Tag: Company News

Kokomlemle, Accra, Ghana — SMSGH, one of Africa’s fastest-growing technology companies today announced the availability of the SMSGH Unity Portal to enable all customers and resellers to seamlessly manage their products, services, and accounts with SMSGH.

SMSGH Unity Portal hosted at unity.smsgh.com, comes in handy for the direct customer base of more than 40,000 users aggregating various mobile services via SMSGH.

The new portal offers all customers, among many other features, the ability to send SMS text messages in a far shorter time and more intuitively than available in other applications.

Other features include:

• Manage assigned short codes; set up new keywords, integrate to third-party applications (polls, games, text-to-win, betting, etc.), self-administer message processing parameters, and view payout revenues in real-time.
• Manage contact databases; set up contact groups and subscriber lists
• Manage developer APIs; both for one-way and two-way messaging to SMS-enable any application.
• Manage sub-accounts and products; create and manage other user accounts and accounts on MYtxtBOX and MYtxtBOX Pro. 1-click to impersonate sub-accounts and share SMS Credits with them.
• Manage your invoices and receipts; generate invoices and pay online instantly via Electronic Debit Card or Mobile Money and more.
• Generate detailed traffic reports; get advanced reports of all messages on your account or download to MS Excel
• Set account notification preferences

Before the introduction of the SMSGH Unity Portal, many customer processes were managed by specific products, and customers had to rely on manual procedures to administer one or more services.

As Ghana’s largest provider of SMS messaging and aggregation services, SMSGH continues to leverage customer behavior and experiences in using the SMSGH Unity Portal to develop a solid business model for expansion into other markets around the world.

Announcing the release, the Chief Solutions Architect, Mr. Kwadwo Seinti said, “The more customers we are able to seamlessly assist with very little person-to-person interaction, the more solid our expansion becomes.”

An event to launch and present the key features of the SMSGH Unity Portal will take place sometime in the 3rd quarter of 2012.

Kokomlemle, Accra, Ghana — SMSGH, Ghana’s leading mobile aggregation and bulk messaging company today celebrated seven (7) years of successful business operations.

SMSGH was founded by three (3) Ghanaian technology entrepreneurs and started operations on the 12th of May 2005.

A private cake-cutting ceremony was held at the company’s Kokomlemle offices to commemorate the occasion. In attendance were all staff, management, the board of directors, and shareholders of the company. In a speech, the Chief Solutions Architect of SMSGH, Kwadwo Seinti, thanked everyone who has played any part in the company’s success, saying ‘Our success must inspire us to do more‘.

In an email sent to all staff, management congratulated all past and present SMSGH team members and reminded all that ‘From the very start this has been an experiment in how far we can go with our ideas. And we are locked in deep currently. Today, we have proved to ourselves that it’s all possible. But we’ve also learned that what lies ahead of us is ever more challenging than anything we have encountered or anticipated.‘

The email above all thanked God for bringing the company thus far, stating ‘As we celebrate our 7th anniversary, we can never ignore the ever-present, reliable hand of God in our journey — ever guiding, ever protecting; granting us strength of body, mind and wisdom each day. Do make time today to say a Thank You Prayer.‘

A representative of staff, Mr. Gideon Hayford, thanked management for maintaining strong corporate values, and for providing a conducive environment to encourage staff performance.

SMSGH aims to become an international brand for business messaging and content aggregation developing and deploying mobile solutions to enrich lives and lifestyles.

SMSGH In The News: www.myjoyonline.com, Published by JoyFM, Accra, Ghana — After weeks of intense judging activities, the shortlisted nominees for the 2nd MobileWorld Ghana Telecom Awards are out. A statement from award organizers, MobileWorld Magazine indicates there are 17 competitive awards, and four special awards dubbed the Publisher’s Choice awards.

The categories are phone of the year, telecom operator of the year, telecom vendor of the year, wholesale provider of the year, best innovative mobile product of the year, best mobile content, best mobile money, best telecom brand, infrastructure company of the year, and best Internet Service Provider (ISP) of the year.

The rest are marketing campaign, best CSR telecom company, best use of IT in banking, best ICT company of the year, best business service of the year, best customer care of the year, and CEO of the year.

The four special non-competitive awards are special recognition for commitment to the telecom industry, women in ICT award, Young ICT Entrepreneur award, and the prestigious MobileWorld Lifetime Achievement Award.

But of all the awards, the most enviable are the telecom brand of the year, which Vodafone won last year; customer service of the year, which Airtel won last year; CEO of the year, which Airtel won last year; and of course the telecom operator of the year which was most deservingly grabbed by market leader MTN.

This year’s event is also slated for April 20, 2012, at the plush Holiday Inn Hotel in Accra, and it would recognize and reward individuals and organizations at the forefront of the telecoms industry in Ghana. It promises to be a memorable gala night, poised to be the biggest gathering of senior telecom executives in the country.

