Nigeria Makes Final List in Most Scalable Startups Category at ITU

Emma Okonji

Dropque, one of the six technology startups that were sponsored by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to this year’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) conference in Durban, South Africa, made the final list of three in the category of Most Scalable Startups.

Other startups from Nigeria that pitched with startups from other countries of the world, included PrepClassNG, Zenafri, VoguePay, FarmCrowdy and WeSabi.

Dropque, which made the finalist in the category of Most Scalable Startups, was recognised at global conference.
Product Lead at Dropque, Mr. Yinka Akinbobola, who received the global recognition on behalf of his team, said the solution called Dropque, was designed to address employment selection process for job recruitment. According to him, due to high level of unemployment and a rapidly growing population in emerging markets, there is an enormous inflow of applications, making it difficult in recruiting the best candidates for the job.

The Dropque solution is Africa’s first interactive and intelligent talent exchange. It uses crisp candidate profile, unassisted video interviews and artificial intelligence (AI) to help companies find talent faster than ever, save money and make better hiring decisions.

“Dropque has an ambitious goal to transform the way interviews are done globally. Although we are beginning from Nigeria, we are focused on improving the experiences of job seekers, SMEs, corporations and governments. On the supply side, we are attracting job seekers and enabling them present themselves in more interactive ways,” Akinbobola said.

“In Africa, we aspire to reach between 10 and 15 million job seekers over the next few years. On the demand side, we are eliminating the frustration that hiring managers face when looking for and interviewing talent, as well as reduce communication bottlenecks inside and outside the enterprise when filling positions,”Akinbobola added.

PrepClassNG, one of the startups that represented Nigeria at the ITU, is an innovative platform that connects African learners with local tutors who provide the highest quality of education to help the learners achieve their learning goals. In a market with over 30 million learners, PrepClass provides a means for students to connect with professional tutors through its website

Prepclass also has a mobile app with numerous locally relevant educational videos created by professional teachers across Nigeria.

Prepclass was founded by Obanor Chukwuwezam and Ogunlana Olumide and is backed by a 25-man team dedicated to changing education across Africa.

Zenafri, another startup solution, simplifies learning for African children and young adults by creating mobile applications and video content that teach children in their native languages and in contexts they understand. It also teaches children across the world about Africa’s culture, history, languages and heritage.

VoguePay is another startup solution that was designed as a payment processor and aggregator that makes multi-channel and cross-currency transactions safer, cheaper and more accessible for businesses and consumers in Africa and across continents.

Farmcrowdy, one of the startups that represented Nigeria at this year’s ITU global conference, is Nigeria’s first digital agriculture platform that connects small scale farmers across Nigeria with access to finance sourced from individuals and corporates. It equips the small-scale farmers with know-how of sustainable and highly efficient farming practices and ultimately assist farmers to achieve bumper harvest, and prepare them for trading within their locality.