Palestinian startup seeks to bridge Egypt’s digital divide

Jacob Korenblum, CEO of Palestinian startup Souktel, says there is a a huge potential in Egypt for audio mobile services and low-data applications to bridge an information gap for people without smartphones, or regular internet access, or, who are illiterate. Souktel, who specialize in putting mobile software to use to achieve humanitarian goals, is eyeing the under-served market this year, following the launch of their SMS-based job seeker service in December with Bayt.

“We’re a social enterprise so we’re less concerned with pumping out games and ringtones for the sake of games and ringtones,” Korenblum (left) told Wamda. “We’re focusing on audio-based services that will get people the information that they need. Egypt is one of those places where I see huge potential there for audio and voice-activated services,” Korenblum continued, because of the high illiteracy rate. “We don’t really see anyone doing this.”

An Ipsos poll last year indicated that despite the high mobile phone penetration rate only 6% of Egyptians used smartphones, figures from the national statistics body CAPMAS indicate a quarter of the 93 million-strong population are unable to read, and Ministry of Communications and Information Technology stats show just under half of Egyptians are without access to the internet.

Korenblum says low-data hybrid apps that can be used on both smartphones and regular mobiles (as information is delivered via an SMS backend system), are also crucial for allowing people who have little access to the internet find and use the increasing number of social and employment services being rolling out online.

One option they could adapt to Egypt is Souktel’s Moroccan job seeker service, which helps job seekers create CVs, search for jobs and talk to potential employers using voice and SMS. “Services like this are proving tremendously popular in Morocco and these are the kind of services we are look at bringing to Egypt.”

Original article by Rachel Williamson

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Palestinian startup seeks to bridge Egypt’s digital divide