Brastorne Enterprises

Access to the internet enables low-income families to access tools and services that can lift them out of poverty. Unfortunately, only 24% of the 1 billion people in Africa have routine access to the internet, and rural Africans are disproportionately unconnected.

Founded in 2013 in Botswana by Thato (Martin) Stimela, Brastorne connects the unconnected in Africa by providing internet access and app-like services to the poorest people unable to afford a smartphone or mobile data. Brastorne has built a suite of products targeting the 300 million feature phone users in Africa, who are among the world’s poorest and most marginalized citizens. They provide access to trade (mobile marketplace), information, knowledge sharing, market prices, and chat services through feature phones without the need for data or internet. Brastorne’s deep understanding of the mobile phone behaviors, price constraints, and priorities of its customers has allowed it to scale rapidly to more than 1 million users in Botswana in 2 years.