Kenyan APP Developer wins prize by INMOBI to further education

Moses Kemibaro, Nivi Mukherjee and Jisas Lemasagarai

The winning app was eLimu, the founder Nivi Mukherjee says “eLimu hopes to make a significant and positive long term impact on the Kenyan youth by improving their: test scores, cognitive thinking skills, social/environmental consciousness and IT literacy.”

The App Developer contest held by Mobile Web East Africa, and sponsored by InMobi and Blackberry saw five developers pitch their Apps.

Part of the prize that eLimu was awarded is $1500 worth of advertising on the InMobi network, the largest independent network mobile advertising network. Moses Kemibaro, Africa Sales Director for InMobi says “we hope this prize will assist in growing the eLimu app, and as a result furthering education in Kenya”.

A brief overview of the five applications:

• Verified 100%: an app that allows users to verify education certificates and title deeds to ensure authenticity.
• Hewa: an online mobile music marketing and distribution platform for Kenyan local artists and record labels.
• Eat Out Kenya: a contemporary restaurant guide focused on Kenya.
• mPayer: a cash and mobile money payment management app
• eLimu: an interactive, engaging and fun app for children in the Kenyan Primary School education system to learn and revise for exams.

App development offers a huge opportunity for the African continent, providing a new platform for enterpreneurs to grow, and in turn providing employment prospects. Isis Nyong’o, VP and MD of Africa for InMobi says “The success of apps is linked directly to discoverability, utility and cost. One key challenge for developers is how to effectively distribute their app to the right target market. InMobi acknowledges this and enables developers to reach their target market in a cost-effective manner through our mobile advertising network.”