Hilda Moraa, a 26-year-old Kenyan woman, is one of the founding partners of Weza Tele Limited, which was acquired by AFB for 154 million Kenyan shillings.
Her company, Weza Tele, provides value-added mobility solutions in commerce, supply chain, distribution, and mobile payment integration. These solutions are used in several countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria.
Background and Education ¶
Ms. Moraa graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Information Technology from Strathmore University. She has published and written numerous research papers and journals on ICT, development, and entrepreneurship, and recently wrote a book.
During the GES Summit, which was attended by President Barack Obama at U.N Gigiri, Kenyans and business leaders from around the world listened to her story of success and failure.
Entrepreneurial Journey ¶
According to her account, Weza Tele Ltd was born out of a project she worked on during her undergraduate studies at Strathmore University. The idea for the project came to her when she was working as a data analyst at a large global beverage and distribution company.
She saw the challenges they faced within their distribution systems, so she conducted market research and documented those challenges, then decided to develop an ordering solution prototype as her final year project.
The prototype scored an 'A' and won the top prize at the 2011 Mobile BootCamp. After graduation, she decided to develop the idea further beyond a school project.
She met her co-founders, Sam Kitonyi and Newton Kitonga, at iHub, a local innovation hub for the technology community, and Nailab, a local business incubator. Together, they founded Weza Tele Limited, with a shared vision to address the daily inefficiencies faced by small and medium fast-moving consumer goods distributors.
