Google became a colossus first by solving the biggest problem that vexed the early Web: inefficient search. The company’s killer app was a deceptively simple algorithm that scored sites based on how many others linked to it. Global ubiquity ensued.
Now, two decades later and half a world away, Ghanaian entrepreneur Raindolf Owusu, 25, is applying his own troubleshooting mojo to help his continent’s frustrated Web users. In Africa, standard browsers lose users plagued by costly, sub-par Internet service.
Owusu therefore created the first browser designed specifically to retain users through periods of slow connection speeds: Anansi, named for a spider in African folklore. It entertains users during sluggish connectivity with a built-in game and webcam.
Anansi was the first product developed by Owusu’s five-year-old startup, Oasis Websoft. From his headquarters in Accra, he has now—mimicking the Google founders’ trajectory—shifted focus to other promising, if unproven new businesses. Among them are two medical apps: Dr. Diabetes, an information clearinghouse about the condition; and Bisa, designed for patient-to-doctor messaging.
Both would seem to have wide applicability throughout the continent, and that’s exactly Owusu’s aim for his browser, his apps—and beyond.
“We hope in a few years we can expand our operations in other parts of Africa,” he told ForbesAfrica last year, “and build a digital hub where Africans can learn more about emerging disruptive technologies like 3D printers and drones, and how they can improve our lives.”
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