They are affectionately called the Oscars of the African information and communication technology (ICT) world.
On Saturday night at the Dome in Johannesburg, the most outstanding African ICT companies, people and projects will be honoured at the African ICT Achievers Awards 2004.
Manobi, a company from Senegal, is one of the nominees in the category of most innovative ICT company.
Daniel Annerose, CEO of Manobi, will not be nervous.
“I am only nervous when it comes to my clients. I always want them to be happy with our product. I am not nervous for things like this,” he told the Mail & Guardian Online this week.
Manobi
“Manobi aims at fighting poverty through modern technology. I experienced that the impact of liberalisation and globalisation on small African farmers is enormous.
“They cannot compete in that market if they do not have access to certain information or to the data that their competitors have.
“Manobi wants to provide low-cost innovative services within the sector of telecommunications and the internet. By doing so, we want to contribute to the social and economical development of people.”
The company has developed what it calls a multi-channel service platform, which comprises software and hardware containing all the elements needed to access different services, such as internet, SMS and WAP.
An African farmer in Senegal can use his cellphone to check the market price for his crops and thus be in a good negotiating position when it comes to selling these crops.
He can even check what European or American importers would pay.
“Through this system, we are creating a platform where all parties concerned with business transactions can find each other and interact — not only on information concerning price of stock. It also is a platform where business relationships can be built and ideas exist.
“The secret of Manobi is that we try to keep the costs to a minimum for our customers. Because we have a large group of small farmers and fishermen using our services, we can offer them low costs.
“But some of our clients are big companies that will pay a lot more money, because they use our services a lot more.”
Challenge
“Manobi is a game the children play in Senegal. If I say I will jump over that fountain, then you will have to do the same. It is a game of challenges and therefore we chose that name for our company,” Annerose said.
The biggest challenge for Annerose right now is expanding Manobi into a pan-African company. And if he wins an “Oscar” on Saturday, it will help him achieve that goal.
“We are looking for partners and investors, and an award like this would help tremendously to find them. We would really like to launch the Manobi programme in South Africa.”