ForgetMeNot Africa
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

ForgetMeNot Africa was created in 2009, when ForgetMeNot Software joined forces with
investment company An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under th ...
Lonzim Plc to create ForgetMeNot Africa, a subsidiary that's solely focused on providing unified messaging and
financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...
in Africa, and began deploying its technology on the continent that same year, in
Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...
. Lonzim Plc owns 51% of ForgetMeNot Africa and ForgetMeNot Software own the remainder of the company. ForgetMeNot Africa works with
telecommunication companies A telecommunications company is a kind of electronic communications service provider, more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications access. Many t ...
to offer unified messaging services, such as email and
online chat Online chat is any direct text-, audio- or video-based (webcams), one-on-one or one-to-many ( group) chat (formally also known as synchronous conferencing), using tools such as instant messengers, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), talkers and possi ...
via standard mobile phones. It sees the
market opportunity A market analysis studies the attractiveness and the dynamics of a special market within a special industry. It is part of the industry analysis and thus in turn of the global environmental analysis. Through all of these analyses the strengths, ...
as the 3.5 billion mobile subscribers in the
developing world A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreeme ...
who could use any SMS capable mobile phone to send email and chat online without needing to upgrade or download any new applications onto their device. Ben Rhodes.


Products and technology

ForgetMeNot Africa's core product is eTXT which runs on the Message Optimiser platform allowing
telecommunication companies A telecommunications company is a kind of electronic communications service provider, more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications access. Many t ...
, enterprises and
social networks A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of meth ...
to offer their users two way interaction on social media sites, as well as by email,
instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of synchronous computer-mediated communication involving the immediate ( real-time) transmission of messages between two or more parties over the Internet or another computer network. Originally involv ...
(IM) via SMS from and to any mobile phone regardless of its make or model. ForgetMeNot Africa's Message Optimiser platform was awarded 'Best Innovation in a Mobile First Market' at the Meffys in July 2011, and won the 'Innovation in Messaging' award at the 160 Characters Mobile Messaging awards in June 2011. African
Mobile Network Operator A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a mobile network provider, mobile network carrier, mobile , wireless service provider, wireless carrier, wireless operator, wireless telco, or cellular company, is a telecommunications provider of se ...
s using ForgetMeNot Africa's eTXTing platform enable their subscribers to send and receive eTXT messages as an SMS, an email or online chat. eTXT bridges the gap between PCs and mobile orientated messaging without ever needing to have a PC or
Internet access Internet access is a facility or service that provides connectivity for a computer, a computer network, or other network device to the Internet, and for individuals or organizations to access or use applications such as email and the World Wide ...
. This is particularly suitable for
developing nations A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreemen ...
where PC and Internet access percentages average in the low single digits. In February 2011 ForgetMeNot Africa added the Facebook functionality to its Message Optimiser platform. This enabled any mobile phone subscriber to an operator deploying the Message Optimiser technology to access
Facebook Chat Messenger, formerly known as Facebook Messenger, is an American proprietary software, proprietary instant messaging service developed by Meta Platforms. Originally developed as Facebook Chat in 2008, the Client software, client application ...
, update their profiles, ‘like’ their friends’ statuses and comment on threads via SMS.


