How can I write a movie script for Nollywood? How does the stock exchange operate in Johannesburg? What is the recipe for bitter leaf soup? What is the best company for car insurance in Kenya? English and French speaking Internet users in Africa, with local questions, can now turn to each other for expert advice on almost any topic, using Google Baraza. Baraza, which means ‘taskforce’ or ‘council’ in Swahili, is a question and answer service that will also be integrated into search results on Google Search.
Baraza is available in 40 countries across Africa. Local domains of the service have been set up in South Africa, Cameroon, Uganda, Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, Ivory Coast and many other countries. Experts in any field, be it food, business, tourism, fashion and more, can log on today and start providing advice. Users can also create profiles, send messages, follow others, rate answers and receive points for asking and answering.
“In our effort to understand the needs of the market we found out that people across Africa ask Google a tremendous number of questions every day, however a lot of these remain unanswered due to the lack of local content online. We recognise that users are the best at answering each other’s questions within a community, and this product is the perfect way to be able to share and contribute information,” says Aneto Okonkwo , Product Manager, Google. “The Google Africa teams are committed to enhancing the online experience, and making the Internet more relevant for all the continent’s users.”
Press Release