techcabal.com Open in urlscan Pro
18.203.106.82  Public Scan

Form analysis
3 forms found in the DOM

GET /

<form method="GET" action="/" class="search">
  <input type="search" id="search-box" name="s" placeholder="Search" required="" value="">
  <button class="search-button">
    <img loading="lazy" src="//x7d4c5z5.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/themes/tc2.0/images/tc2-search-colored.png" width="20" height="20"
      srcset="//x7d4c5z5.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/themes/tc2.0/images/tc2-search-colored.png 1x, //x7d4c5z5.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/themes/tc2.0/images/tc2-search-colored@2x.png 2x" alt="Menu">
  </button>
</form>

<form class="newsletter-subscribe newsletter-signup-form columns" data-location="single-post">
  <input type="hidden" name="fname" class="fname" required="" placeholder="First Name">
  <input type="text" name="email" class="email" required="" placeholder="Your Email">
  <div class="tc-newsletter-checkbox">
    <label class="checkbox">
      <span class="checkbox-input">
        <input class="checkbox-input-elem" type="checkbox" name="list_tcdaily" value="107863888" checked="">
        <span class="checkbox-control">
          <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false">
            <path fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="3" d="M1.73 12.91l6.37 6.37L22.79 4.59"></path>
          </svg>
        </span>
      </span>
      <span class="checkbox-radio-label">TC Daily</span>
    </label>
    <label class="checkbox">
      <span class="checkbox-input">
        <input class="checkbox-input-elem" type="checkbox" name="list_nextwave" value="107863897" checked="">
        <span class="checkbox-control">
          <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false">
            <path fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="3" d="M1.73 12.91l6.37 6.37L22.79 4.59"></path>
          </svg>
        </span>
      </span>
      <span class="checkbox-radio-label">Next Wave</span>
    </label>
    <label class="checkbox">
      <span class="checkbox-input">
        <input class="checkbox-input-elem" type="checkbox" name="list_event" value="107863894" checked="">
        <span class="checkbox-control">
          <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false">
            <path fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="3" d="M1.73 12.91l6.37 6.37L22.79 4.59"></path>
          </svg>
        </span>
      </span>
      <span class="checkbox-radio-label">Events</span>
    </label>
    <label class="checkbox">
      <span class="checkbox-input">
        <input class="checkbox-input-elem" type="checkbox" name="list_entering_tech" value="111498002" checked="">
        <span class="checkbox-control">
          <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false">
            <path fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="3" d="M1.73 12.91l6.37 6.37L22.79 4.59"></path>
          </svg>
        </span>
      </span>
      <span class="checkbox-radio-label">Entering Tech</span>
    </label>
  </div>
  <button type="button" class="theheader__form__submit border-button">Subscribe</button>
</form>

<form class="report-download-form">
  <label>
    <input type="text" name="first-name" class="first-name" placeholder="First Name">
  </label>
  <label>
    <input type="text" name="last-name" class="last-name" placeholder="Last Name">
  </label>
  <label>
    <input type="email" name="work-email" class="work-email" placeholder="Work Email">
  </label>
  <label>
    <input type="text" name="company" class="company" placeholder="Company">
  </label>
  <label>
    <input type="text" name="job-title" class="job-title" placeholder="Job Title">
  </label>
  <label class="checkbox" for="send-report-emails">
    <span class="checkbox-field">
      <input type="checkbox" name="send-report-emails" id="send-report-emails" value="111752635" class="checkbox-input-elem" checked="">
      <span class="checkbox-control">
        <svg width="10" height="7" viewBox="0 0 10 7" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
          <path d="M3.75 6.66907L0.625 3.56907L1.61875 2.60657L3.75 4.70032L8.38125 0.106567L9.375 1.09407L3.75 6.66907Z" fill="#6C6C6C"></path>
        </svg>
      </span>
    </span>
    <span class="checkbox-label">Send me emails about TechCabal Reports and other Insights</span>
  </label>
  <label class="checkbox" for="newsletter-subscriptions">
    <span class="checkbox-field">
      <input type="checkbox" name="newsletter-subscription" id="newsletter-subscription" value="109788065" class="checkbox-input-elem" checked="">
      <span class="checkbox-control">
        <svg width="10" height="7" viewBox="0 0 10 7" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
          <path d="M3.75 6.66907L0.625 3.56907L1.61875 2.60657L3.75 4.70032L8.38125 0.106567L9.375 1.09407L3.75 6.66907Z" fill="#6C6C6C"></path>
        </svg>
      </span>
    </span>
    <span class="checkbox-label">Sign me up for TechCabal’s Daily Newsletters</span>
  </label>
  <input type="submit" class="submit-button" value="Get the Report">
</form>

