This archive report was first published on 22 June 2020.
On a continent where mobile phones are the norm, a small Kenyan startup is making waves in the booming telecommunication industry with its affordable videoconferencing app, Gumzo.
Launched to cater to companies in Africa, Gumzo offers a weekly subscription of just $1, less than a third the price of Zoom's pro plan.
According to its creator, Jay Shapiro, Gumzo was designed to allow companies to spend their cash in Africa, rather than relying on international solutions.
"In Africa, it's a mobile-first continent, and so our platform had to work and work well on a variety of phone interfaces," Shapiro explained.
One of Gumzo's users, Ronald Mahondo, who runs an app-based taxi company, has already found the app useful for his meetings.
"No one really wants to move around. We have found ourselves using videoconferencing solutions. If you look at our team (in Gumzo), a small part comes to the office while the bigger part stays and works from home," Mahondo said.
Gumzo is entering a crowded market dominated by tech giants like Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, and Facebook Messenger, but Shapiro believes that the app's availability in multiple languages will set it apart.
"Our platforms are available in English and Swahili and French for Francophone Africa already. We are adding Zulu, Hausa and Pidgin in the next two weeks. We really want to be across the continent and reaching as many communities as we can in their local languages," Shapiro said.
