That’s how we started looking into building trust, and DueDash is a marketplace with such trust at its backend”

How did your quest towards becoming a founder in this particular domain happen?

A series of entrepreneurial experiences happened incidentally. While I was doing an internship with a very experienced marketing professional, on a product that gave a 360-degree insight into sports processes, myself being a sports phonetic.

Even without any money coming in, I stayed just because I wanted to see how the product performed in the market. Watching how it captured the confidence and trust, we wanted to build something of an MVP, just a level below the DueDash idea, something that minimized the criteria for experienced people to have access to startups and offer their services to the market.

We started using different block building systems, but looking back at it now we feel it took so much of our time just getting to this point. Initially, you just want to put something out there in the market to see if it runs or not. My current co-founders then got together with the idea of DueDash. It was a perfect fit for me because I, as an individual founder, was having issues working alone without a team.

With DueDash we were proposing to help startups that were looking to scale and grow. So that’s how this journey began.

Identifying the industry demands, how have you been able to achieve the vision you set forth as you forayed ahead in this journey? Did the steps you take help you towards your goal?

Absolutely. If I hadn’t done my businesses before, I wouldn’t have been open to marketplaces. All my academic papers, including my business experiences, on trust-building mechanisms, were on online websites and marketplaces.

Understanding better every time, that trust was primarily important for marketplaces to function. But, since the element of trust is easy with offline engagements compared to online dealing, the point was to overcome trust limitations and build a better platform.

Following the concept of ‘bricolage’, we combined our diverse resources at DueDash, and when ideas toss back and forth, better outcomes are sure to come out.

About your first sale/deal/transaction and the way it was special

The day of the platform launch was the most special. The last few days before the launch stretch you to fill in the remaining gaps, before the actual journey begins, are the most grilling and exciting.

What was your initial annual target? Where are you – far or near to it – in your journey?

The number of startups that we can help throughout this process, is what we are looking at as the goal for the number of transactions we can park at.

We will not be able to say we have reached any target yet. As our platform provides access to startups as well as experts, the optimization of the marketplace for the experts’ end is yet to be done.

Unless we match the experts to the respective startups, we won’t be able to meet our goal.

Where do you see yourself with this venture in the post-pandemic times – say 2 – 5 years down the line?

The goal that we have, at least with the marketplace, is to be the target platform for startup founders to find relevant sources for fundraising and startup services. If we are able to achieve this help from the ecosystem for the startups, we will feel fulfilled.

DueDash as a platform is witnessing a lot of synergies. We are looking at it as the DueDash universe, where all relevant players are on-boarded with access to relevant experts from the ecosystem for their services.

Our platform is one-place access for the resources, connections, and knowledge for startups, to help raise funds.

We want to give back to the community. We have all data helping us optimize the process of selection. Data is always helping us to leverage the entire process.

Your advice to other businesses facing the same challenges as you did?

A steady endeavor takes you through. If I didn’t keep going ahead despite no success with the intermediate engagements, I would not have been able to come across this.

The DuesDash marketplace is only one part of our platform-powered investability system. Usually, people launch a product first and then form their community around it. But we have flipped this process around, because our goal is to build an investability platform that helps startups guide them through the due diligence process, and get the investors they need, and then do the same for the investors’ side.

The DueDash marketplace is an extension to the DueDash community platform where the experts also get visibility and access to the community that needs them.

The post DueDash – Online Start-up Fund-raising Community appeared first on FATbit Blog.

What was that Eureka moment that led to the creation of DotDune?

Initially, when planning a project in Namibia, it has to be noted that Namibia is a developing country with a small population of approximately 2.5 million people.

Little interest existed from international online retailers to unlock the Namibian online shopping opportunity. As a result, we embarked on the journey to develop an in-house eCommerce multi-vendor business based on a white-label solution.

After extensive research, Yo!Kart was found to offer the most suitable solution.

Can you share a little further about this – What was your vision behind this and how you got about achieving it?

eCommerce was deemed to be a visionary fit, as a result, DotDune wanted to implement a solution providing Namibian buyers, sellers, and vendors with an opportunity (Internally or Externally) to conduct business online with the vision of becoming Namibia’s leading eCommerce platform.

Can you share the experience of witnessing the first transaction?

The first sale was a small item but witnessing the sale register and the same getting displayed on the Yo!Kart Admin dashboard was a moment that we cherished and celebrated as a team.

It was a moment that culminated and fructified our months of conceptualizing, planning, implementing, and testing. Furthermore, upon engagement, the customers responded with positive feedback ― assuring us of a bright future.

Can you share any targets that DotDune has set for itself?

We crafted a 5-year strategy aspiring to become Namibia’s leading eCommerce marketplace by 2025. The strategy is summarized in our internal game plan consisting of milestones and overall deliverables to be achieved by 2025.

Can you share some of the challenges that you faced initially?

