3 Innovative Opportunities COVID-19 has Created for Tech Companies

 1 Telemedicine and Healthcare

It is not much of a surprise that Health tech companies are at a vantage point amidst this crisis. They are supporting weak African healthcare systems during this period. Systems who would have ordinarily been overwhelmed by a surge in COVID-19 cases.

 “I see people understanding the value of telemedicine being the future of healthcare at the end of it all,” says Ifeanyi Nkwonta, Business Development Executive at Tremendoc

Tremendoc, a telemedicine platform with its partnership with Sterling Bank in Nigeria, provides free medical consultation to the bank’s customers.

Therapy and Fertility consultations, two of Tremendoc’s new services provide the company with a wider base to trial both on Sterling’s clients.

The chances that these services will continue to be signed onto the platform after the expiration of the “free” subscription cannot be ascertained.

Nkwonta believes the consumer base will increase during this time. “We expect that [customers] see the value especially with the new therapy service.”

2. Remote Learning

educational institutions have closed indefinitely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. UNESCO estimates that over 1billion learners have been affected globally by the pandemic.

This gives rise to the largest opportunity for digital learning platforms and tools to thrive. The cons however involve data costs and internet access.

 “We are hoping for a Corona boost,” Sam Rich, CEO at eLimu told TechCabal, “but to be honest, we haven’t seen it yet.”

It is still quite early as some schools across Africa recently closed. Take for instance schools across Africa have only been closed for a few weeks while Kenya just closed its schools last Wednesday and university on Friday. Though users seem to spend more time on eLimu than usual.

 “We are seeing the site is more sticky, there are users that are staying on it all day,” Rich says.

eLimu, like many other companies, is trying to provide its users with free contents and also subsidise its rates.

“The good news is that Safaricom is zero-rating some traffic, and so we want to talk to them and see if they will do the same for us,” Rich says.

uLesson which recently launched its app is not solely dependent on the internet for availability. It also plans to subsidise its rates like eLimu, reducing it by almost 60%.

3 Grocery Delivery

Launched last year, Succor.ng is a marketplace that congregates restaurants, groceries and supermarkets. Succor.ng allows Nigerians to shop for fresh foods from markets around lagos.

Succor.ng also has an in-app logistics service.  It operates using the ride-hailing business model. It picks up orders from vendors and delivers them to customers wherever they are in Nigeria.

Presently with the standstill of most social activities in some countries, it is expected that business like this will experience a rise in customers and vendors.

Abiodun Fasakin, Senior Executive, Operations at Succor says “There are now over 1,000 marketplace vendors on the platform and orders have grown by about 42% since the COVID-19 restrictions.”

One-Cart, a delivery service in South Africa is already recording a 300% leap in order volumes. As the pandemic runs its course, more companies like this are sure to report high volume of orders.

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