Fixer, a platform that links people with servicemen such as plumbers and electricians, emerged the winner from the Startup Weekend event held in Lusaka, Zambia.
The event, which took place on November 28-30, was hosted for a second time by the BongoHive incubator, saw attendees formed into teams to develop applications over the course of the weekend to pitch to a panel of judges.
Fixer was subsequently picked as the winning team, beating off competition from Career Smart, which provides a link between students and companies, Infin, a hardware product that will produce energy, and I-Forex, a location-based comparison app for bureaus and banks.
As winners, Fixer will receive six months of business and incubation support from BongoHive.
“Thank you to the coaches and mentors for the hard work they put into providing advice to the teams,” BongoHive said. “The Startup Weekend nurtures passionate entrepreneurs and guides them through practical sessions on how to scale up business ideas into products ready for the market.”
The event kicked off with a keynote presentation from Erik Hersman, chief executive officer (CEO) of BRCK and co-founder of Ushahidi, and Juliana Rotich, MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow and a board member of Ushahidi.
Hersman said what matters the most is the people employed in building a startup.
“People are your most valuable asset, before building a product; you need to think about the people,” he said.
