WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.529 [co-founder sterio.me - Christopher Prujsen - Startup Bus Africa] 00:00:01.529 --> 00:00:05.496 (Silvia Lombardo) Hi, I'm with one of the co-founders of Startup Bus Africa 00:00:05.496 --> 00:00:10.716 and, hi! Can you tell me how the Startup Bus Africa was started? 00:00:10.716 --> 00:00:12.773 (Christopher Prujsen) Yes. Hi everyone. 00:00:12.773 --> 00:00:17.014 I'm Christopher Prujsen and Startup Bus Africa was started over 6 months ago, 00:00:17.014 --> 00:00:22.159 when Magnus, the original co-founder of the Danish Startup Bus and myself 00:00:22.159 --> 00:00:25.253 who were involved in the UK Founder Bus, 00:00:25.641 --> 00:00:29.041 came together and "OK, let's start doing a bus in Africa, 00:00:29.481 --> 00:00:32.385 because there is much more potential there for real impact and change." 00:00:32.749 --> 00:00:34.301 And then we grew the team 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:38.653 and Fabian, from Germany, took the lead of the team. 00:00:38.653 --> 00:00:41.167 He is one of the co-founders of FounderBus originally in Germany 00:00:42.067 --> 00:00:45.057 and we grew a team with local partners in Zimbabwe and South Africa. 00:00:45.057 --> 00:00:49.171 It has been absolutely phenomenal to make Startup Bus Africa happen, 00:00:49.171 --> 00:00:50.600 and such a big success it was. 00:00:51.352 --> 00:00:54.276 (Lombardo) Can you tell us more about the team and also the entrepreneurs 00:00:54.276 --> 00:00:56.054 who took part in the bus? 00:00:56.276 --> 00:00:57.169 (Prujsen) Definitely yes! 00:00:57.169 --> 00:01:00.673 So our team included for example Francis in Zimbabwe 00:01:00.673 --> 00:01:04.783 who has done some really fantastic things there, including getting EcoNet, 00:01:04.783 --> 00:01:07.868 the largest [inaudible] company in the country, on board as a sponsor. 00:01:07.868 --> 00:01:11.946 And then Stuart Minnaar, who is a serial entrepreneur from South Africa 00:01:11.946 --> 00:01:15.721 and one of the [inaudible] Global Shapers who really helped us a lot 00:01:15.721 --> 00:01:20.020 in getting the [inaudible] on board and getting local accelerators in Cape Town to work. 00:01:20.020 --> 00:01:23.797 There is Elvis, who is the executive director of the eKasi entrepreneurs, 00:01:23.797 --> 00:01:25.847 who hosted us for our final event in Cape Town. 00:01:26.730 --> 00:01:29.921 (Lombardo) And which startups won in the end? 00:01:29.921 --> 00:01:32.847 (Prujsen) I guess [check] it was the Buspreneurs, an amazing bunch 00:01:32.847 --> 00:01:36.787 with 15 from the African continent and 15 from the rest of the world, 00:01:36.787 --> 00:01:38.865 and 8 startups to [inaudible]. 00:01:38.865 --> 00:01:42.513 Those startups include everything from healthcare, mobile and energy 00:01:42.513 --> 00:01:47.699 and the startups that won all are operating in industries that no one else is addressing at the moment, 00:01:47.699 --> 00:01:49.248 that would solve [check] real problems in Africa. 00:01:49.301 --> 00:01:50.668 So the winner is Workforce, 00:01:50.668 --> 00:01:54.981 which tackles the problem of unemployment in the construction work and market in Africa, 00:01:54.981 --> 00:01:59.726 where currently, you have lines of day workers lined up to get a day's work. 00:02:00.111 --> 00:02:01.653 Then you have Funeral.ly, 00:02:01.653 --> 00:02:04.409 which solves the problem of funeral management in Africa: 00:02:04.409 --> 00:02:07.099 everyone dies and everyone needs a funeral at some point. 