Mara Online, a family of online and mobile platforms that allow users to communicate, interact and collaborate with each other has been launched by Ugandan multi-millionaire and serial entrepreneur Ashish J. Thakkar.
Mara Online, which featured a chartered jet flying over Silicon Valley with a Mara banner with the inscription “It is Time For Africa,” currently has three applications that are all communication-focused.
Mara Messenger is an instant messaging platform facilitating real time communication via mobile and offers quick transmission of text-based messages and BuzzMe – an African social media network. It provides a new way for youth to meet and network across the continent and globally, via the Internet and on mobile. According to Thakkar, BuzzMe will be linked with the other applications and allow members to chat online using Mara Messenger and via VOIP on Mara Connect.
In a phone call with Thakkar, the young tycoon said he conceived the idea for Mara Online last year after founding Mara Mentor, a mentoring social network that connects young, budding entrepreneurs to established entrepreneurs
“Launching today, I am confident that Mara Connect will shake up the market and become the premier choice for connecting people in Africa and beyond, while reducing consumers’ costs for mobile communication.” Thakkar announced at TieCon.
