Pivot East is this year’s edition of the region’s premier mobile apps / developer competition conference held successfully in 2011 under the name Pivot 25. It will culminate in a pitching conference on 5th and 6th June 2012.
The competition has five categories, each with five finalists pitching to a rich audience for a 10,000USD prize money per category winner.
Pivot is an m:lab initiative to bring focus on the Mobile developer and entrepreneur community in East Africa. This year’s theme is Innovation and Enterprise.
The ticket price is Kshs 7,300 and can be purchased in a number of ways.
Here are the finalists in each category:
BUSINESS AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT CATEGORY
Get-it! App
An App that Facilitates restaurant goers to know the location of restaurants on the go. By Sail Ltd
Dairy Sacco App
A mobile credit tool on agricultural cooperatives that provide inputs and merchandise to their members on credit against produce deliveries. By Infocentra Ltd
SMS Offline and Online virtual Market place
A platform that integrates money transfer and delivery of goods and services. By Bei Nafuu Ltd
Easy Order
SMS based ordering and supply chain management application that simplifies the way customers order for goods from manufacturers and distributors. By Easy Order Operations
SMS Based Health Insurance Members Verification
Verification system for health insurance of members when they go to access services at hospitals.By Multics Systems Co.Ltd
TUBET
Enables users especially football fans to place and collect bets. By Squad Digital Ltd
Ma3racer
A racing game set on the busy Nairobi highways. By Planet Rackus Ltd
Mingle
A chat app by Dotideas Technology Ltd
Angry Kenyans
A satirical mobile game aimed at mocking the Villains in the daily life of Kenyans by Xema Labs Ltd
Tough Jungle
An action game app with an African jungle setting by Elan Telemedia Ltd
MPrep
An SMS-based study solution for students, teachers, and schools by M-Prep Ltd
eLimu
An ed-tech initiative that is focused on Primary School education by Elimu Foundation
StorySpaces
A digital storytelling portal by The Kuyu Project
mpoultry
Brooder poultry monitoring using a mobile phone by MLFocus (U) Ltd
Sarura
An application which provides weather updates and agricultural advice to farmers by Osca Connect Ltd
Crowdpesa
Location based service that enables its users to find the nearest Financial and Retail services. By Space Kenya Networks Ltd.
Mafuta Go
Helps users find the nearest fuel stations with the prices and Services that best suit their needs, by AppsDivision Ltd
6ix degrees
A system that allows users to back up all their contacts and later restore them when need arises, by Binary Science Ltd
mTracker
An app that enables users manage security of their possessions by Fomobi Solutions
m-verified
An application for Verification of documents legitimacy by Mobilab Ltd
MobiKash
A mobile commerce platform that is agnostic to mobile network operators by MobiKash Afrika Limited
mCollector
An App based on the use of Mobile Money to send bulk payment from a group to the MFI by Software Group Ke Ltd
Pay4Us
An App that unites mobile money and micro-finance by offering financial collaboration by Zege Technologies Ltd
SchoolBursar
Streamlines the process of receiving and managing payments at schools through M-Pesa by Fomobi Solutions
Chamapro
A platform that helps informal financial self-help groups and savings clubs digitize their information management and record keeping by Bityarn Consult Company Ltd
None of these ideas are new! Ideas are really worth nothing, it’s the action that counts. They are all good ideas, but they must be nurtured and there must be a business case for each. How the idea will be pitched to the judges will also matter a lot in selecting the eventual winner of USD 10,000 per category.
The winners of Pivot 25 last year were incubated at mLab, where in a year’s time they should have results to show for it. Have they? Did mLab carry out an audit of its ‘incubatees’ to see how well they are doing? Will this be discussed at Pivot East in two weeks time? We need to learn from the last year and see how we can improve this year. I’d like to see at least one success story present at this year’s Pivot East. Or 5 success stories!
mshop.co.ke
M-Shop was one of the apps that won last year. It is a utility app for buying bus, movie, event tickets among others. Guess what? It is currently selling Pivot East tickets!
Get the app by going to mshop.co.ke/download and try it out today!
You can also follow the app on twitter @mshopKenya and like the Facebook Page for updates and offers.
Savvy Kenya in Japan 