Bhluemountain is effective, reliable, and easy to work with. Schedule a free consultation and we’ll show you why we were named one of the top IT firms in Nigeria
start Now
We are a team of top-accredited professionals who are unceasingly committed to delivering trailblazing solutions that ensure your maximum productivity. We help our customers build the core foundation for a successful and secure digital transformation journey
Quality is at the heart of everything we do, and we continuously challenge ourselves to improve our services to meet or exceed the needs and expectations of our customers, while always complying with regulations and specifications.
Whilst we have a big smile on our faces about our recognition, we never forget that our team and our clients work together as one, so thank you for all of your support.
Together with our team of accredited experts, we assist businesses in navigating their current IT estates and digital future through informed and cost-saving IT models.
At Bhluemountain we help small and large enterprises, run their mission-critical systems and operations while modernizing IT, optimizing data architectures, and ensuring security and scalability across public, private and hybrid clouds. We deploy our technology solutions and services to enable businesses drive performance, competitiveness, and customer experience.
Whatever your industry area, we provide full-spectrum IT support services to help you meet changing business needs.
Effective Cloud Solutions and strategies that help you drive overall efficiency and scale effortlessly.
Gain key insights from data to drive impactful outcomes for strategic objectives.
Technology and industry consulting expertise to help you drive your digital transformation journey.
Brastorne Enterprises, a Botswana-based startup that transforms feature phones into Internet-enabled devices for rural Africans, plans to begin operations in Côte d’Ivoire by the end of the first quarter of 2026 as it rolls out a lightweight web platform designed for farmers using entry-level smartphones, the company told TechCabal. The expansion will be done through a partnership with mobile network operator Orange, a long-time partner of the company, as it continues to scale services aimed at users without reliable internet access or high-end devices. Brastorne’s expansion comes as agritech platforms across Africa increasingly adopt hybrid models that combine USSD services with web and smartphone platforms in response to uneven connectivity across the continent. Smartphone adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa remains below 55%, with gaps most pronounced in rural areas where the majority of smallholder farmers live. Platforms such as Kenya’s DigiFarm, M-Kulima, and Farm.io have built services around USSD and SMS to reach farmers using basic phones while gradually introducing online platforms as internet access improves, reflecting a broader shift in African agritech toward moving users online while maintaining access for farmers who still depend on low-bandwidth channels for information, market access, and advisory services. Founded in 2013 by Martin Stimela and Naledi Magowe, Brastorne operates in Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Guinea, and Zambia, with nearly six million users. The company targets Africans without smartphones or reliable internet access, a population it estimates at about 760 million, and has partnered with organisations including Heifer International in Zambia as well as mobile operators Orange, Mascom, and MTN across its markets. The platform currently runs three core services: mAgri, which provides farmers with market information, trading opportunities, and agricultural advice; Mpotsa, an interactive voice and SMS service delivering localised content on health, education, and employment; and Vuka, a social communication service designed for feature-phone users. Brastorne co-founder Naledi Magowe said the company will keep its USSD services for feature-phone users even as it introduces a lightweight web platform for smartphone users as connectivity improves. “We chose a web app instead of an app because when we look at the farmers that we’re reaching, they do have smartphones, but entry-level smartphones where space becomes an issue,” Magowe said. “If you’re coming with an application, it’s going to be uninstalled very quickly because they want to save space.” The new web platform will allow farmers to ask questions in local languages through text, voice, or images, with responses generated by an AI system trained on agricultural data, weather information, and market intelligence. If the system cannot resolve a query, it escalates the request to a human agronomist. “We want the farmer to be able to, for example, if they’re noticing some kind of pest or disease on their plants, just take a picture, upload it on the web app, and the AI gives diagnostic information and links them to an expert,” Magowe said. According to the company, the platform integrates live weather data, pest and disease surveillance, and market pricing information to provide context-specific recommendations. It will also include training modules, certification programmes through university partnerships, farmer-to-farmer video content, and a digital marketplace where users can list and view products. Magowe said artificial intelligence (AI) will increasingly be used to personalise user experiences and improve efficiency, although the company is still building technical capacity. “We’re still looking for talent that can help us solidify our AI operation,” she said, noting that specialised AI expertise remains limited across the continent. Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin Togo Other Select your gender Male Female Others TC Daily TC Events TC Scoop Subscribe Brastorne also plans to introduce financial services such as credit and insurance for smallholder farmers through partnerships with mobile money platforms, including Orange Money and MTN MoMo. Magowe said localisation will be central to the Côte d’Ivoire launch, a factor she described as key to Brastorne’s success across multiple African markets. “Every country is very unique. What’s being farmed is different, the climate is different, even livestock priorities are different,” she said. “We work with local content partners to ensure the right translations, the right content, and that our products are tailored to the needs of farmers in each market.” While partnerships with mobile network operators have enabled scale, they have also slowed expansion timelines, a challenge the company is trying to mitigate. “Just to get things situated in Botswana, it took us about three years. And then the next market we went into was DRC. That took almost two years. Then the next market took about a year,” Magowe said. “So it does reduce over time. However, it’s not as fast as we need it to be because we’re also a business and we need to grow and we have a team and we still have to operate.” Despite the challenge, the company is proceeding with its Côte d’Ivoire launch as it accelerates its shift from USSD to AI-driven platforms across new markets. As Brastorne prepares to enter Côte d’Ivoire, it is also exploring expansion into Burkina Faso, Benin, Sierra Leone, and Ghana, with the long-term goal of operating in at least 19 African countries and reaching over 45 million users, helping to narrow the continent’s connectivity gap.
Read MorePrediction With fraud no longer a major distraction following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s strict regulatory interventions and consumer trust being rebuilt, fintechs will return to massive growth and innovation. The market could double this year alone. Supporting Evidence CBN has already shown it will use enforcement to force compliance. The fines on Moniepoint and OPay in 2024 signalled a tougher posture toward large platforms. The CBN’s own fintech reporting and ecosystem survey positioning emphasise trust frameworks, consumer protection, and a more orderly market structure. Underlying payment rails are still compounding fast, meaning the demand side is there if trust improves. Payment data shows large yearly increases in instant payment value and strong growth in mobile transfers. Large Nigerian consumer fintechs have reached massive scale (users and merchants), which makes them unusually capable of converting renewed trust into higher engagement, cross-selling, and new launches. Risk Factors Compliance costs, licensing constraints, and operational restrictions can slow experimentation even if it helps incumbents. The CBN’s own survey shows the ecosystem is split on whether regulation is supportive or constraining. A major platform outage, high-profile scam, or enforcement action can reset consumer sentiment quickly, especially in a market where many users are newly banked and trust is still thin. Who is Adedeji Olowe? Adedeji Olowe is a Nigerian technology entrepreneur and financial services professional with deep experience across banking and fintech. He previously worked in the Nigerian banking sector, where he was involved in building and managing large-scale financial systems before transitioning into technology entrepreneurship. He is the founder of Lendsqr, a fintech infrastructure company that provides tools for lenders and financial institutions to build, manage, and scale digital credit products across Africa. Olowe is also the Chairman of the Board at Paystack, where he supports the company’s long-term governance and strategic direction.
Read MoreRwanda has signed an expansion agreement with US-based drone logistics company Zipline to scale autonomous medical delivery systems, under a $150 million “pay-for-performance” funding from the US Department of State. The deal triggers the release of US funding designed to scale Zipline’s AI-driven medical delivery infrastructure across Africa, after the company secured national expansion commitments from governments on the continent. The development, which was announced in a statement on Thursday, marks the first milestone in a US experiment to push African governments to adopt drone logistics as permanent national infrastructure rather than donor-funded pilot projects. This now positions Rwanda as the first country in the world with nationwide autonomous logistics coverage and the first in Africa to deploy Zipline’s urban delivery system and an autonomous delivery testing centre. The agreement aims to cut delivery times for vaccines, blood, and essential medicines, potentially strengthening health outcomes and national healthcare systems. “Rwanda and Zipline have been working together for years to harness technology for the good of our people. We have witnessed the extraordinary impact of drone delivery — saving time, saving money, and saving lives,” said Paula Ingabire, Rwanda’s Minister of ICT and Innovation. Under the agreement, Rwanda will introduce Zipline’s urban delivery system, Platform 2 (P2), in Kigali, where about 40%of the country’s healthcare demand is concentrated. The system enables fast, quiet, and precise deliveries in dense urban areas. Rwanda will also add a new long-range distribution hub in Karongi District, complementing existing hubs in Muhanga and Kayonza, and expand service coverage to more than 11 million people. “Today, Rwanda is doing it again. This is a global first — not because the technology exists, but because the leadership exists,” Caitlin Burton, CEO of Zipline Africa, said, adding that the partnership sets a new global standard for deploying innovation. The US government will provide upfront infrastructure funding, while the Rwandan government will pay for ongoing operations. Zipline will also establish its first overseas AI and robotics testing facility in Rwanda to support aircraft testing, safety systems, and next-generation logistics software development. Since launching operations in Rwanda in 2016, Zipline has partnered with national governments to supply blood and essential medicines to more than 5,000 hospitals and health facilities. After its expansion in Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Nigeria are expected to follow.
Read More