Deployments

In September 2009 ForgetMeNot Africa helped Econet Telecom Lesotho to more than double the population's access.
Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...
's highly literate population struggles to access vital information, such as healthcare, travel and educational resources as according to the
International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU: * * is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information ...
only 3.4 per cent of the population use the Internet. Expanding the country's access to email via entry level, low end mobile phones improves access to information, communications with friends and family and trade to email by bringing two-way email to their entire mobile
customer base The customer base is a group of customers who repeatedly purchase the goods or services of a business. These customers are a main source of revenue for a company. The customer base may be considered a business's target market, where customer behav ...
. In May 2010 ForgetMeNot Africa helped
Safaricom Safaricom PLC is a listed Kenyan mobile network operator headquartered at Safaricom House in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the largest telecommunications provider in Kenya, and one of the most profitable companies in the East and Central Africa region. T ...
,
Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
’s largest
telecommunications operator A telecommunications company is a kind of electronic communications service provider, more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications access. Many t ...
, give almost 9 in 10 of the population's mobile phone subscribers access to email and online chat on their standard mobile phones when it rolled out its Kipokezi service. Prior to the launch of Kipokezi fewer than one in ten Kenyans had accessed the Internet but the new service enabled more than one third of Kenya's population to exchange email and online chat messages. Kenya's number of mobile phone
subscriptions The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century. It i ...
has grown from just over 125,000 in 2000 to more than 17 million ten years later. In September 2010 ForgetMeNot Africa, in partnership with Rapid Communications, deployed its technology with Kenya's yu, the mobile brand of
Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
's third largest telecoms network Essar Telecom Kenya. Using the Message Optimiser technology yu launched the Peperusha service, enabling it to bring mobile email and online chat on first-generation mobile phone handsets to its entire 1.6 million subscriber base. In October 2010 ForgetMeNot Africa enabled 25 million Nigerians, 40 per cent of the country's mobile subscribers, to access email and online chat on standard SMS-capable mobile phone by deploying its technology with Glo Mobile, part of the
Globacom Overview , GLO has over 60.7 million subscribers, making it the second largest network operator in Nigeria. In 2011, GLO became the first telecommunications company to build an $800 million high-capacity fibre-optic cable known as Glo-1, a ...
group,
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
's largest independent mobile network. The launch rocketed Nigerians' access to the Internet as previously only 24 million of the country's 150 million population had ever been online. In November 2010 ForgetMeNot Africa launched its first service in
Francophone Africa African French () is the umbrella grouping of varieties of the French language spoken throughout Francophone Africa. Used mainly as a secondary language or ''lingua franca'', it is spoken by an estimated 320 million people across 34 coun ...
with
Warid Congo Warid Congo SA was a GSM based mobile operator in the Republic of the Congo before its acquisition by Indian telecom company Airtel. It launched commercial operations on 14 March 2008. Warid Congo is a joint venture between Warid Telecom Inter ...
, in the Central African state of
Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...
. The launch of the French version of the Message Optimiser technology transformed Warid Congo's 450,000 subscribers' basic mobile phones into virtual
smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...
s, enabling them to send and receive email and online chat messages on any SMS-enabled mobile phone. In February 2011 ForgetMeNot Africa's technology was deployed by
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Econet Zimbabwe officially known as Econet Wireless Zimbabwe (EWZ) Limited or commonly referred to as just Econet is a Zimbabwean telecom operator that is headquartered at No. 2 Msasa, Harare. It was started in July 1998 and listed on ZSE in Sep ...
to transform the first generation handsets of its five million mobile phone subscribers into virtual smartphones. In June 2010, only one in eight Zimbabweans (1.4 million people) had access to the internet, according to the International Telecommunication Union. The eTXT service made email correspondence possible as a low-cost solution for large companies and small businesses, unifying both urban and rural areas of
Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
. ForgetMeNot Africa launched the first internet-free Facebook, email and online chat service for Portuguese speaking Africans when its technology was deployed by Cape Verdean operator T-Mais in November 2011. The deployment of the service, named Ch@t+, enabled T-Mais to provide its 100,000 subscribers with access to mobile internet messaging services across the remote Cape Verdean islands. The launch also opened up internet messaging via SMS to the near 23 million Portuguese speakers across Africa. ForgetMeNot Africa say further African deployments are scheduled for 2012.


Benefits to users

ForgetMeNot Africa's eTXT service enables rural communities with little or no access to PCs to communicate with each other, and their urban dwelling friends and family by email or chat from a standard mobile phone. Consequently, the eTXT service enables PC users in any country to communicate with people who have no access to a PC but who have a basic SMS capable phone. Creating, sending and receiving an eTXT is exactly the same as creating, sending and receiving an SMS. It requires minimal learning from the user as it is a natural SMS-based experience. The user can control their new email and IM capability all from their existing
handset A handset is a component of a telephone that a user holds to the ear and mouth to receive audio through the receiver and speak to the remote party using the built-in transmitter. In earlier telephones, the transmitter was mounted directly on ...
without the need to upgrade their phone, change their data plan, download any applications or access the Internet from a PC. Emails and Chat can be sent cheaply anywhere in the world and it enables users without a PC to access the benefits of mobile banking, healthcare, travel and educational resources.


Benefits to deployers

Giving subscribers the ability to eTXT drives SMS traffic, generating new revenue with very small levels of expenditure. The Message Optimiser platform that runs the eTXT service is implemented in under four weeks and generally requires no new hardware, license fees or
capital expenditure Capital expenditure or capital expense (abbreviated capex, CAPEX, or CapEx) is the money an organization or corporate entity spends to buy, maintain, or improve its fixed assets, such as buildings, vehicles, equipment, or land. It is considered ...
. The service is relevant to nearly all subscribers, helps to reduce
churn rate Churn rate (also known as attrition rate, turnover, customer turnover, or customer defection) is a measure of the proportion of individuals or items moving out of a group over a specific period. It is one of two primary factors that determine the ...
and can attract competitors' subscribers.


References

{{Reflist Telecommunications in Africa