I kid you not; I had come up with the exact same concept for a mobile application that recently won the +254 Rising Entrepreneurship Competition, shame on me for not taking action to implement it when I had the chance. Deliverus is the startup that took home the winning trophy on Tuesday night, after emerging as one of the top 5 finalists handpicked from a numerous 60 entries.
The winning startup idea; Deliverus is an app that deals with delivering common household items used on a day to day basis. It involves buying and delivery of goods from normal kiosks and grocers within a 5km radius of the user. The goods are then delivered by cyclers for a small fee. The prize is seed funding worth $5000, six months of incubation at iHub, and mentorship by Affinis Labs as support, while they attempt to launch the app by 2017.
The event was the second of its kind hosted by Kenya’s iHub, organised by US-based Affinis Labs and sponsored by financial services company Dahabshiil. The first was seen in Kamapala, resulting in the creation of five new businesses, some which have already entered the Kenyan Market.
This particular competition aims to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation among youth, a concept that was emphasized over and over again by sponsors and organizers of the event. “It has been an exciting event and we congratulate the winners as we are look forward to their launch in Nairobi! We hope to be back soon for more hackathons and startup prize competitions,” said Abdirashid Duale, CEO of Dahabshiil, “We believe in the power of entrepreneurship to dramatically change the socioeconomic landscape in Africa. Youth entrepreneurs, in particular, will be key drivers of innovation and future economic growth. What we have seen in the presentations at +254 Rising is clear testimony that the future of Kenya is in good hands.”
Affins Labs CTO and co-founder, Shahed Amanullah, also stated that, “As the world flattens in terms of technological ability, the true standout companies will leverage passion, creativity, and optimism… African startups possess all of these, in addition to competitive advantages in cost structure”
Future +254 Rising competitions will continue to partner with iHub as well as several other startup incubators to encourage local entrepreneurial talent and connect them to the African market and beyond.