Local Startup Friday Feature: InfoApo
About InfoApo.com
InfoApo.com is a Digital Information Community providing a single, one-stop, online web
destination to access all types of information relevant to the Zambian community. InfoApo.com is a free-to-use website portal for the community.
Accessing information is made easy for users either utilizing the home page simple search fields,
switching between core categories of grouped information, or using drop down lists to access
portals specific to types of information.
These portals provide webpages where relevant links to information specific to that theme, have
already been grouped and listed, making links to the information extremely easy for the user to
access.
When was InfoApo started?
The InfoApo concept was conceived several years ago by the founders to create a Digital Information Community within Zambia, servicing the requirements of the Internet savvy Zambian online consumer and information seeker.
At the time however, the uptake for e-commerce and digital services via the internet was not widely supported, so the launch of InfoApo was put on the backburner.
In the interim, smartphone participation has blossomed in Zambia to well over 5 million users, and that coupled with PC connectivity, means that a large proportion of the Zambian population now has the means to access digital information.
The founders therefore felt that the time was ripe to launch InfoAPo in support of this newly active Digital Information Community, and InfoApo was officially launched in April this year.
Who are the founders?
The founders are Lance and Marion Bohling, who combined their knowledge and expertise in marketing with a passion for technology in business, and by observing digital technology trends and eCommerce developments worldwide, conceived the idea to create one stop internet online destination to easily find, access and disseminate digital information within the Zambian market.
How big is your subscriber base currently?
Before responding directly on this question, it would be good to understand what the InfoApo Digital Information Community concept is all about ..
InfoApo.com provides a single, online destination, publishing a range of information that is structured in a manner that ensures an online consumer can quickly and efficiently access information they are looking for on Zambian based business, products & services, events, and much more. InfoApo further uses a Portal Page concept, where individual pages within the site are constructed around specialized themes, like Music, Football and many, more portal pages that are being rolled out.
At its core, InfoApo.com offers a business directory listing.
A very unique feature of InfoApo is that the primary listing for any company is FREE. Companies and professionals can list their business name, town location, business category and their telephone number for free.
Two categories of paid upgrade options are available, where business can add rich content to their listings, including interactive map directions; website, email and other detailed contact info; images & videos; products & services; and others.
Currently InfoApo has over 6000 primary listings, but is constantly adding to this number.
Where do you hope to be by the end of 2017?
This question can be answered in 2 ways:
Firstly, by the numbers!
We intend to have published over 11,000 primary listings by end of 2017. There well over 120,000 registered companies Zambia, and it is our ultimate intention that every active company and organisation in Zambia will be found on InfoApo. We will be growing the products & services listings [these are separate from the company listings], and hope to have listed in excess of 2000 products, services, catalogues, specials, discounts, and coupons The Events section is an excellent community initiative, and we hope by December to have community members listing their own events of at least 100 events per month.
Secondly, and most importantly, our objective is to grow the concept of a Digital Information Community for Zambia under the InfoApo.com banner. We hope that by the end of 2017, the concept is widely understood and participants across the spectrum , are using InfoApo as a sharing, searching, seeking and selling platform.
Who is your target audience?
Literally and effectively EVERYONE who has access to the internet in Zambia
As a community, the audience can either be users searching for digital information, or users wishing to publish information Specific categories of the target audience are:
- Publishing
- Business, professionals & organisations
- Sole Traders, SME, large Corporations
- Government & NGO organisations
- Event hosts
- Product merchandisers
- Searching
- Product & service consumers
- Specials and discount searches
- Leisure and event seekers
- New product consumers
- Special Interest groups
- Music
- Football
- Sport
- etc
Information websites can be very heavy on data when loading, do you have deliberate strategies to have mobile-friendly and low-cost loading pages?
Yes, we’re taking every possible means of keeping the InfoApo.com experience as data efficient as possible. We strive to find the balance between rich, informative info like images and video, which boosts the users’ experience, and the optimized page loading experience
Videos and images for listings are click-to-view only, so that automated downloads do not spoil the experience.
Another, unique feature about InfoApo, I that you will not find any banner advertising on the site. This deliberate strategy is to improve the user experience, and boost the page loading time.
The InfoApo concept of Portal Pages, where special interest information is aggregated and displayed in simple formats, before directing a user to the more info rich pages, helps speed up the search process, and reduce initial info-rich page downloads.
