KNUST students develop mobile phone app for fufu

One major vision of Life in Kumasi is to promote the nascent technology development scene in Kumasi. This was listed in our New Year’s Hopes and Dreams post at the beginning of 2014. We have the brains and all that is needed is the dedication and the drive.

That is why we are happy to introduce the new iPhone app, iFufu, developed right here in Kumasi. This smartphone app is the brainchild of talented developers Abraham Fokuo and Frank Asare, both third year students of KNUST. The idea behind the app is so breathtakingly simple. Yet the execution is so revolutionary that, with the right funding, it is set to change how everyone looks at fufu in Ghana.

“I had the idea last year when my roommates and I ordered a pizza. It was a real light bulb moment. I just thought. Why can’t we do this for the fufu industry?” – Abraham Fokuo, Developer, iFufu.

A quick look at the fufu industry informed him it was not so simple. Fufu was a traditional meal, and over time most people had developed specific preferences. He realized the regular mode of ordering – calling in and giving simple specifications – would not work. This idea required a means of execution which would fit in seamlessly with existing chop bars and restaurants. Fokuo, who is a Computer Science student, realized he needed someone with the business skill to work out how they could integrate the service providers into their business model.

It was Frank who came up with the novel idea – create an app for it. And after a year of UI design, coding and recruiting chop bar operators as partners, they are ready to launch iFufu.

According to Fokuo, the main developer of the app, the idea was so simple that he almost rejected it. He thought someone would have done it by now. But a quick Google search informed him otherwise. Quickly, he got some money from a loan shark, recruited Frank, and the rest, as they say, is history. The team registered their company with the brand BoyzBoyzTech, and they’ve never looked back.

-lifeinkumasi

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ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson

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An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.

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