BRafr-September2017

TECHNOLOGY
a taxi hailing app business: Mondo
Ride, 2016 also saw investment in
a hyperlocal search and discovery
platform -Oliza, and a platform
aggregator for golfers – Golflan
. Recently, i3 has been evaluating
investments in speech recognition
technology enabling companies to
support in growing BPO business
followed by collaboration in the
field of chat bots; thus, leveraging
the power of natural language
processing and Artificial Intelligence.
The process of selecting these
companies is no different to any large
company investing in a start-up.
For Awtaney, the differentiator
is in one simple question.
“How can we add value to this
company, which in turn will add
value to Africa?” he says. “We have
a very significant presence in 25
African countries, so we look at
how these companies can benefit
from that significant platform.”
Smart investing
One particular start-up
that the company has
invested in is a ride hailing
service called Mondo Ride
, in Kenya. With Uber already
operating in Nairobi, Mondo will
utilise the infrastructure and support
of iSON Group as a platform on
which it can build through its
unique business model that aims
at the corporate world of Kenya.
Mondo has signed around 40
transport rights contracts with
several organisations, including
The Kenya commercial bank. These
corporate employees will also use
Mondo for personal requirements.
This is the added value that iSON
Group seeks out in start-ups. Through
investment and infrastructure
support, iSON can enable Mondo to
scale and expand beyond Kenya.
“We feel that once Mondo is
successful and gets its big business
www.isongrp.com 77