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Entrepreneurs Simon Leps and Grant Fleming find out how to make fun and games profitable

By: Fontera
Date: 2007/07/13

The power of incubation or rather, business acceleration is best seen in hindsight. So says Cape Town global success story, Fontera.

The mobile development company, Fontera, began life as a three-person operation running out of business accelerator, Bandwidth Barn in the Cape Town CBD.

Traditionally a business-to-business company, Fontera has branched out into consumer side of mobile technology with the launch of international mobile social network Mobimii.

With the spectacular growth of Web 2.0 technologies such as Facebook MySpace, Fontera realised there was a significant market wishing to access these and other blogging sites from their mobile phones.

The innovative product allows users to download and share free mobile content - with no tricks and no hidden costs. Users can then chat with friends, share pics, rate and download mobile ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers and videos. Mobimii also offers users their own webpage, with blogs & photo galleries. In order to make the product even more exciting, Mobimii also offers users the opportunity to win prizes, listen to new bands and download free music.

“Its easy, its fun AND it's synchronized between the web and your cellphone,” exclaims the Mobimii website.

Everything has gone mobile, we are dealing with a mobile generation who expect everything at their fingertips wherever they are. As for the social network side, there is just no way you can escape this phenomenon. Our site is still in beta, but just through word of mouth we are increasing our test user base by at least 10 percent a day,² explains Simon Leps, CEO of Mobimii and Fontera.

The company is mindful of the potential pitfalls of social networking and for this reason has opted to make the site for 18 years and older only.

We are targeting the 18 to 26 market with content and services expressly pitched at them, their interests and their technical proficiency. We do moderate the site and we also make use of the rather successful self-moderation employed by Facebook and YouTube. That said, we are not here to peddle adult content, there are more than enough sites out there who specialise in that, Leps says.

Fontera has geared up for the growth of this side of their business and has consistently grown their staff to keep up with the demands of the new business.

The company which Ograduated¹ from the Bandwidth Barn in August last year now employs 23 staff around the world and is still on the lookout for suitable candidates.

There is just no way we would be here without the support of the Bandwidth Barn, or Odette Potter, its general manager, Leps says. Those first couple of years are a constant cash flow juggling act and working in a supportive environment makes all the difference.

Demand for innovative mobile content products and services has also meant an aggressive expansion policy and Fontera is now tackling not only the US market but is also expanding its African footprint, including Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and Kenya.

South African companies are competing with international organisations every day now, we have the technical expertise to deliver internationally and our reputation for business acumen is scoring us kudos with companies around the globe. I believe South Africa in general and Cape Town in particular have a bright future, but business accelerators will remain the key to producing companies like Fontera,comments Odette Potter, general manager of the Bandwidth Barn.

Visit www.mobimii.com & Fontera www.fontera.com

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