Nigerian startup Mobile Forms has come up with an innovating way of allowing users to convert their paper forms to mobile and start collecting data from anywhere instantly.
Mobile Forms lets users built forms using an easy drag-and-drop functionality, and share these forms with other team members with the click of a button. Using the startup’s app, team members can log in and start collecting data on mobile devices.
Co-founder Tomi Ayorinde, who told Disrupt Africa Mobile Forms had innovated a new way of collecting data, said the startup would also soon allow for the analysis of data using dashboard reports on the platform.
The aim of the technology is to collect data better including pictures, GPS locations, sketches, audio and video, with the platform working both online and offline.
Mobile Forms initially launched a prototype app in September of last year, and is now live with 200 users, 25 per cent of which converted to the paid model last month. Ayorinde said the startup also has in its pipeline an organisation with 3,600 users, which it hopes to on-board by June.
He said the founding team had spotted a huge gap in the market.
“Africa is an economy that relies heavily on paper forms for 60 per cent of her processes. Another 20 per cent collect data in silos, are not integrated and face a huge challenge collecting data from remote areas with little or no internet connectivity,” he said.
Moreover, paper-based data collection moves slowly, taking hours or days to get from the point of capture to the point of entry, and is also prone to damage and loss. Mobile Forms aims to tackle all that.
The company was launched with the co-founders’ savings, though Mobile Forms has also received a US$20,000 seed investment from Silicon Valley-based VC firm DraperDarkFlow.
Ayorinde says the possibilities for the startup are unlimited.
“We can replace paper forms completely and be the gold standard for data collection in Africa,” he said.
“It’s a huge market, and we have not even scratched the surface in Nigeria yet. We have a few contacts who have expressed interest in our product from other African countries, and also India.”
Initially, Mobile Forms struggled to understand how to implement its technology, and how to handle the extremely poor connections in remote areas. Ayorinde says they eventually got the hang of it.
“Now all we struggle with is meeting the ever-increasing demands of our clients, always a good sign,” he said.
“In five years we expect to be the data collection tool of choice for all NGO projects in Africa and endorsed by major NGO funders like USAID, the WHO, and the World Bank.”
