Traveling Geeks

There seemed to be no shortage of new Irish start-ups emerging in Dublin or ideas in the works that were planning to emerge in the next six months to a year. Below are a few I connected with during my recent trip to Ireland for Dublin Web Summit and F.ounders:

Mark Roden with Ezetop explains how the service works over lunch in Dublin recently. It’s a fairly straight forward and easy pitch and the aha moment is pretty immediate.

In a world where everything except for cash is growing in popularity as ‘currency’, why not have air time as something you can give away, offer friends, customers and/or your family if they live far away from you.

Using Ezetop, you can send a top-up instantly to a mobile phone.Think of it as the Western Union of mobile air time. Remember that air time is a currency and it has a value.

Imagine the emerging world for a moment: there are more places than not who do not have unlimited calling plans nor do they have salaries that support higher-end mobile options.

For people who are working abroad but still have family in South America, Africa, Asia or other pockets of the world, you could easily and quickly top off air time for family and friends.

An easy way to send support instantly and cost effectively, friends and family can call you back whenever they want at their normal low calling rates.

Their coverage is extensive; currently they support 130 countries and have another 40 on the way. Take a look at the countries supported by their service today. Forbes’ Quentin Hardy calls their service Smart Tech for the Working Poor.