Nadya Eka Lestari
TechInAfrica — Survey 54 is an AI mobile survey platform to solve the problem of data collection in Africa. The startup, founded by Stephan Eyeson, provides good quality data essential for governments and private businesses to accurately plan, fund and evaluate their activities.
“Data in Africa is such a prevalent problem, in a sense of when you are going to start up a business, it is hard for you to get consumer data on say ‘how many people eat out in Lagos every day? what is the transactional value? what are the types of things that people eat? what do they want to eat etc?’ All these things are available in the West but for people who want to move into Africa for business, how do they get their data to make their decisions and how do we make it really easy for them and not just for a startup but for even governments and larger businesses,” Eyeson said on an occasion.
“The problem around data in Africa and emerging markets is a massive one. So, for us, it’s about how do we become a data platform not just for a company but for governments to help them understand their people easier.”
Data is the only beginning and intelligence around that data is needed to enable users to make objective analysis that will help their decision-making process and provide the foundation for policy-making and budgeting.
“Instead of hiring an agency to go to Ghana and do a face-to-face interview, for example, we look at how governments can get mobile data faster and then how they are able to manipulate that data to get the results they need,” Eyeson added.
Eyeson’s unique understanding of the data space was shaped by many startups and larger companies who depend on his expertise to encourage results in Africa.
“Stephan has great expertise in strategy and high-level corporate business development. Survey 54 has and will be instrumental for companies to make decisions within Africa and emerging markets, making it easier to use and understand consumer data. A platform like Survey 54 is essential for companies operating on the continent,” Nana Adomako, head of UK & Ghana growth at Taptap Send commented.
The data business is huge. Global revenues for data and business analytics are predicted to reach $189 billion this year and $274.3 billion by 2022, according to technology market research firm IDC. Even though Survey 54 is still in the first full year of business, the company has already secured contracts with multinationals like Colgate and many others.
Recently, Survey 54 has secured a spot in Startupbootcamp platform in Cape Town. The company is working its way to secure a first-mover lead in data in Africa. However, there are challenges they need to face. As the company grows, they will need to solve the language barrier across Africa and learn to interpret data by bringing the cultural context into the surveys organizations are seeking.
Eyeson has planned on expanding to the US markets in the long term, and as of now, his goal is to transfer the abundant and ubiquitous asset of data in Africa into his startup growing revenues.
Source: forbesafrica.com