Namibia is a large geographical country with a small population of 2.5 million people (2020). As a result of the low population density, cost-effective parcel delivery remains the greatest opportunity.

To grow the business and to achieve our overall objectives and key deliverables, certain tools are required – I am very happy to say that this is why I appreciate working with you guys so much that even though we have all these challenges, the response is never like no it cannot be done the response is always ok how can we do this how can we fix this how can we make this work.

Your advice to other businesses that are facing the same challenges as you did

Speak to FATbit, they’ll help you

There are many large businesses in Namibia however there is a major lack when it comes to technological transformation. Embracing technological change remains the largest opportunity amongst larger organizations in Namibia. Among larger businesses. My advice to other businesses would be to look into being open-minded towards technological change and embracing technology change to a new extent, be it eCommerce or online marketing, you need to embrace the latest technology or else your business will eventually fail.

Your future plans apart from the targets?

I think for DotDune, apart from the targets, the biggest plan is to customize and scale the platform and bring it to a world-class standard like Amazon(worldwide) or Takealot in South Africa.

Next is – improving the logistics like completing deliveries with electric vehicles. Additionally, we are looking at warehousing and want to adapt our system to stock and inventory management and also offer warehousing services to our vendors.

In essence, the future plans for DotDune will be focusing on customizing the platform, streamlining deliveries, and adding a warehouse

Anything you would like to share, regarding your experience with the software and FATbit?

Namibia is unique compared to the rest of the world, hence, platforms require substantial customization, and no solutions offer a plug-and-play solution. Regardless of the request, FATbit has always been very helpful and accommodating with responses such as “Let’s figure it out” or “We’ll make it work”. The DotDune team appreciates all efforts thus far.

Any suggested improvements regarding the product, and the FATbit team?

Suggestions – From an improvement basis, I would suggest when you offer a Whitelabel solution, do not offer the same product to everyone at the same price, rather offer a basic solution, a mid-range solution, and a fully customizable solution. That is something that I would prefer. Also, invite your clients to come to visit your offices.

The post DotDune – Namibia’s Leading Ecommerce Brand appeared first on FATbit Blog.

How did your quest toward becoming a founder in this particular domain happen?

We started this company in the beginning of March 2020. The initial plan was to create a brand of supplements with CBD(own product) in it. Financial reasons were the reason for starting with this business model 一  a multi-vendor platform with our product in it and other vendors with CBD to sell on the platform.

It is the best decision we have made so far and especially choosing Yo!Kart was a very good decision.

Identifying the industry demands, how have you been able to achieve the vision you set forth as you forayed ahead in this journey?

Initially, when I was researching about a multi-vendor platform, it felt intimidating to me with the options available, choosing the right one for my business idea, and the varying opinions and suggestions about the same.

I chose Yo!Kart because of the platform itself and decided to try it out. I have no regrets. Everything has panned out perfectly.

Where do you see yourself with this venture in the post-pandemic times – say 2 – 5 years down the line? 

2-4 years down the line I hope the website (suggestion alternate:business) is running smoothly. I hope we have a very good customer base. We are able to meet consumers’ demands and meet vendors’ demands. I have created a platform wherein everyone can buy CBD, grow the industry.

How far do you wish to sell these products – all over US, or any particular state?

In the US, the varying legislation behind selling in various states can be very difficult to navigate. We do, however, plan on selling in the entire United States as long as local and federal regulations apply.

Selling outside of the United States is something we will have to look into more. However, I do wish to sell outside of the US in the future as well.

Your advice to other businesses facing the same challenges as you did?

Yes, I would advise businesses to make sure you read all the legislation very carefully, prior to starting it.

Before all this when it was just an idea, it all seemed very easy, I started to look into particular things (specificities) of this industry. In this industry there is one thing you can do and three things you can’t, So I would just advise doing as much research as you can, trying to make the best decisions possible, and being ready for bumps in the road.

You must have looked into other service providers as well, What made you choose FATbit over the others that you considered? What differentiates it from its peers?

I would say the biggest difference was the way I was treated as a possible user of the Yo!Kart platform.

As soon as I was in contact with Abhishek (FATbit team), the experience was more than just getting a platform and I need people to do it, Rather its become more of a friendship because Abhishek and I go back and forth a lot, we talk a lot, happy new year, merry Christmas, and things like that.

The personal experience (with the software) is  I would say ease of access, the admin panel is very efficient.

Are you a seller (on the platform) yourself?

On our platform, at the moment we just have one product, the main goal is to attract as many vendors as possible within the CBD industry

I have a statement from my business partner “Your team has been a major part in helping us achieve our goal, and through their determination and hard work, we are close to finishing our website. I have only received respect and care through/from your team and they have helped us learn and better our company”

The post BuyCBDSupps – Inspiring Journey of a US CBD eCommerce Startup appeared first on FATbit Blog.

What was the inspiration behind choosing an e-commerce business? How did you come up with this idea?

