Local startup Brastorne Enterprises, which enables rural villages to have access to the digital world without smartphones or data through the use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) applications, is one of 60 startups selected for Google's Black Founders Fund Africa.
The program, now in its second cohort, avails support to selected startups in the form of a 6-month training programme that includes tailored workshops, community-building sessions and access to a network of mentors to assist in tackling challenges that are unique to them.
The 60 startups will also receive equity-free funding between $50,000 and $100,000, and up to $200,000 in Google Cloud credit.
Speaking on Brastorne's selection, co-founder and Chief Growth Officer Naledi Magowe stated that, "We’re looking forward to building this community with other incredible startups and using our Google resources and non-dilutive capital to #ConnectingTheUnconnected to the world."
Brastorne, which is the only startup from Botswana selected for the program, has developed several products including "mAgri" which is a USSD application that allows farmers to market their produce across the country, "Vuka" which allows users on both low-end phones and smartphones to create profiles, add friends, create groups, chat & send in-person messages, group chats or broadcast messages and "Mpotsa" which is a 2-way telephone-based question/answer platform that aims to provide users with information on almost everything.