As a kid, Boluwatife Omotayo, CEO of Gamp, was given a desktop computer by his mom – she wanted him to become a coder. “Instead, I became a gamer and eventually broke the PC,” he laughed. “My mom was furious and I was tasked with figuring out how to fix or replace it. That was when I discovered that device manufacturers simply don’t provide enough support in Africa. So when devices break down or malfunction, they are unnecessarily difficult and expensive to fix or replace.” This experience, and countless anecdotes from friends and family members later, was how Gamp came to be.
Before Gamp:
1. Device protection products/ services were almost non-existent, unlike in the US, Europe, and South-East Asia where products/ services like Applecare+ and Samsung Care+ are much available, leading to customers sometimes condemning or shipping damaged devices abroad for support
2. Consumers (businesses and individuals) have to visit local repair shops which are inconvenient and lack transparent, authentic and time-bound service delivery
3. Fixing or replacing broken devices is unnecessarily expensive and it’s such that Africans spend between 30-100% of the device value on it.
Gamp is an insurtech for devices. They provide Device Protection Plans and Repair Support for individuals and businesses for laptops, workstations/desktops, and smartphones/tablets in Nigeria – Whatever brand, whether it’s new, used, or refurbished. With Gamp, OEMs and device retailers can offer instant protection and repair support to their customers while consumers can instantly protect their devices and also request repair support services online (via their web platforms or APIs) or through their Retail Partners and Agents (offline and online).
Devices are the single most valuable assets common to individuals and businesses. Most of the technological advancements in Africa can be traced to the proliferation of smartphones. Gamp’s mission is to make it easy for Africans to easily maintain these devices throughout their lifecycle.
Gamp has a very experienced founding team with rich leadership experiences in Africa. Before Gamp, Boluwatife Omotayo founded Tab Digitals, an online sales and repair shop for devices. Then he moved on to Carry1st where he did Growth in Nigeria and South Africa. Temitope Ige-Isang, a Harvard alumni who is also the COO at Gamp, spent almost 2 decades as head of retail, sales & distribution at Old Mutual, Royal Exchange, and Mutual Benefits. Toluwani Famokunwa, an engineering graduate with distinction from the Federal University of Technology,
Akure, has extensive experience leading and developing consumer technology products in both Nigeria and South Africa.
Alongside the grit and experience of the founders is the backing of credible investors like Ingressive Capital, First Circle Capital, and Future Africa. Other notable investors include Cordel Robbin-Coker and Lucy Hoffman (two co-founders of Carry1st), and Lara Rabiu amongst others. Cordel is an early investor in over 20 African startups including Paystack, Yoco, and Tizetti. Agnes Aistleitner and Selma Ribica of First Circle Capital are amazing insurtech investors in the region and Maya Horgan Famodu has invested in some of the most successful startups in the region, they bring their massive experience in navigating the market to the team.
Luke Mostert, Head of Investments at Future Africa said “While many providers facilitate access to financing or low-cost electronics to meet Africa’s burgeoning consumer tech-adoption, there has been limited focus on how consumers can ensure the longevity of these products through device protection and, even more importantly, trusted and timely repair. This fits Future Africa’s mandate in two key spheres, namely the development of robust supply chains, as well as renewable and sustainable economic development – making it an apt addition to our portfolio”
Gamp is launching out of her beta stage after spending some months in incubation. They were selected to participate in the Bima Labs Accelerator – the biggest insurtech accelerator in Africa, an initiative of FSD Africa and NAICOM. The company is live in Nigeria and currently has over a hundred distribution partners, with several customers (Individuals, startups, and corporate entities) including CredPal, Carry1st, WSI, and one of the biggest Securities Exchange in the region. The Gamp team is growing at a significant pace across Nigeria.
A comparable company is Asurion, a US-based $8.5Bn revenue company with over 300 million customers globally. Boluwatife sees Gamp building this in Africa with Gamp becoming the go-to Protection and Repair Partners for OEMs and device retailers.
The huge opportunity – For context, there are over 520 million connected devices in Africa and estimates say that by 2023, there will be more smartphones in Africa than in North America – and the collective expertise of the team, investors, and partners make Gamp a startup worth looking out for in Africa in the coming years.
You can learn more about Gamp by visiting www.getgamp.com.