Event organizer and Group Publisher of MobileWorld Magazine, Akin Naphtal said “The prestigious awards will be announced to an audience of Ghana’s most influential telecom and business decision-makers at a fantastic evening of fine dining and entertainment.” “I can assure you that this event will not only recognize organizations and personalities, it will also be a platform for networking with stakeholders in the industry,” he said. Mr. Naphtal said the awards will also help build healthy relationships among competitors and provide an opportunity to reward deserving staff, as well as provide a unique social environment to network with peers. He said the awards are essential because they recognize the efforts of those who are investing in the ICT/Telecom industry in Ghana.

The awards are open to Telecom Mobile operators, ICT Organizations, MVNOs, and Banks operating in Ghana.

The other nominees for Best Mobile Content Provider for 2012 are Dreamoval, Mobile Content.Com and Rancard Solutions.

SMSGH In The News: Forbes Africa Magazine, Published in South Africa — SMSGH, a leading mobile aggregation and bulk SMS messaging company based in Ghana has been named in the February 2012 edition of the prestigious Forbes Africa Magazine’s list of the ‘TOP 20 TECH START UP COMPANIES IN AFRICA’.

The Criteria for the selection included the following;

1. Each company had to be less than 10 years old
2. Each company had to show relevance in helping to overcome Africa’s problems in areas like communications and skills shortage
3. Each company had to have an online presence and demonstrate social media activity
4. Each company had to have a Pan-African presence and/or ownership.

SMSGH is listed in the 17th position in a ranking that includes companies such as MXit, Ushahidi, FloCash, PesaPal, and another Ghanaian start-up company, Dropifi. The full list is as follows;

1. MXit – Founded in 2003, MXit was one of the first Mobile Instant messaging services in the world and in Africa, and has a userbase of about 45m. (South Africa)
2. Yola – Founded in 2007, Yola is a simple website builder and hosting service, that allows anyone without any HTML skills to easily create websites. (South Africa)
3. Dropifi – Founded in 2011, Dropifi assists businesses in better responding to incoming messages via their website and also includes analytics for website owners. (Ghana)
4. Cobi Interactive – Founded in 2009, Cobi Interactive is a mobile software development company with clients. (South Africa)
5. FloCash – Founded in 2010, FloCash allows anyone with an email address and mobile number to send and receive money across Africa simply and easily. (UK)
6. Obami – Founded in 2009, Obami is a social network and learning management system for schools, teachers, and students. (South Africa)
7. Bandeka – Founded in 2011, Bandeka is an exclusive social network, for building relationships/dating. (Ghana and Nigeria)
8. Jobberman – Founded in 2009, Jobberman is West Africa’s most popular job and placement website. (Nigeria)
9. Motribe – Founded in 2011, Motribe is a mobile platform enabling users, brands, agencies, and publishers across the world to build and manage their own mobile social communities. (South Africa)
10. PesaPal – Founded in 2009, PesaPal is a payment platform that enables Kenyans to buy and sell on the Internet using M-Pesa, Zap and Credit Cards. (Kenya)
11. Synaq – Founded in 2004, Synaq provides messaging and security products built around open-source solutions. (South Africa)
12. Rupu – Founded in 2010, Rupu is a daily deals website modeled on group on. (Kenya)
13. BongoLive – Founded in 2010, BongoLive is a mobile and SMS services company. (Tanzania)
14. Skyrove – Founded in 2006, Skyrove is South Africa’s largest independent Wi-Fi hotspot network with over 600 Wi-Fi hotspots in South Africa. (South Africa)
15. Njorku – Founded in 2011, Njorku is a career and recruitment services platform focused on Africa. (Cameroon)
16. Ushahidi – Founded in 2007, Ushahidi is the only non-profit on this list, ushahidi develops software for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping. (Kenya)
17. SMSGH – Founded in 2005, SMSGH offers bulk SMS solutions, SMS Gateway solutions and mobile web solutions. (Ghana)
18. Hummba – Founded in 2011, Hummba is a social and travel networking website that lets you download free audio travel guides and share travel experiences directly from your mobile phone.
19. 10Layer – Founded in 2011, 10Layer is CMS system targeted specifically at newsrooms. (South Africa)
20. Sembuse – Founded in 2009, Sembuse is a mobile social network & instant messaging platform similar to Mxit. (South Africa)

About Forbes Africa Magazine: Forbes Africa Magazine was launched in September 2011 and is published by ABN Publishing of South Africa. Forbes is a leading international brand for news and rankings, and has built a strong reputation as a respected and informative source of business news around the world. Forbes Africa Magazine hopes to celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit across the length and breadth of the continent with rigorously researched content that will be heeded and debated around the globe.

