Local start-up introduces ‘Uber for legal services’

Nyasha Makamba, LawBasket’s co-founder rand head of marketing (right) and core founder Simba Mubvuma.

ZIMBABWEAN start-up LawBasket says it has attracted top notch barristers from 25 African countries to its recently launched web-based curator service for legal services.

The founders of the service, which was launched three weeks ago, describe it as “an online legal services marketplace for small businesses and start-ups in Africa”.
“It is basically Uber for legal services,” Nyasha Makamba, LawBasket’s co-founder and head of marketing told The Financial Gazette this week.
“We are excited to share the news that two weeks after launch, LawBasket has acquired lawyers from 25 African countries.
“LawBasket is Africa’s online legal services marketplace, and our big idea is to liberate justice, by making it more accessible to entrepreneurs and small businesses across Africa,” he said.
The company was founded in December 2018 by a group of entrepreneurs who had previously run Lexware, which is widely viewed as a resounding success in the legal technology space in Africa.
The LawBasket founding team has two lawyers, Simba Mubvuma and Blessing Makuni, each with four years’ experience at top law firms in Zimbabwe.
Morton Mabumbo, a CA (equivalent of a CPA) heads up Finance, and Destiny Samkange, a software engineer and weekend radio personality heads technology.
Nyasha Makamba, a marketer with experience from the UAE, heads marketing and international business.
Mubvuma was also one of four Zimbabweans to appear on the 2018 Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 list.
The founders say the service presents a credible alternative to traditional law firms by “providing a cost certain solution to getting legal help for the ever-increasing crusade of small businesses and start-ups in Africa.
“Through LawBasket Payments, the company also de-clutters the process of creating and managing bills for lawyers, as well as provide a simple portal to process multi-jurisdictional payments for legal services,” Makamba said.
He said LawBasket has an advantage on traditional law firms in reach, as well as its approach to the pricing of legal services. The founders say the service has so far attracted clients from over 15 countries in Africa.
“With these demographics, this means that the legal services payment processing aspect of the business is operative in 25 countries in Africa, including South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.
“The company plans to increase user numbers both on the client side and the lawyer side in the current markets, with plans to introduce more lawyers from the Francophone and the Lusophone markets within 12 months,” Makamba said.
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