THERE ARE ALL THE SIGNATURE ELEMENTS OF TECH success: three twenty-something computer geeks quit their day jobs, fund their start-up with credit cards and, for the first year of operations, work out of the two-bedroom apartment where they live. Oh, and they come up with a very cool name that means absolutely nothing: Nirph.

When they started out, they were like kids in a computer store. "We bought cool stuff we liked and started playing around with it" says Marius Bezuidenhout. "If it wasn't for the focus we gained through Endeavor, we'd still be buying cool things and checking them out." But make no mistake about these humble technologists.

They designed interactive kiosks for Vodacom long before Endeavor signed them on, and had set up offices in Johannesburg and Lagos, a market they fearlessly entered by literally knocking on doors. By the end of this year, one of the largest banks in Nigeria will be using Nirph designed identification and anti-fraud systems to combat rampant fraud which causes colossal problems throughout the country's banking systems. "Some people see it as complete chaos" says Bezuidenhout. "We see it as massive opportunity."

And that's exactly what Endeavor saw in Nirph when it took them on in 2005. The network plugged them in at a level where knocking on doors in Nigeria is a thing of the past. "We don't have to go through the secretary anymore," says Gustav Schoeman. "Now we get direct to the CEO".