might include categories such as events, entertainment, food and dining. Users will then get notifications based on their selected interests and location.
The real-time notifications are customized uniquely by interest and one’s geographical location. This means anybody from any place across Kenya will get notifications they can relate to i.e. if one lives in Eldoret, deals or service notifications they will receive will be from Eldoret and in real time. The same applies to any region across the country ensuring relevance of content.
“Businesses/organizations sign up with us through the website where they are able to create content and push the content to any place or region in the country and in real time,”said Moseti, an Economics and sociology graduate from Egerton University who says was inspired to solve issue he had with utility companies Kenya Power and Eldoret Water Company in Eldoret, his hometown.
“Whenever there were blackouts we were usually caught unawares without notice from these companies about it, only to be told that it was in the papers,” he said. “How was I to know? So I thought if there could be a system that these guys could use to tell us of these impending disruptions, it would quite be useful and that is how the idea was born. From just that problem with the utility companies we decided to build a product that cuts across industries because it was a dominant problem all over.”
Hoovi aims to make through embedded ads, subscriptions and pushed notifications by businesses. Hoovi has a version for the general public who the firm believes will immensely benefit from this service ensuring they know what is happening where they are in real time.
The second target is companies and organizations and government with the need to reach their target population/customers which include dining avenues such as hotels, restaurants, utility companies such as water companies and Kenya power, shopping outlets, government organizations such as the police.
