AfricaEye (Pty) Ltd is a subsidiary of Fernridge Consulting. This business was born out of the need for demographic data in Africa, through an online portal that can service a global community in real-time.
The AfricaEye data set is unique in the sense that we provide household count, type dwelling, income classification and retail expenditures for 17 retail categories – all displayed geographically using maps and aerial photography. By overlaying all these data layers with spatial distribution, we make it easier for our customers to interpret data in any particular catchment area. This data assists our customers to evaluate the potential market size and thereby mitigate their risk.
By combining our areas of expertise we were able to form a strong partnership that solidifies our vision for the AfricaEye business. The world is increasingly mobile: people want access to information wherever they are, whenever they need it. We’re pioneering new technologies and offering new solutions for mobile services that help people all over the globe to access demographic data in Africa.
From a technology perspective, we’re a Microsoft house. Our business strategy is centered on Microsoft’s Azure platform which has proven to be a great decision. The Gartner report released in March 2016, proves that Microsoft Azure is the leader and visionary in enterprise application platforms and operational database management. Microsoft was also the first major cloud provider to adopt the new international cloud privacy standard, ISO 27018. AfricaEye can make an industry-leading commitment to the protection and privacy of your data.
In addition, we’re hoping to fuel greater innovation for big data in Africa. We currently aggregate various data layers to service the Retail industry. Our vision is to expand this capability across multiple industries, and we aim to build great products to help businesses succeed.
What sets AfricaEye apart from any other data vendor of this kind, is the fact that we have world-class analysts behind the data. The Fernridge brand is well established in the industry as the trusted advisors to many global organizations doing business in Africa. The two original founders of Fernridge Consulting, Stephen Walters and Sybrand Strauss, are still actively involved and they play a major role as our mentors in driving this business into the future.