Last night, Desmond Mongwe’s moWallet won the R1 million first prize of the #Hack.Jozi Challenge. In this interview, he spoke about his startup, thee competition among others.
Describe your product and services: At moWallet we develop a digital marketing solution for retail brands to connect with customers, solutions to distribute and deliver social products to the citizens of the country who are in need. All solutions are based on USSD mobile technology and social media platform.
What differentiates and makes you unique? moWallet offers white label solutions, meaning that a client can place their branding on top of the underlying solution from moWallet. Our development methodology is based on Agile. We are very strong on customer validation, customer-centric and producing minimum viable product to validate the business requirements from the client.
moWallet is an ICT startup company. All our solutions are designed, implemented and crafted using open source technology. Solutions are hosted in IBM Bluemix cloud to enable auto scaling, and the platforms to deliver solutions to the clients are very basic, yet powerful. Sixty million registered cellphones in the country all support the USSD platform that we use to deliver services.
What need would you like to fill (include how you got the idea if relevant)? With PopApp Deals Solution, our aim is to disrupt, innovate and change the delivery and distribution channels of discounts, incentives, vouchers, food parcels and social products.
Describe your solution in one or two lines: PopApp Deals – White label Digital Marketing solution enables retail brands to offer that little incentive to loyal customers to move their products off the shelves.
Anything interesting about you or your team (background/skills/experience):
Desmond Mongwe is the founder and Chief Technical Officer at moWallet. He has 12 years’ experience as a Java developer in the ICT industry. moWallet has won first prize at the first Start-Up Weekend Soweto 2014, 4th runner-up in GAP ICT Awards 2014. Currently moWallet is part of the Maxum programme (Incubation) at Innovation Hub Pretoria.
Management team with titles:
Desmond Mongwe – Founder and Chief Technical Officer
Thato Selau – Graphic Designer
Carol Dutton – Business Development Manager
Give your comments about Hack Jozi Challenge and your experience: Hack Jozi Challenge was fun but very challenging. It also provided a great networking platform to share ideas. We were introduced to IBM Bluemix cloud, and are looking forward to establishing a relationship with City of Johannesburg to deliver social products to community members who are in need of such solutions.
