Our goal is to create an online product alert, advice and review system specifically tailored to the African market which will help readers to make the best buying decisions, identify and avoid fakes. This will be done by explaining tech terms in ways the African market understands, and reviewing current and the latest smartphones, laptops, desktops, tablets or other gadgets in the market.

We also plan to set up an in-house studio to make video reviews possible for those who would rather watch the reviews.

Reviews on the site will be comprehensive, informative and designed to help the reader make an educated buying decision.

We have a section entitled Afriteq, which is dedicated to the African tech industry and African tech startup coverage as part of our goals to expose ambitious and innovative hidden projects and ideas needing funding.

Here is a quick summary of our goals and targets

• Build a website for product alert, advice and reviews of tech gadgets specifically tailored to the African market.

• Educate and raise awareness of counterfeit tech gadgets in the African market.

• Find and provide innovative tech ideas and startups adequate publicity to attract investment.

THE BIG PROBLEM

Ever wanted to buy a computer, smartphone, tablet or any tech gadget and got stuck making a choice? Did you get confused reading the specifications? Didn’t get a hold of jargon's like RAM, Memory, and Pixel? Did you go on a research spree, reading blogs, watching video reviews, consulting manuals and dictionaries, and asking salesmen and friends lots of questions?

When you finally narrowed your options down to a list of probably four or more, did you get stuck again making a choice between brands with the specs you wanted, simply because you didn’t know the best fit for your circumstance, lifestyle and environment?

If that happened to you, then you are not alone. Millions of people with different needs, budget, lifestyle, environment etc, are stuck daily when making tech-buying decisions, just like you.

If you live in a first world country, you would probably be up to date with current tech trends and vocabulary. You would likely have access to authoritative information and products readily tailored to your lifestyle. But third world countries don't.

The problem is worse in Africa where technological advancement within the continent is at a relative infancy.

The African tech market is a major consumer of tech products not tailored to their market. Yet nothing stops Africans from wanting the most current tech gadgets in foreign markets.

The lack of information, quality control and absence of manufacturing of these gadgets in the continent has given counterfeiters and knock-off importers the opportunity to flood the African tech market with fake, overpriced, low quality products.

Buying decisions in Africa are difficult to make due to "environment fit" issues, costs, poor understanding of tech specs, lack of access to authentic information and counterfeits flooding the market such that when decisions are made, most end up buying counterfeits.

Counterfeit devices in the market are often very hard to distinguish from the authentic ones by non-technical buyers and made attractive by catchy aesthetics. The majority of these devices break down after less than a month of use.

THE TEAM

We are a small group of tech-enthusiasts and entrepreneurs based in Lagos, Nigeria. We love everything tech, we follow the latest tech news and often get to try the trending gadgets in the market.

We are motivated by previous bad experiences with counterfeit gadgets, the huge knowledge gap of tech information in the local market and the desire to expose hidden local innovative tech talents and ideas to potential local and foreign investors.

BUDGET BREAKDOWN

The funding needed for this project is broken down as follows:

- Canon camera, among other production equipment. This is necessary for conducting reviews, interviews and various tech shows. The estimated cost of this equipment is $6000.

- Portable laptops for writing and video editing, roughly $7000.

- $7000 to fund the hiring of new writers, developers and a power generator set to mitigate inconsistent electricity supply.

STRETCH GOAL: $70,000

1. $50,000 we will get a comfortable office space for the team, and build our own in-house studio for video reviews, news and interviews.

2. $20,000 we will run a nationwide promotional campaign using local print media, BRT buses, radio stations and flyers.

OUR PERKS

The perks of donating to our cause is broken down as follows:

$3 - unleash the tech Geek in you, help our cause and be the first to know when we take off.

$17 - will earn you a Geek with a large heart shout-out during our first interview!

A $100 donation is enough to get a Geeky caricature of you drawn in our style, as well as a special thank you message and sponsorship credit during our first interview.

For a very generous donation of $500 we will present you with all of the above perks, in addition to the ability to choose our first interview question (although it must be tech-related e.g. “what are the challenges of running a startup in Africa?”) and your ad will appear on 2 of our first videos as a sponsor. 

$1500 and your advert will be on our site for 1 full month plus a Geeky caricature of you and a thank you message from our founders.

CARICATURE SAMPLES

SCHEDULE

We have carefully planned out our schedule should our funding targets be met. In the case of any delays along the line, we have ensured our timeline can accommodate them. You will also be informed of any unexpected delays.

August  - September 26 - 2014: Website Design & Indiegogo Campaign.

September 28 - October 5 - 2014: Website Launch & Beta Testing.

October 12 - 30 - 2014: Official Website Launch, First Set Perk Delivery.

November 1 - December 2014: Promotion & Final Perk Delivery.

RISK AND CHALLENGES

We have taken our time to do a very detailed case study and can tell you that the only risk involved in this would be internet-related security threats. And we will be doing our best to keep the website safe and secure as soon as we go live.

The major challenge we are facing is getting the necessary funds to kick off the project on the right footing. Without the necessary funds we will not be able to achieve our goals, because we are not planning to set up just another tech site to compete with other big names - if that was the case then it would be very easy to set up a tech blog. However, this is not our goal, far from it. 70% of our target audience are offline, so we have to reach them by other means.

FAQs

This project was meant to serve the African market, why do you focus so much on Lagos Nigeria?

We are focusing on Lagos Nigeria for starters because Lagos is the most populated city in Africa right now, and we are currently based in Lagos.

Little insight on Lagos Nigeria:

Lagos Nigeria also presents a familiar market. We researched and compared it with other notable sub-Saharan African cities and found it a worthy case study for Africa with the exception of a few countries.

We hope to expand to Accra Ghana, Nairobi Kenya and Johannesburg South Africa in the second quarter of 2015.

When will you deliver the website advertising perks and how do I know my ad is running?

All website advertising perks will be delivered starting from the second month of our website launch and initial promotional phase, so that we have enough users on the site viewing your ad. You will also get a direct link to the page where your ad is placed.

What do you need to create a caricature of me and how do I get it?

Please note that you have to send us the picture you want used and this will be delivered to the provided email address once we are done.

Privacy Policy:

All pictures submitted for caricature perks will not be used for any other purpose than to deliver the promised caricatures. Each picture will be stored securely and then deleted as soon as the caricature is successfully delivered to its rightful owner. Pictures will not be used for any other reason, and they will not be made public at any time.

Useful Link: http://www.geek.com/apple/functional-iphone-6-knockoffs-now-exist-1599169/?fullsite=true

Thank you so much for your time and for supporting our goal. If you have any further questions, comments or suggestions, we invite you to contact us at contact@Zipibyte.com.

You can also help us by sharing the campaign with others :)

Thank you!