Truecaller, a Swedish mobile spam-blocking app that is popular with users throughout Africa, has set up its sub Saharan African headquarters in Kenya.
The app, which has over 250 million users worldwide, and a fifth of those in Africa, has selected Nairobi for its main base of operations in the region, hiring Zakaria Hersi as director of partnerships for Africa, according to Techmoran.
Hersi will be tasked with leading the company’s ambitious expansion plans across Africa, aiming to build on the 50 million users that currently make use of the mobile app.
Truecaller is the world’s largest verified mobile phone community dedicated to helping users to avoid and block spam calls and messages through the use of a mobile app.
The Scandinavian firm have begun the process of hiring key African personnel, and Hersi explained the selection of Nairobi as the company’s headquarters.
“Over the years, Kenya has consistently been a top market for us, with some of our highest usage globally, which is why it made sense for us to set up a strategic headquarters in Nairobi,” said Hersi, according to ITWebAfrica.
“With this positive momentum of growth, we look forward bringing new, innovative and localized services and offerings, and expand our presence and start engaging more deeply with the tech eco-system,” Hersi added.
South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Kenya rank among the top 20 countries in the world in terms of users receiving unwanted spam calls, with South Africa placing fifth and Nigeria ninth on that list, according to a study conducted by Truecaller.
South Africa is its fastest growing market, showing 120 percent growth year-on-year. Kenya is one of its biggest markets, with six million users currently using the app in the East African nation.
At a recent event in Cape Town the company unveiled Truecaller SDK, a mobile identity product for digital startups and app developers, according to ITNewsAfrica.
The company’s Developer Program, Truecaller SDK, enables third party app developers, digital businesses and startups to verify end users efficiently by utilizing their Truecaller profile with a one-touch and password free experience.
Available on Android, iOS and web platforms, the program can be used by any app or website to instantly onboard, autofill user information, or verify the user’s phone number-based identity through the users’ consent.