Text Content

Quick Links
 * Botswana
 * Seipone.ai
 * Southern Africa

 * Dark/Light
 * Search
 * Menu

Search

Follow us
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

 * Flagships
   * Ask An Investor
   * Centre Stage
   * My Life In Tech
   * Factsheet
   * Digital Nomads
   * The BackEnd
   * Web3
   * Quick Fire
 * Newsletters
   * TC Daily
   * Entering Tech
   * The Next Wave
   * TC Weekender
 * Events
 * Reports
 * TC Insights
 * Video
 * Shop

 * About
 * Advertise
 * Tech Women Lagos


 * Menu
 * Categories
 * Newsletter
 * Events

Artificial Intelligence


THIS BOTSWANA-BASED AI STARTUP IS LOOKING TO REVOLUTIONISE MARKETING IN AFRICA.
HERE IS HOW THEY PLAN TO DO IT

By Ephraim Modise Apr 24, 2023

Kagiso Mpa and Nomsa Makgabenyana, co-founders of Seipone.ai (Image source:
Provided)

The rise in popularity of OpenAI’s conversational AI chatbot, ChatGPT, has seen
the entrance into mainstream culture of consumer facing AI tools. DALL-E,
Midjourney and Stable Diffusion are some other popular tools.

In Africa, however, innovation around generative AI products has not become
apparent. This does not mean that there is no activity in the AI space on the
continent. Seipone.ai is a Botswana based AI startup which is building an
enterprise software-as-a-service product which seeks to revolutionise the way
brands understand their customers.

Initially founded in 2018 as “Seriti Insights” which was a software consultancy
firm, Seipone.ai made a full pivot to AI in April 2022, deciding to focus
entirely on its enterprise AI SaaS product. This move is further explained by
co-founder and CEO Nomsa Makgabenyana in an interview with TechCabal.

“We started in 2018 building ad hoc and bespoke software solutions mainly in the
insurance space for sales and operational teams to boost their productivity and
to be able to get the maximum results from the data that they have,” she said.
“Last year, we then decided to completely pivot from that business to build and
solely focus on our AI too, Seipone.ai”


A PIVOT WORTH MAKING

Although the timing for the pivot into AI seems well thought as it coincided
with the bursting of generative AI into the mainstream, it was a difficult pivot
to make for Makgabenyana and her team.

“It was a difficult decision to make particularly because it meant we lost that
consistent revenue from the consultancy business. But it was very important for
us to take that strategic decision because we really believe in the potential of
not only AI as a technology but of Seipone.ai as a business.”

Speaking more on the product, Makgabenyana believes it will be the next big
thing in helping companies and brands in Africa harness the power of social
media and AI to really understand the sentiments and pain points of consumers.

Using the power of artificial intelligence and applied machine learning,
Seipone.ai carefully mines historical and real-time data to help brands and
companies understand consumer sentiments for insightful decision-making, no
matter their language and style in linguistics, which are ever so fleeting. 

It is designed to learn and understand natural language and is able to
understand Setswana and other indigenous languages like Swahili as well as
social media lingo and slang. It also gives emotions behind opinions and gives
insights into what the public perception is of the user’s topic of interest,
rendering it a bot with artificial intelligence capabilities.

Target users include marketing agencies, advertising teams, brand builders, and
managers by helping them to manage their brand reputation, identify online
mentions, gain consumer intelligence, and more using a mix of algorithms that
capture and comprehend 87% of data that is missed by traditional media tools
that would otherwise be left out.

Makgabenyane at the launch of Seipone.ai in April, 2022. (Image source:
Provided)


EXPANSION AMBITIONS

Although Seipone.ai currently serves clients only in Botswana, who include the
country’s largest commercial bank and leading mobile network operator, the start
has its sights set on entering the East Africa market, specifically Kenya. 

There are also future plans to penetrate the Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa,
Rwanda, USA, and Netherlands markets as there has been a significant amount of
interest there. The startup is currently in the process of raising a seed round
to further build out their minimal viable product (MVP) and also supercharge its
expansion ambitions, a process she expects to be concluded within the next 6 to
18 months.

“We have raised money in the past through some grants and although it has helped
extend our runway, we are talking to a couple of investors who are showing a lot
of interest. The issues we are coming across are with regards to valuations and
other tidbits, which are expected especially in an undesirable economic
environment but all in all, everything is progressing well and we expect to
succeed with fundraising,” said Makgabenyana.

Additionally, Makgabenyana also believes that the funding will help in marketing
the product offering because their experience has shown that there is still a
significant knowledge gap in most African markets about the true power of
utilising AI as a marketing technology tool.

