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Kenyan startups jump on the 'Groupon' bandwagon

9 Dec 2010

Groupon has been a massive success in the United States. It's a deal-of-the-day site, with projected revenue of US$500m in just its second year of operations. It uses the framework of "collective buying", which means that if enough people sign up for a particular deal, then it's on. If not enough people sign up, then the deal is off and everyone walks away.

Revenue is shared per deal, which means that Groupon only wins if the company doing the deal wins. Of course, this framework has caught the attention of savvy business people in Africa.

Rupu

Rupu is a similar site which launched in Kenya this week. The word comes from the term "marupurupu", which is a freebie, something small handed out in the employer-to-employee relationship (could be considered a bonus). Munyutu Waigi is the business man behind the operation, and it was interesting to note that Rupu was built out by Charles Kithika and Joshua Musau - all three members of the iHub.

Rupu uses Jambopay, which handles local mobile payment options Mpesa and Zap, as well as Visa.

Read the full article on www.memeburn.com.

Source: Memeburn

Launched in April 2010 by Matthew Buckland, Memeburn is a news and opinion platform tracking tech culture, innovation and business. It plays particular attention to the web, mobile, social media, online media and social networking fields. Key opinion-leaders contribute to Memeburn, providing their insights on the online industry. Subscribe via email or RSS for regular updates. Follow memeburn on Twitter at @memeburn.

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