Djoss.tv is an innovative startup well on their way to revolutionizing the television experience in Cameroon, the continent and beyond. They are the winner of the Cameroon Startup Challenge, a prestigious award that recognizes Cameroon’s top innovators.
Djoss.tv is a social TV platform that lets viewers engage their favorite TV shows in real-time. The service brings television programming to life by allowing viewers to share their excitement (and for others the disappointment) when for example Manchester United scores a goal. Unlocking real time sharing, Djoss.tv integrates a missing social layer into any television program. The service also provides viewers with additional context and information on the program, introducing an important tool for editorial staff.
For the cable companies providing the shows, Djoss.tv is an innovative tool that is used to gather critical feedback from the audience. It is also an important tool for advertisers and sponsors, audience engagement that can be used to further brand awareness.
The project is headed up by an outstanding team that includes Patrick NDJIENTCHEU, a software engineer and cofounder of Koutchoumi.com, Hervé DJIA, a software engineer and tech enthusiast, Eloge FOKEM, a web developer and CEO of the web agency Dotcomcm.com, and Kouotou ABOUBAKAR SIDIKI, a software engineer passionate about social media. The four person team took home a $5.000 cash prize. In a passionate speech the team explained their motivations for the project and outlined some exciting developments for the future. The winnings are critical in the team’s effort to push the venture across Cameroon and abroad.
The Cameroon Startup Challenge 2012 is the first competition to recognize the progress of technology entrepreneurs in the country. The award ceremony, held on September 20th and the Foyer du Marin in Douala, brought together Cameroon’s leading innovators. Also in attendance were investors and leaders from the local and international technology community. The competition was made possible through collaborations with Sanaga Ventures, AppsTech, ActivSpaces and VC4Africa.
The winning team was selected by a 10 person jury:
- Rebecca Enonchong – CEO, AppsTech
- Georges Mpoudi – CIO, MTN Cameroon
- Al Banda – Community Manager, ActivSpaces Cameroon
- Edouard Tamba – Web Manager, Afriland First Bank Group
- Joel Nlepe – Founder, 9Ideas Conference
- Marcel Neutel – Investment Officer, Cenainvest
- Bill Zimmerman – Co-Founder, Sanaga Ventures
- Ben White – Co-Founder, Sanaga Ventures
- Arnout Kroezen – Director of Finance, VC4Africa
- Saskia Reus – Director of Investor Relations, VC4Africa
- Mieke Langenberg – Regional Coordinator, LiveBuild
- Raoul Kouamou – Financial Analyst, Morgan Stanley
The awards ceremony kicked off with a welcome by the hosts, Sanaga Ventures, followed by an introduction of the panel judges and the startup teams. After a review of the success criteria used to determine the winner, a presentation was made of the first and second runners up, followed by the grand prize winner. The winning team addressed the audience before a speech was delivered by Rebecca Enonchong, the CEO of AppsTech. The evening closed with a banquet dinner that was served at the hotel.
Judges highlighted the quality of the applications. It was noted that the applicants were well past ‘idea’ stage with most having promising business model and working revenue streams in place. The top three finalist are presented below:
Winner: Djoss.tv
Pitch: With djoss.tv, you’ll never watch TV the same way again. djoss.tv is a social TV platform that lets TV viewers everywhere discuss around their favorite TV shows, in real-time.
For the users, djoss.tv provides additional information and comments around their current TV shows, crowd-sourced from other users, or directly from our editorial staff. Sometimes, we just want other viewers to know how pissed off we are when our favorite soccer star loses a penalty. For the TV cable companies providing the shows, djoss.tv is a fantastic innovative tool to gather audience feedback and further develop brand awareness.
First Runner Up: KingMaker Ad Network
Pitch: King Maker is an internet (cyber) cafe ad network that uses innovative technology to serve relevant ads to an audience which can be highly targeted.
Mobile internet is still too expensive for most of the population and few local websites have enough users to actually interest advertisers. Internet cafes are the number one internet access points in the region because of their affordability and relatively good internet connection. We work hand in hand with them to bring relevant local advertising to their clients, thus creating extra revenue channels for their business.
Second Runner Up: AGRO-HUB
Pitch: AGRO-HUB is a startup venture setup to combat poverty among rural farmers by addressing the expressed need to boost demand for their products and earn more money from their laborious efforts and investments in the fields. We strive to achieve this through innovative use of the web and mobile technology to drive demand and distribution of the farmers’ products.
Our agricultural market development strategy involves partnering with [rural] farmers to source products and information for newly sort out local and international markets. Sourcing of products is done through setting up of collecting centers [or storehouses] within rural communities while sourcing of information is done through provision of SMS based tools and knowledge farmers need to access and share information about their activities. The information sourced from the farmers thereof is used on the web to attract consumers for their products.