Image source (Provided)

To address that gap at the moment, Seipone.ai has developed a platform called
Seipone Learning which is basically three workshops designed in-house to offer
education on the power of AI for brands and companies.

 “So there’s three workshops in Seipone Learning. One is taken by me and focuses
on showing the value of AI for businesses. The second one focuses more on how
customers can incorporate AI into their marketing process and is taught by my
co-founder Kagiso Mpa. The third one speaks more on understanding the value of
language in marketing and is taught by a consultant who is a specialist in
Applied Linguistics,” added Makgabenyana. 


MARCHING FORWARD

A year after fully pivoting to the AI product, Seipone.ai has had its fair share
of wins, losses,challenges, and the lessons that come with the process.
According to Makgabenyana, all those will contribute greatly towards building a
business that will revolutionise the way companies and brands think about
marketing in Africa.

“I think we entered the market at the right time because the success of ChatGPT
has given much needed attention to not only generative AI products but also
enterprise ones like ours. We have garnered a significant amount of traction
like raising some funds and also being accepted into programs like CcHub Nigeria
which has helped us to significantly improve our product,” she said.

On what will be the main focus over the next year of operations, Makgabenyana
alludes to the focus on building partnerships that will serve the expansion
mandate of the startup.

“Forming partnerships will be very, very important because they will allow us to
add some wind to our sails in terms of traction. Partnerships will also give us
more clout because as a new company operating in a nascent industry like AI,
sometimes its a bit tougher to convince clients, most of them who are
established corporates, about the validity of our value proposition.”

One of those partnerships is with numerous marketing agencies in Botswana and
other markets like Kenya. The partnerships seek to make clear the value addition
that Seipone.ai can offer to the agencies’ clients, a move which Makgebenyana
believes will significantly reduce the length of their sales cycles.

“With some enterprises, it can take up to ten months for them to decide to
onboard a technology. To curtail that, we are partnering with agencies to show
them the value of our product, value which they can then pass on to their
client. It’s a win-win situation because we, on one hand, get to significantly
reduce the time we take to “convince” brands about our value proposition and the
agencies on the other hand get to add value to their clients’ operations.” 

In conclusion, Makgebenyana believes that the secret to the power of Seipone.ai
is its ability to allow brands to have a vivid picture of what consumers think
of them, a picture which enables brands to know what products to build, which to
improve and which to bin.

“Our product contextualises how consumers speak about their experiences with
brands products. What I think is the most important aspect is that we create
this context using consumers’ natural language input as well as slang. Most
people on social media are more honest when they express themselves in their
natural language,” she said.

“There is so much value brands can unlock by having this context and for us, we
are waiting to work with these kinds of brands who are obviously very agile and
hungry to be successful in front of their consumers through incorporating the
latest technologies.”

Share this article
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 




GET THE BEST AFRICAN TECH NEWSLETTERS IN YOUR INBOX

TC Daily Next Wave Events Entering Tech
Subscribe



MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR

News
No South Africans, you don’t have to pay for a car radio licence
Ephraim Modise
Energy
Schools, hospitals should be exempted from load shedding, says SA high court
Ephraim Modise
Technology
Mozambique gets its first 5G network, courtesy of Vodacom
Ephraim Modise




READ NEXT

Technology
Liquid Intelligent Technologies commits to building a data centre in Zambia
Ephraim Modise


READ MORE

Artificial Intelligence
Nomba: from an AI chatbot to a $150 million valued company
Muktar Oladunmade
Artificial Intelligence
Making ChatGPT and other AI tools work for business
Alex Pryor
Artificial Intelligence
Fraudsters don’t think AI can do the job yet
Ngozi Chukwu
Artificial Intelligence
What will happen now that AI can sing like your favourite Nigerian musician?
Ngozi Chukwu
Artificial Intelligence
Next Wave: Africa is not missing out on AI, you’re just not noticing
Abraham Augustine
Artificial Intelligence
ChatGPT goes into e-commerce, travel, and work automation with new plug-ins
Ngozi Chukwu


TechCabal is a future-focused publication that speaks to African innovation and
technology in depth
Follow us
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

Copyright ©2023. All rights reserved. Privacy & Terms.
×


TECHCABAL’S 2021 YEAR-END REPORT

Free

Send me emails about TechCabal Reports and other Insights Sign me up for
TechCabal’s Daily Newsletters


SUCCESS!

Check your email for your report

Download Report


Check your email for your report

Get More Reports

Want to stay up to date on tech and innovation in Africa?


Yes pleaseNo