Businesses in Kenya have been increasing with 90% of them being in the informal or SME category.
These businesses are well aware of the benefits of transacting online and have a desire to handle transactions through e-commerce. However, creating an e-commerce website is not viable for them since coders are in short supply and charges for the services hefty.
So how can these challenges be addressed?
Zatiti, founded by Grace Kiburi and David Njuguna is a web platform that allows businesses to create an online presence through their e-commerce website. In this website everything is handled for the businesses including design of the e-commerce site and selection of the appropriate theme to reflect their product.
Through a content management system (CMS), businesses can update their e-commerce website through their mobile phones. This makes it extremely cheap and easy for them.
With mobile subscriptions in Kenya at 98%, Zatiti is aware of the trends and their e-commerce sites are fully mobile optimized to ensure maximum impact and conversions.
The startup is also cognizant of the changing mobile money market in Kenya. They have incorporated MPESA in all transactions making it a seamless and effective system as any money paid to businesses via MPESA goes straight to their bank accounts. This eliminates cases of theft and other risks associated with keeping money physically.
This makes Zatiti very viable especially since most of these businesses are in informal settlement areas where security is a major challenge.
To survive, Zatiti has the following as revenue streams:
-A 2% transaction fee
-A monthly subscription fee
-Premium templates
-Increased storage space
-Increased product variety
With a solid business model, an unending customer base and unique service offering, Zatiti is excited at the prospects of the future. The founders hope to get 10,000 clients in Kenya as well as expand to 9 other African countries by the end of 2015.
Be sure to check in with Nairobi Garage for more amazing startups in Kenya.
