After a trip to Guinea, a tech entrepreneur and his friend set up a digital solution to help Africans in the diaspora send gifts to loved ones on the continent. Hence Senditoo was born.

Senditoo is a digital solution that allows users - in this case, Africans in the diaspora - to send money and airtime to about 117 countries around the world, 36 of these countries are in Africa. It was founded in 2016 by Ibrahima Soumano and Takwana Tyaranini as Ozaremit. To develop its technology and accelerate its growth, among other things, it has already raised $10.7 million.

"The idea first came from a personal experience. It started with my trip to Guinea. I'd been there several times before, but this time was special because I was visiting our village with my father. In our tradition, it's customary to bring gifts to your brothers and sisters when you visit the village, especially when you come from the capital, Conakry," says Soumano.

He continues: "So we decided to buy 2 million Guinean francs in mobile phone top-ups, which I distributed to all our family and neighbours. I felt the impact that a small gift of a few minutes of communication could have on these people. I was deeply touched and said to myself that there must be millions of people living abroad who would like to make such gestures to their loved ones."

 The solution comes as a mobile application available on iOS and Android. Once downloaded, users create an account to access the various services offered by the start-up. To facilitate the sending of airtime and money via mobile money in many countries, in this case in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Senditoo has established partnerships with more than 500 telecom operators worldwide.

In addition to these two services, the start-up has also turned its attention to e-commerce. Users can shop on marketplaces around the world and have goods delivered to their loved ones in the countries where it operates. In terms of payment, the start-up integrates various solutions such as bank cards including Visa, Mastercard or American Express and PayPal. After each transaction, Senditoo sends a message to the user confirming that the transaction went smoothly.

According to Play Store statistics, the Android version of the mobile application has already been downloaded more than 50,000 times.

Adoni Conrad Quenum