Background
KOKO Networks is a game changing technology product in East Africa.
KOKO provides a platform for smart commerce in urban Africa, The unique suite of technologies connects suppliers, retailers and customers, enabling delivery of a range of consumer and business solutions that improve life of Africa's cities. The base technology includes a cloud connected fuel dispensing machine powered by and Android tablet and interfacing with embedded electronics, called a KOKO point. Consumers can buy fuel by docking an NFC enabled canister at the KOKO point and paying for the fuel from a virtual wallet. KOKO's clean ethanol based cooking fuel solution is expected to displace the dirty fuels such as charcoal and kerosene used by millions of households in Africa. |
The Red Pandas
TheRedPandas started by building the first prototype of the fuel dispensing system. This was deployed in Kampala, Uganda and the success of the pilot laid the foundation of the longstanding partnership between TheRedPandas and KOKO Networks.
Over the course of next two years, TheRedPandas worked with the KOKO Networks team to build the core software platform which would manage everything from KOKOpoint configuration, dispense operations, wallet transactions, supply chain management and fuels delivery scheduling to consumer applications, referral schemes, retailer technologies and more. TheRedPandas setup a dedicated team comprising of product managers, architects, software engineers, QA engineers, embedded systems engineers and dev ops engineers for KOKO Networks which continues to build and enhance the product iteratively following best in class software engineering practices. |
Impact
KOKO Networks had a successful launch in Nairobi, Kenya and has built a scalable business model around the technology suite which is now being franchised across other African countries.
It is changing and extending the lives of rural and sub urban people in Africa by providing a cleaner affordable alternative to charcoal and kerosene. Read more about KOKO Networks at www.kokonetworks.com |