Next2.us uses VC4Africa to make valuable partnerships in Africa
By Ben on October 27, 2010
As the community grows, more and more people are asking if the platform actually results in anything positive. Are connections being made? Are people meeting each other on the website or through the VC4Africa Meetups? Are people actually coming together around new business ventures and have new partnerships been realized?
In fact good things are happening! After each VC4Africa Meetup I am amazed with the number of connections people make. I am also surprised by the number of members who tell me they have been able to make a connection through the website or are now in discussions because of members they connected with online. Here is just one story I would like to share about a VC4Africa entrepreneur Brian Puckett. Brian is the founder of Next2.us.
How did VC4Africa help your company?
Your web site has been very helpful to me. I was able to connect to a company that wants to represent Next2.Us geosocial sms network throughout Africa. We have executed a Framework Agreement. We are finalizing a relationship with a SMS provider that will allow Next2.Us Africa to offer our geosocial network service in Kenya in the coming weeks.
Why is Next2.us unique?
I believe Next2.Us is unique for a number of reasons. It lets user set-up account, set location on a map and a privacy radius around their location within which to share their content with other users. Next2.us uses a set of two types of keywords to automatically match and exchange messages between users within a privacy circle. We process messages sent to our server in “near-time.” This is a point in time in the future when we process and exchange all messages or a point when volume of messages reaches threshold worth exchanging. We hope to process messages at a time when SMS rates are off-peak rate. When messages are exchanged they come in a new message. Users may text message each other using their Next2.Us user ID without revealing their mobile phone number.
Who is your target audience?
Next2.us initial target audience is small farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. We hope that a system like Next2.Us will enable them to help each other grow and sell more products locally and regionally. I built Next2.Us (hence name HungryGarden) to tackle problem of finding fresh local food. I am squarely focused on helping farmers and their customers to connect no matter where in the world that occurs.
How will you use VC4Africa in the future?
I really appreciate the service your VC4Africa web site provides to companies like my own and my partners. We plan on using your web site extensively to look for local partners and announce new relationships. Thanks again for VC4Africa. I would not have made connections to my marketing partners without your site.
How can members contact you?
Location: http://next2.us/hungrygardener
Blog: http://hungrygarden.typepad.com
Twitter: @hungrygarden
Do you have a success story you would like to share with the VC4Africa community?
Please contact me at ben@Vc4africa.com.
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Joseph Owusu Yeboah said on November 23, 2010
I am a Mango Farmer in Ghana Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region. I wish to get contacts to to partners who would help me to expand my farm and also customer internationally.
Brian Puckett said on November 28, 2010
Thank you for your comment. I just say it today. I did see that you signed up for our http://www.hungrygarden.com web site. I sent you email but did not receive a reply. I believe we can help you build markets for your produce. Please do this. Re-register at http://m.next2.us. After registration, to to SETTINGS then select PRIVACY. Set your range in miles to 3000.
Then go to BUZZ, select ADD BUZZ then select HAVE then select channel FOOD, wait for second channels to load then select FRUIT, wait for third MANGOES.
Then in the TEXT fields describe your produce, farm and anything else about yourself and your produce including what kind of marketing partner you are looking for. When done select SAVE and your post will be saved to your account name at Next2.us and matched with anyone else that posts under topic “want” “food/fruit/mango”
You can also use your Next2.us web page. Its your registration name after http://m.next2.us to promote your produce and farm by email or other marketing methods. If someone wants to contact you they can go to http://m.next2.us/your_name and select the SEND A MESSAGE link. This will send a message that will appear under “messages” at http://m.next2.us
For an example of my Next2.us page see http://m.next2.us/brip. I registered with the name “brip” Whatever name you use during the registration is used to create the name of your web page.
Add as many topics as you want under BUZZ (Private or Public)
If you have any problems or questions please email me at help@hungrygarden.com.
http://m.next2.us works with mobile phone browser and personal computers.
Thanks for your interest and let me know if you have any problems registering for the service.
Jean M. YENGA said on May 9, 2011
Well done