Meltwater Start-ups at Launch Conference 2011

The Meltwater Business Incubator officially opened in Sept 2010, and for almost all the start-ups in it, 2011 looked promising and challenging as well. We were excited to learn from management that we had been invited by Jason Calacanis, to be a part of Launch 2011 (formerly TechCrunch 50).

A great part of the Meltwater training program involves preparing the trainees for the global market and the culture of pitching one's idea to investors and other interested individuals either in an 'elevator pitch' style or with more detailed Powerpoint presentation. This opportunity was therefore a good one for us, since it offered us the chance to put into practice what had been learnt in the 2-year MEST training program.

At the Launch Conference that took place in San Francisco on Feb 23rd and 24th, 2011, Streemio, Retailtower and NandiMobile were the tech-companies from Africa rubbing shoulders with other start-ups from US, Europe and Asia. For some of us, that was our very first time in the US, nonetheless, we were prepared to deliver nothing but our very best. All three companies from the Meltwater incubator offered world class software and technologies that targeted different markets and focused on serving different customers;

• Streemio is a mobile music streaming service providing on-demand access to music on the go.

• Retail Tower provides software solutions to online retailers, allowing them to manage their inventory across multiple channels from one platform.

• NandiMobile focuses on delivering technologies that enable businesses to leverage the high mobile penetration in Africa to provide better customer relationships.

At the conference we got the opportunity to present our business ideas to over 1,500 attendees, got very good feedback from experienced and successful software entrepreneurs and of course we didn't miss the opportunity to added more contacts to our every-growing network entrepreneurs.

In the end, NandiMobile got the opportunity to present its Gripeline service on stage after which the grand jury awarded the company with the ''Best Bussiness Award'' in the Launch Pad division. This is a success story we are glad to share with other tech-start-ups, from Africa especially. With this, we hope we have added more credence to what the founder and CEO of Meltwater, Jorn Lyseggen likes to say - ''With the right amount of support, guidance and encouragement, ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things”.

Meltwater Foundation Startup Nandimobile Named “Best Business” at LAUNCH Conference

ACCRA – March 7, 2011 – Nandimobile Ltd, a technology startup co-founded by three graduates of theMeltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), was granted the “Best Business” award at theLAUNCH Conference in San Francisco, where more than 100 startups from around the world presented and debuted their products and services.

Nandimobile, located in Accra, Ghana, provides mobile solutions for customer support and marketing. The company was founded in July 2010 by Edward Tagoe, Anne Amuzu and Michael Dakwa, and is supported by the Meltwater Foundation, which is funded by the Meltwater Group. Nandimobile’s on-demand Software as a Service suite, Nandiclient, arms businesses with tools for delivering customer support and information services to mobile phones of customers through SMS and WAP channels. The suite includes a customer support service, Gripeline, and a marketing service, Infoline.

“The judges thought Gripeline was elegant and solved a real problem,” said Jason Calacanis, founder of LAUNCH. “Every mobile phone has the ability to text, but not every restaurant or store has the ability to easily receive them. It was refreshing to see a solution that wasn’t based on a developer spending $75,000 to build an iPhone app that required five steps to use – not to mention a $1,500 commitment a year from consumers.”

“We are honored to receive this award and that we had the opportunity to showcase our product at the LAUNCH Conference,” said Anne Amuzu, chief executive officer of Nandimobile. “We are eager to continue to perfect our offering and build our customer base in Africa and internationally.”

“Sometimes people speak of SMS as a lesser platform but I actually think it’s the ideal platform for this service because it’s global,” said Chris Sacca, venture investor and company advisor to Nandimobile at the LAUNCH Conference. “I think people who have attempted this concept have made it too complicated with separate apps and platforms, and I think SMS is exactly the way to do it. Excellent.”

“Nandimobile’s recognition at last week’s LAUNCH Conference further exemplifies the talent and potential of MEST graduates,” said Jorn Lyseggen, CEO and founder of Meltwater Group. “Meltwater is proud to continue to support the ventures of young African entrepreneurs like Nandimobile.”

About MEST

The Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology is a non-profit training and mentoring program created to help young Africans to become software entrepreneurs. Founded in 2008, MEST aims to provide its students with the skills required to establish software companies in the global marketplace and thereby creating jobs and wealth locally in Africa.

Students receive two years of fully sponsored training in software development, business fundamentals and entrepreneurship. MEST also administrates an incubator and a seed fund dedicated to help the MEST graduates convert their business ideas into viable companies in the global marketplace. The MEST program is fully funded by the Meltwater Foundation. For more information, please visit http://www.meltwater.org/

About Meltwater Foundation

The Meltwater Foundation is the non-profit arm of Meltwater Group. Since its start in January 2007, it has launched the MEST program (Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology) in Accra, Ghana, dedicated to the encouragement and training of budding African software entrepreneurs. The Meltwater Foundation is fully funded by the Meltwater Group. For more information, please visit http://www.meltwater.org/about/

About Meltwater Group

The Meltwater Group is a privately held software company founded in Norway in 2001, serving more than 18,000 clients through 55 offices located across North America, South America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia. Meltwater is committed to challenging existing business models by introducing disruptive technologies.? The Meltwater Group delivers B2B solutions based on search engine technology, cloud computing and talent management software. For more information, please visit http://www.meltwater.com.

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Contacts:

Amma Baffoe

Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology

+233 (0)20 201 4363

amma.baffoe@meltwater.org

Another reason to take blogging seriously

Some weeks ago my attention was drawn to an interview on BBC. BBC's Jonathan Frewin was interviewing Jason Calacanis, one of the first people to commercialize blogging. I was particularly interested in this interview because of how Jason sold his blogs just after 18months for an amount of $35million.

Jason together with a partner founded Weblog, a network of blogs. The success of this project perhaps should motivate bloggers all over the world (including me) to take blogging more seriously, who knows, something fruitful might come out of it one day. Start a blog today and do well to join the Ghana bloggers association to get more inspiration.

He believes in surrounding himself with eager young people who want to make it big. Jason is currently angel investing in start-ups in the US .

Credit: Picture was taken from technorati.com