Extrogene delivers telecom software solutions. They were a runner up at TADHack Sri Lanka 2014 with their application Offerhut, see the video of their pitch below.  At TADHack SL, all teams developed on ideamart , the API (Application Programming Interfaces) platform of Dialog Axiata which is a deployment of hSenid Mobile’s TAP (Telco Application Platform).

Offerhut is a pull advertising platform, a one-stop-offer-platform for enterprises to advertise their offers, and for consumers to query the available offers.

Offerhut recently won a marketing budget worth LKR 500,000 which was awarded by Dialog ideamart. It was announced at TADHack SL 2014, Ideamart would award a marketing budget of LKR 500,000 to the TADHack teams which would earn revenue of LKR 50,000 within the first three months of deployment.

Offerhut achieved that target revenue in less than one month of launch to qualify as the first winner of this in-market ideamart competition, an impressive achievement. Ruwan Dissanayaka, founder of Extrogene said that the success behind his applications are: a simple business model (as explained in the video below) and the ideamart API Platform of hSenid Mobile that is a flexible environment to develop, deploy and market applications.

Extrogene has come a long way in the past couple of years with many successful stories and some important lessons that can be carried forward by all Telcos.  Some of the top performing applications of Extrogene are TaxiBuddy, Bodimak (Appartment), QuizGen, Loyalty, MyClan and Chat.

Most of the apps revolve around common issues in the Sri Lankan market and has business value so the app can be viable. “I try to look at practical uses that can be improved with my product. For example, one of the main reasons that motivated to develop the app ‘Bodimak’ (Appartment), was having gone through the similar hassle and inconvenience of locating a place that would suit my requirements when I joined University” explained Ruwan.

Dialog’s ideamart is an important case study for the whole industry.  They have created a vibrant developer ecosystem which is making money, and creating unique value for Dialog’s customers both consumer and business.  Its great to see hacks created at TADHack coming to market, achieving business success and receiving marketing support to make them even more successful.  Let’s hope more telcos follow this model as we try to build the telecom application developer ecosystem.

At TADSummit on the 12/13 November in Istanbul we are very fortunate to have a keynote from Mohd Khairil Abdullah the Group Chief Marketing & Operations Officer of Axiata Group.  We’ll be able to understand first-hand on how they build this success.