In South Africa where it was created and launched, more than 1,000 people have joined the app in the past six years and it is gaining much interest in other countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and Botswana.

Created in 2013 – by Bruce Wood and William Mellor – and launched in 2014, OurHood is a website and mobile app that fosters communication between people living in the same vicinity or neighborhood in South Africa. “We took the best of Facebook and WhatsApp and created OurHood. There are examples of this working elsewhere in the world. It’s never been done here and we thought this is the best opportunity to create something for South Africans,” said Wood, MD of OurHood.

Available on Play Store for free, OurHood has four tabs. The "General Information" tab allows users to share information about the community or neighborhood; "Alerts" enables them to note a safety issue or any other important information. "Events" houses all scheduled events, and "Business" identifies and locates businesses within or near the neighborhood.

There are other (paid) features such as a "directory" which provides access to the contacts of all small business owners listed in the neighborhood, i.e. electricians, plumbers, cleaners, newspaper delivery people, etc. Another feature also lets users directly contact a security agency.

“The way the system works is it feeds off Google. It starts with your physical address, it finds you within that ‘geofence’ that we’ve created. Then to join, you need to get verified,” Wood explained. Thus, no one can register on the app and join a neighborhood without providing proof that they live there. Each user's identity is verified after uploading a utility bill picture, required during the registration process.

OurHood focuses on urban areas, particularly Cape Town and Johannesburg, which have the largest percentage of users. The startup reveals that the app already has about 1,000 neighborhoods in its database and receives five new neighborhood requests per day. The requests are not only coming from South Africa but other countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, and Botswana.

Ruben Tchounyabe