MXit, one of South Africa‘s largest and most successful social networks, has spread it‘s wings and branched out to India.
Founded in 2007, Mxit has become a prominent messaging system within South Africa. While Mxit is available in a handful of other countries, it‘s new presence in India looks set to be as successful as it is on home soil.
There are over 900 million cellphones in India, more than half of which are feature phones. This is of course a key target for Mxit, as the network is mostly aimed at feature phones that don‘t have the full capability to handle other popular messaging systems designed for smartphones, i.e WhatsApp.
At the helm of Mxit India, is Indian businessman, Sam Rufus Nallaraj. The new CEO is the former vice president at Deloitte Touché in Hyderabad. He is also somewhat of a celebrity in India – he was a cast member in the Asian version of Donald Trump‘s popular reality show, “˜The Apprentice‘ in July of last year.
In an effort to draw some media attention, Chairman of Mxit, Michael Jordaan, attended the launch of the Mxit India. Also joining the former FNB CEO, was veteran South African cricketer and former coach of India‘s national cricket team, Gary Kirsten.
Of course it is no secret that Kirsten is a very popular man in India after he successfully led the national team to a World Cup win in 2011.
The attendance of both Jordaan and Kirsten forms part of Mxit‘s marketing strategy to boost the South African company‘s profile in India.
CEO of Mxit, Francois Swart, believes that by expanding Mxit to another emerging market such as India, the company is helping in bringing innovative and new technology to the masses:
“œLaunching Mxit in India was a natural strategic next step, which allows us to continue building on the success we‘ve had with the application in South Africa…[sic] Expanding our emerging market footprint enables us to bring our innovative technology to the masses, making the “˜smartphone‘ experience affordable to every consumer, regardless of the device they use“ he said.
Considering Mxit‘s vast success in South Africa, it is very likely that the company will enjoy the same level of success in India. As for us, we are always happy to see a South African company expanding to other corners of the world.
Source: BusinessTech
