Every once in a while a company will rise that makes incredibly large waves on a simple idea. MXit is doing this right now with mobile phone-based chat. Started in South Africa in January 2005, MXit has grown exponentially to a userbase of 4 million (between 7-10k new signups each day).

I was able to sit down and talk with Darryn Foster, Director and GM, about what MXit is, what they’ve done and where they are going. It’s no surprise that a company like MXit thinks big, globally even, and with 1/4 million users internationally (that they didn’t spend any marketing dollars to get) there’s a good chance they will make quite a splash wherever they go.

Unfortunately, the audio capture on this particular interview did not come out very well. Instead of a podcast I have pulled out some highlights of our conversation in a text format below:

Erik Hersman: Darryn, can you tell us a little about what you do and what MXit is?

Darryn Foster: Certainly. We launched MXit in it’s current form about 18 months ago. Intially as a mobile, Java instant messaging platform. We have seen a very rapid uptake within a specific demographic in South Africa - mainly South African youth. We will hit 4 million users early next week.

Erik: Wow! 4 million users? Now, I’ve heard somewhere that you’re getting about 10,000 new subscribers a day, is that right?

Darryn: Yeah, we hover between 7,000 - 10,000 new subscribers each day. It’s a consistantly high subscriber growth rate. We’re sitting on about 1/4 of a million international users without any effort whatsoever. We haven’t promoted the product internationally at all, but have gotten quite some traction there anyway. We’re looking at taking that to the next level now.

It’s been a great ride, we’ve had a lot of fun doing this. We’ve got a platform now that has enormous value to this industry in South Africa. As far as Africa in general is concerned, the potential is endless, and we feel we have a fairly compelling pitch for the rest of the world as well.

Erik: So, I know you’re planning to move out of just South Africa, where are you going to take MXit and what are your goals?

Darryn: We’re currently researching a number of opportunities across some very diverse areas - from other countries across sub-Saharan Africa to South America and Australia. This is a global opportunity that we’re looking at, but the culture and the ingredients have to be right for something like this to work.

Erik: Would it be safe to say that MXit is to email, what email was to snail mail?

Darryn: Yes and no. It’s a different sort of environment that we’re trying to create here in the real time internet of chat. Bear in mind, our current strength is in the mobile space. Our online presence, which you’ll start to see in the next couple of months, is very embryonic. We are now, and will be in the future, a mobile company. It’s hard to compare it to email or SMS, because it is neither, it’s a real time chat based system.

We see chat, and cheap chat, as the primary reason that people use our service at the moment. The ability to build and launch ancilliary products and services on top of that platform that appeal to the same subcriber base is critical to our success as a business.

We’re looking at how we can bridge the phone and the PC, between the mobile and the internet, and keep people talking to eachother as long as they want to.

Erik: Do you see MXit as a platform that other developers can build on top of, or is it something that only MXit will be developing on?

Darryn: That’s an interesting question. In the short term, we’re not going down any real open source development strategy. The idea has always been to create a platform that others can come and participate in - so if there are development partners that there’s a good fit with, we will work with them. We’re actually pursuiting and actively engaged with partners that we feel there is synergy with between our two organizations. We’re open to talk, and we’re keen for more opportunities like that.

Erik: Besides chat, where do you see the MXit platform going?

Darryn: I think the obvious continuation from where we are now is building a more complete network. There’s a very difinitive space within social networking that we can occupy in the mobile world.

Erik: With this phenomenal growth and push to move internationally, should I let everyone know that you’re hiring?

Darryn: We are employing in South Africa, and we’re looking for in-country partners in the countries we move into. We don’t claim to understand the nuances of the particular cultures, so we’re looking for local partners to occupy that space and give the platform the local flavor that it needs to get the traction that we’re looking for.

Erik: What countries are you looking to target first?

Darryn: We’re looking at a number of possibilities in Central and Eastern Europe. I can’t go into a whole lot of detail, since it’s not defined yet.

Erik: Are there any other African countries that might be potential targets?

Darryn: There are some very obvious ones - Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana - the buoyant subscriber markets where there is good traction for a MXit type of service. However, I prefer to look at it from a trans-African perspective rather than a country-specific perspective.

Erik: Darryn, thank you for your time and insight into MXit today.

Take a moment to watch it:

You can download the video from his website, where you can also see some of his other fantastic videos.

Ken Banks and his FrontlineSMS system have been around for about 18 months. In February he was contacted by a group in Nigeria who wanted to use it for monitoring of the upcoming presidential elections from the grass roots level (see BBC story).

Ken isn’t just a talker, he actually is doing things with technology to make the world a better place. He has a distinct focus on Africa, as can be seen through the various projects he has worked on over the years. To get an understanding of how important social change is to him, beyond even the money, listen to the podcast and understand his favorite quote:

“I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again…”

Etienne de Grellet, French poet and missionary (1773-1855)

Read more about Ken Banks at his organization’s site Kiwanja.net, or on his blog.

Nathan Eagle’s presentation on Africa and the mobile phone market at the LIFT Conference. Nathan is working on a project called EPROM, which stands for Entrepreneurial Program and Research on Mobiles. As referred to in Ethan Zuckerman’s post, and talk with him last week. He lives in Kenya and has some really interesting things to say.

This is well worth watching.

More on Nathan Eagle.

He has started the African ISP Association (AfrISPA) and can be contacted via email at eric@afrispa.org. You can also read his blog here.

I had the chance to record his “African Digerati Interview” at the same time, but due to length I will post that at a later date.

Below is the first interview for African Signals. I had problems with the video files, so ended up having to make it an audio file. It’s an interview of Mike Stopforth of Afrigator.com (among many other things) and we talk about their business model, where they’re going, and their new launch of Afrigator Mobile.

Bear with me as I work with different quality settings for both video and audio. A special thanks to those who have helped me try and work some kinks out so far:

Jason Hawkins - great video work!
AfroMusing
Mike Stopforth
Vincent Njoroge
Neville Newey

The easiest way to do a video interview over long distances is through Skype video - where I just record the audio and video on my end. First problem: it turns out that not everyone has the ability to do audio Skype, much less vide. Second problem: my recording software is only capturing video, but no audio at the moment. Fun times!

I’m still on schedule to have my first “Intro to African Signals” out this week, just missing the interview I wanted as part of it. The good news is that yesterday I purchased a nice usb mic that works wonders. The audio recording is working now.

One last note. I realize that I need A LOT of practice at being on screen. Thank god African Signals isn’t about me, but about the people I’m interviewing!