00:02:07.099 --> 00:02:11.294 In Africa, often times people who have family members who pass away, 00:02:11.294 --> 00:02:14.191 they have to take big loans, which cripple the family, 00:02:14.191 --> 00:02:15.835 and they helped to solve that. 00:02:16.250 --> 00:02:19.276 And then you have Bribed.co, which is quite an interesting one. 00:02:19.276 --> 00:02:24.057 So what they do is an aggregation app for market data, 00:02:24.057 --> 00:02:27.060 about the amount of bribe you have to pay to get rid of an official 00:02:27.060 --> 00:02:27.975 in any given location, 00:02:27.975 --> 00:02:29.512 so you'll never have to bribe too much. 00:02:29.897 --> 00:02:33.451 (Lombardo) (laughs) So, that's quite funny, so it's like legalizing bribe, also. 00:02:33.451 --> 00:02:36.749 (Prujsen) A bit -- it's not exactly legalizing it, nor endorsing bribe. 00:02:36.749 --> 00:02:43.455 It's simply helping the briber to pay what's right to get rid of corrupt officials. 00:02:43.745 --> 00:02:45.597 (Lombardo) What does Sterio.me do? 00:02:45.974 --> 00:02:48.642 (Prujsen) For myself, I also developed a company under StartUp Bus 00:02:48.642 --> 00:02:52.832 with my two co-founders Danielle Reid who is now in Germany, is originally Australian: 00:02:52.832 --> 00:02:54.485 she's a fantastic designer - 00:02:54.712 --> 00:02:57.012 and Dean Rotherham who is originally from Johannesburg 00:02:57.012 --> 00:02:59.399 but now lives in Cape Town and runs an audio startup. 00:02:59.399 --> 00:03:03.151 And what our startup does - sterio.me - is run a mobile education server. 00:03:03.151 --> 00:03:06.944 We help the primary education market in Africa, 00:03:06.944 --> 00:03:08.886 so we help the teachers save time 00:03:08.886 --> 00:03:13.297 and the learners get access to more engaging content via audio, 00:03:13.297 --> 00:03:16.463 that's accessible to any [inaudible] phone 00:03:16.463 --> 00:03:18.008 so you can just use an old [inaudible] Nokia. 00:03:18.008 --> 00:03:21.068 Now how it works is, the teacher, he records a lesson 00:03:21.068 --> 00:03:23.031 or selects one from our Sterio marketplace. 00:03:23.031 --> 00:03:25.285 The lessons are over (check) in 10 minutes, including 5 questions. 00:03:25.285 --> 00:03:28.526 We call them "Sterio" and the promise is learning out loud. 00:03:28.526 --> 00:03:31.777 So, then the teacher gives the student an SMS code 00:03:31.777 --> 00:03:35.329 and the student SMSes this code to us and [inaudible] seconds later, 00:03:35.329 --> 00:03:36.592 we give them a call back. 00:03:36.592 --> 00:03:41.989 And in that call, the students will hear the teacher give the children questions 00:03:41.989 --> 00:03:45.384 and with a click of a button, they can answer those questions 00:03:45.384 --> 00:03:48.519 and in real time, the teacher gets the feedback and the analytics of that. 00:03:48.519 --> 00:03:51.134 The teacher can also track the student's performance over time. 00:03:51.134 --> 00:03:54.392 And therefore, it really tackles several problems at the same time: 00:03:54.392 --> 00:03:58.037 it tackles the problem of not having necessarily books available for home work, 00:03:58.037 --> 00:04:01.111 the teachers not having time to distribute, collect and assess 00:04:01.111 --> 00:04:03.041 all the homework individually, for every student. 00:04:03.949 --> 00:04:06.385 Sometimes, parents could be illiterate: 00:04:06.385 --> 00:04:09.386 Even in South Africa, the CIA World Factbook says that 00:04:09.386 --> 00:04:12.208 17% of the women over the age of 15 are illiterate. 