Kokomlemle, Accra, Ghana — TeamWork Media, a leading mobile content provider in Ghana marketing exciting and compelling entertainment and information content to mobile subscribers has outdoored its latest online content distribution service as JumpFon (www.jumpfon.com).

JumpFon is designed to deliver value to all mobile subscribers with such services as;

• lifestyle SMS
• religious SMS
• educational SMS
• breaking news alerts
• ringtones
• true tones
• music
• wallpaper
• animated pictures
• games and more.

JumpFon’s technical and operational infrastructure was designed and developed by SMSGH. SMSGH is a leading mobility applications development company based in Ghana.

TeamWork Media also manages Huk-Up mobile dating, MegaPlay SMS game, Mobi-Mall mobile trading and many other mobile services in Ghana.

Kokomlemle, Accra, Ghana — SMSGH, a leading mobility applications development company based in Ghana today announced the completion of work towards the deployment of its flagship mobility appliance, MPower for the Electricity Company of Ghana.

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is a national distributor of electricity with a direct customer base in excess of 2 million. ECG provides quality, reliable, and safe electricity services to support the economic growth and development of Ghana. Being a utility service provider ECG staff and customers constantly require accurate and convenient access to information.

SMSGH MPower Mobility Appliance consisting of a suite of mobile & web-based software applications, and handheld Point-Of-Sale devices will help improve the operational efficiency of ECG in the areas of;

1. revenue collection
2. live sales tracking
3. on-the-spot customer bill checking
4. sales receipting and mini bill/statement printing
5. real-time customer complaint reporting and
6. general field data capture.

The success of this project was a direct result of close and dedicated collaboration between the SMSGH development team and the ECG IT Projects team.

The MPower appliance devices are currently in use in many towns, villages, and other remote locations in the Western Region. It is expected that the rollout plan will soon cover many other locations all over Ghana.

Kokomlemle, Accra, Ghana — SMSGH, a leading mobile aggregation company based in Ghana today announced an agreement with global mobile phone manufacturing giant, Tecno Telecom.

The agreement will enable the distribution of Tecno’s world-class embedded mobile applications to users via SMSGH’s mobile content aggregation platform, the SMSGH Unity Gateway. By this agreement, users of Tecno mobile handsets will now be able to use and download all applications available in the Tecno app store or embedded on their handset. Users will be billed for these applications via SMSGH’s Unity Gateway, a best-class mobile content distribution and monetization platform developed, managed, and maintained by SMSGH.

In an interview, the General Manager of SMSGH, Alex Adjei Bram said, ”We are excited and challenged to have been chosen by Tecno Telecom. Being one of the fastest selling mobile handset brands in Ghana, we feel Tecno made the right choice with SMSGH as we know too well how to manage mobile services with high growth potentials.” He further said, ”SMSGH continues to focus on expanding our service offering to increase our footprint, as we gain momentum on our efforts to lead mobile messaging innovation in Ghana and beyond.”

Kokomlemle, Accra, Ghana — SMSGH, a leading mobile content aggregation company based in Ghana today announced the finalization of agreements with Scancom Limited, operators of the MTN Ghana network to supply and distribute multimedia content via the MTNPlay mobile commerce portal; www.mtnplay.com.gh

The agreement will see SMSGH distribute its vast array of multimedia content such as;

• screensavers
• wallpapers
• polyphonic ring tones
• true ring tones
• videos clips
• games
• music tracks and
• mobile applications.

These content materials will be available for subscribers of the MTN Ghana network to download and own on their mobile phones. Content suppliers, musicians, mobile game developers, and graphical designers with the appropriate copyrights can now monetize the sale of these electronic materials as SMSGH boasts of the industry’s highest payout on revenue received from mobile networks.

To find out more about this, contact Afi Senya Ghamli (Mobile Campaigns Executive at SMSGH) via [email protected].

Kokomlemle, Accra, Ghana – SMSGH announces for the information of all Software Developers the relaunch of the SMSGH Developer Challenge.

Over the years we’ve come across some diverse and innovative ideas for the application of SMS in businesses – both good and bad! Now we want to hear from all the developers out there who are developing new and interesting SMS applications. It doesn’t matter whether your SMS application is focused on a specific niche market or has global appeal as each entrant will be judged on the same criteria.

• Use of 2-Way SMS
• Clear Customer Benefits
• Commercial Potential
• Ease of Use

So…..the prize!

1. The grand prize winner gets GH¢2,500.00 cash to spend on whatever they fancy. You will get full development support and freedom to develop the entire application.
2. Runner up – wins GH¢500.00 worth of SMSGH services. Our team will work with you to develop your idea and then offer full development support.
3. There are no consolation prizes

All successful applicants will be provided with a free business SMS account to support their entry. All you need to do is to send us your name, physical address, and a write-up of your idea.

This challenge will be open till the 28th of November 2011.

Email-only a summary of your SMSGH Developer Challenge idea to [email protected].