I had a video interview as below last week with John Waibochi of VirtualCity at Pivot25 in Nairobi, Kenya. John and VirtualCity are probably best known on a global basis for winning the Nokia Challenge last year where their mobile-based supply chain application won them US$ 1 Million from a field of numerous other global competitors. In the process, they put Kenya and Africa on the global stage for innovative mobile applications, once again, in the footsteps of Ushahidi.

John shared some perspectives on what he thinks about mobile apps and the mobile ecosystem in Kenya, as well as the broader East African region. He generally thinks that within the next couple of years, East Africa will see the arrival of mobile apps that could be as globally successful based on the presentations he saw at Pivot25.

He also felt that mobile app developers in the East African region need to focus on apps that can be commercialized but not through advertising revenue as this has not been successful to-date. Lastly, he also felt that there were good prospects for social apps focussed on development in Africa but the developers behind them need to really see how they can also benefit from them since they would need to be targetted at the public sector and non-profits. 

You can watch the full interview below: