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From the DMZ to South Africa

By David Lao

Moroka Mokgoko’s entrepreneurial skills began at a young age, selling pop and cake at his boarding school in South Africa.

As he moved on to high school he sold SIM cards to foreign students, as well as protection services due to the rampant bullying problems in his school.

“I grew up in a household with two healthcare practitioners, and for all my love for them, they’re still the biggest cheapskates I know, so growing up, I had to get creative about getting money,” said Mokgoko.

His creativity lead him to Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone (DMZ) under the South African Fellowship — a program that selects seven entrepreneurial students from South African universities to incubate their ideas at the DMZ.

Mokgoko’s idea was Tiro Holdings, an app designed for doctors and practitioners who are not able to fulfill the 30 hours they need to maintain their license because of their location or busy schedule.

“I wanted to create something that offers quality content and convenience in the sense that it bridges the gap and geographic discrepancies practitioners face,” Mokgoko said.

By the end of the four-month program, Mokgoko’s idea grew into more than he anticipated — forming a partnership with two startups at the DMZ.

It began with Mokgoko teaming up with Jason Muloongo, the founder of Funda Online — a company that creates web and mobile apps for education and training.

The partnership then expanded to mdBriefCase — a website that  provides online medical education content. On the website, doctors, students and nurses can receive an accreditation they can use towards their 30-hour requirement.

The three startups combined their forces of software development, South African market expertise and medical education to create the application: mdBriefCase South Africa.

“It was a perfect situation because the Canadian company mdBriefCase was talking about expanding to South Africa. But they didn’t have expertise in it as well as them not being sure of what technology to use,” Muloongo said.

“So here, Moroka and I come with the expertise and technology, and they have the content, so it was a perfect match.”

The app is set to launch in South Africa on April 21.

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