00:04:12.208 --> 00:04:16.540 These parents could help their children with the audio learning in sterio, 00:04:16.540 --> 00:04:17.961 because it's in local languages. 00:04:17.961 --> 00:04:22.396 And also, it tackles the problem of not having internet access, that work -- 00:04:22.396 --> 00:04:25.020 you know, is required for resources like Khan Academy. 00:04:25.494 --> 00:04:28.500 So, that's Sterio.me, really: a social enterprise -- 00:04:28.529 --> 00:04:29.723 (Lombardo) And the service is free. 00:04:29.723 --> 00:04:32.627 (Prujsen) It's free for teachers, it's free for the learners. 00:04:32.627 --> 00:04:38.886 We monetize by a different route, which is value ad messaging from NGOs, 00:04:38.886 --> 00:04:42.889 for example, you know, when the learner is listening to a message, 00:04:42.889 --> 00:04:45.709 they are listening to their lesson, they are in an education mindset. 00:04:45.709 --> 00:04:51.197 So, within that education mindset, we can offer 30 seconds of a 10-minute lesson to -- 00:04:51.197 --> 00:04:53.038 for example the World Health Organization, 00:04:53.038 --> 00:04:56.249 who wants to spread a message about the use of malaria nets 00:04:56.249 --> 00:05:02.191 or who wants to spread a message that is AIDS-prevention related 00:05:02.191 --> 00:05:04.458 or medicines-interrelated (check). 00:05:05.230 --> 00:05:06.625 (Lombardo) And that would be in the local language? 00:05:07.135 --> 00:05:10.671 (Prujsen) In the local language or in English, depending on what the teachers, you know, 00:05:10.671 --> 00:05:12.460 decide the lesson should be in. 00:05:12.813 --> 00:05:15.875 So teachers could do their lessons in any language they want, really. 00:05:15.875 --> 00:05:19.291 (Lombardo) And why did you decide to go on the mobile routes? 00:05:20.464 --> 00:05:25.943 (Prujsen) Mobile, because -- mobile is the present and, I think, also the future in Africa. 00:05:25.943 --> 00:05:28.956 Mobile penetration in Africa is over 80%, 00:05:28.956 --> 00:05:31.511 the rise of smartphones is also phenomenal, 00:05:31.511 --> 00:05:33.651 data is getting cheaper and cheaper. 00:05:33.651 --> 00:05:36.695 Here in the Western world, we see everything migrate to mobile 00:05:36.695 --> 00:05:38.468 but in Africa, it has already migrated to mobile, 00:05:38.468 --> 00:05:43.174 they've skipped the whole browser part where they had their desktop at home 00:05:43.174 --> 00:05:49.654 and in Africa, people do payments, people do learning, people do the health care, 00:05:49.654 --> 00:05:52.488 people do so many different things via mobile, 00:05:52.488 --> 00:05:54.259 more so than in the Western world. 00:05:54.259 --> 00:05:56.489 And really, also, it's that access thing. 00:05:56.489 --> 00:06:01.243 Not everyone has access to a computer, but everyone has access, somehow, to a [inaudible] phone: 00:06:01.243 --> 00:06:03.466 an old Nokia [inaudible - break?], etc. 00:06:03.466 --> 00:06:07.461 (Lombardo) And how did you select the other startups on this bus (check)? 00:06:07.461 --> 00:06:09.926 (Prujsen) Everyone was selected as an individual. 00:06:09.926 --> 00:06:12.218 We had over 200 applications, 00:06:12.218 --> 00:06:14.183 and in the end we selected only 30. 00:06:14.183 --> 00:06:16.935 So, 15 from Africa, 15 from the rest of the world 00:06:16.935 --> 00:06:20.307 and then they formed the teams themselves. 00:06:20.728 --> 00:06:22.039 (Lombardo) Thank you! 00:06:22.085 --> 00:06:23.160 (Prujsen) Thank you!