Loy Okezie

Zoopy, an online and mobile social media community where users upload, share and interact with videos, photos, audio and notes will soon be making its footprints around the African social media space.

Based in South Africa, the company which was launched in March 2007 was selected by Nokia as their Regional Imaging Partner for South Africa in December 2007 and received 40% investment (now increased to 75%) from Vodacom, South Africa’s leading cellular network in June 2008.

According to MyDigitalLife.co.za, Zoopy’s CEO, Jason Elk says Zoopy will leverage Vodacom`s technology and reach into the (African) continent in order to tap into the market.

Elk is adamant there is a large enough market for social media in Africa. (I agree with him). He also points to countries such as Nigeria and Kenya, which he says have burgeoning online communities, not to mention a very huge mobile community waiting to be exploited.

Trust Zoopy, their goal is to target those communities with their suite of mobile broadcasting services. Catch them young, huh!

I recently joined Zoopy and got in touch with Jason, who confirmed to me that (in his words):

We’re starting to explore African markets this year and are just as excited at growing our community into the rest of the continent.

If Zoopy launches across Africa, this could change the face of social media and raise the standards of online communities in Africa. But would that stop Africans from using YouTube? I doubt. Whatever the case, Zoopy could still become a major competitor in the African social media space.

My advice to companies here is to invest in social media communities in Africa. That way, they can easily target audiences that are directly related to or interested in their products and brand.

Is your company moving where the market is going?

Tags: africa, nokia, Social Media, vodacom, youtube, zoopy