The African Diaspora Marketplace contest recently awarded $50,000 to $100,000 to 14 immigrants to the United States from African countries to help them start or expand businesses in Africa. Some of them share how they plan to use the money on the New Enterprise blog.
With the newly developed highway infrastructure and high accident rates, road transportation is a major challenge in Ethiopia. I believe our company – Global Telecommunications PLC – can help improve the efficiency and safety of road transportation by deploying a fleet management system based on the global positioning system (GPS) and related technologies.
The fleet management system implementation will have a positive impact on business and commerce by helping to move agricultural and industrial products to the intended destinations on more reliable schedules and at lower costs. Our two-year old firm will help freight companies manage their operations, and this, in turn, will help their clients improve management of their supply chains. The monitoring and tracking of the fleets across the country will allow their owners and operators to monitor fuel expenses and other costs, more accurately plan fleets’ operations, maximize the use of those fleets while keeping the vehicles safe and reliable, and extend the life of the vehicles.
When we began, we saw inadequate telecom infrastructure as a main obstacle. But the speed at which the country is catching up in this regard has surprised us. In the last six months, a third generation wireless system, which covers 85 percent of the country, was rolled out. To provide 100-percent coverage within Ethiopia as well as globally, we partnered with a Canadian satellite company to get a backup for our operations where the network of the terrestrial general packet radio service (GPRS), a mobile data service, is unavailable.
Initially, after a series of presentations, only few potential clients expressed any interest. But since we opened the office in Addis Ababa and started a pilot project with up to 30 vehicles the interest has grown significantly. My sister Elizabeth Dagne, who is my Ethiopian partner and has experience in the transportation sector, helped recruit potential clients too.
We also see potential markets in the tourism, rental car, and the oil and mineral exploration sectors. For example, a personal tracker service can help rental car companies establish the location of the victims of car crashes and alert emergency services. We are launching the promotion of the personal tracker in late March with free trials.
As a result of our win in the African Diaspora Marketplace competition, we have received inquiries from other contestants about possible partnerships in the countries they start their ventures. Given that our system was developed to work globally, the potential of such ventures is huge. Our plan is to use grant money to finance the launch of new services and buy additional equipment.