Africa, Solving it's Problems One App at a Time!

While most app developers are working on new games and better graphics, African apps are taking on the continents problems. People like 26 year old, Amos Gichamba are developing applications to help farmers avoid scams. Gichamba grew up on a dairy farm in Kenya. He says milk buyers exploited farmers, paying them far less than their milk was worth at a dairy company. Farmers did not know the rates charged by other farmers or how much their milk was really worth to dairy companies. They also had no way of  knowing when to increase or decrease production. Without this information, farmers were being scammed out of much needed profits.

To help tackle this problem, Gichamba developed an app that allows farmers to text in questions about the local dairy market. The questions are analyzed by a computer. The computer then uses a database of information about the dairy market to answer the question.

Gichamba is just one of many new app developers in Africa. These innovators are taking advantage of the growing mobile phone market to help others. According to a 2009 International Telecommunication Union report, 28 percent of Africans have a mobile phone subscription. In contrast, only 5 percent of people there use the internet. The number of mobile phone subscription is growing by about 50 percent each year. That makes it one of the best ways to connect people and share information.

Jessica Colaco believes mobile phones are the best way to start social change in Africa.  Colaco is a 27 year old mobile developer and a researcher at Strathmore University in Nairobi, Kenya. She has started a boot camp to help teach app development. So far the camp has taught 200 people and Colaco says she plans to teach many more.

Applications are already helping African farmers and directing aid to people in trouble, but developers are just getting started. There are plenty of problems to face and this latest group of developers are stepping up to the challenge.


Written by: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin - Creative Director, Mindshift Media