The founders of Anyflexo OÜ have been in the flexo printing business for a couple of decades now. Over a period of time, they realized that the industry is very traditional and digitalization is slow – that’s how they came up with an idea of an e-marketplace for the industry. This would help in increasing transparency, smoother exchange of information and faster growth in business for small and medium-sized players in the industry.

How did you identify your target market?

The Founders of the marketplace have decades of experience and expertise of the industry. They have in-depth knowledge of the target market.

How did you finalize on the ideal eCommerce solution? Did you require any additional integrations or customisations?

We had two/three main criteria to fulfil before making a decision. That’s how we selected Yo!Kart ― It checked most of the important boxes on our checklist. It pretty much had the standard features a marketplace should have, however, some customisation was needed to match our industry and organisational requirements. For instance, the platform was customized to change the font, aligning it to our branding requirements. 

How did you define your Unique Selling Proposition for the users, to set yourself apart from established platforms in your niche?

Our platform is the first of its kind in the industry, and this first-mover advantage is its most significant USP.

What hurdles did you face initially? Can you share how did you overcome these hurdles?

Solving the chicken and egg dilemma in the marketplace was our major challenge. This means balancing the seller-to-customer ratio, and whom to approach first at the start. To solve this we started approaching both together but quickly realised it is fairly easy to convince the seller as sales via the e-marketplace added an extra sales channel to their business. Another reason to prioritize sellers was that they are the main source of our earnings, so that is why we first focused a little bit more on sellers than buyers. Once we had a specific number of sellers we then focused heavily on sales to customers, thus solving the chicken and egg dilemma.

Can you share the experience of witnessing the first sale on the platform?

Yes. It was very satisfying! – After the sale was completed we requested feedback on the customer experience and it was very positive. 

What is your vision for the business going forward – let’s say 5 years down the line?

To be able to operate and serve customers on a global level. 

What advice would you give to aspiring eCommerce entrepreneurs like yourself? Any tips/success mantra that you would like to share?

At the start be open to pivoting on your predetermined business strategies, as this might open unseen target markets and opportunities.

The post AnyFlexo – Leveraging eCommerce to Reshape B2B Industry Niche in Europe appeared first on FATbit Blog.

How did your quest towards becoming a founder in this particular domain happen?

So, we were already aware of the prevailing problems in education in Nigeria. On an average, out of 10 teachers that graduate from the teacher’s college/university, only 2% get employment. We wanted to solve this problem with a solution, empowering teachers. We thought we could create a platform for them where they could do what they love to do – teaching – and earn a return from it. Because there aren’t too many schools also in Nigeria to accommodate all the teachers. The problem of unemployment also was a concern along with the affordability of education to all. I did have some information on a technology startup, but this time we were facing some issues in reaching out to tutors, connecting them to learners, and various other things. We wanted some platform to connect all of them. We began working on this before the pandemic, the team was working towards this goal, and we started calling this SabiTeach. We did figure out how the learning was to be done with the click of a button, and how all these processes were feasible. The driving force was identifying the problem of distributing teachers and learners across Nigeria by creating a marketplace to empower these teachers.

Identifying the industry demands, how have you been able to achieve the vision you set forth as you forayed ahead in this journey? Did the steps you take help you towards your goal?

While working towards a prototype we faced challenges around hosting the website. That’s made us realize the importance of a complete team behind building a product. We initially had a website where people could search for tutors, we had teachers with a profile, and we were hosting it on Azure. We started out around 2019 with a tech team, trying to build our idea from scratch, and did a couple of tries, but we didn’t get an end-to-end solution. We were taking a lot of time. Overall, we were spending too much money, without getting anything tangible. The team elements comprising the project manager (PM), the business analyst (BA), and the DevOps professional were grossly missing. Also, as the COVID – 19 outbreak happened, people were looking for solutions all around, and despite being on similar thoughts, didn’t have a solution yet. We needed partners who would quickly help us put together our solution to solve the customer problems and meet market demand. Every solution was taking too much time with nothing less than 6 – 8 months, and it was time we did not have. That’s when Wale found FATbit’s Yo!Coach. We explored our vision around what Yo!Coach had to offer, and to our surprise, it fit exactly what we had in mind. We took a demo, and it was exactly what we had in mind. We took the chance of picking up a solution to run our vision on, and we haven’t regretted it any bit. So far it’s been a good one for the team.

About your first sale/deal/transaction and the way it was special

Such moments are always special. The first payment made was a big deal for us. It gave a sense of great achievement when the cycle went through smoothly, end-to-end on the platform, from on-boarding the client to receiving the payment. It was definitely a big deal. We are excited that learners are finding tutors on the platform. They are using the platform to find interesting stuff, and we are having paying clients. People are exploring more and we are able to spread the intended awareness. We will be able to provide the most affordable tutors across Nigeria.

What was your initial annual target? Where are you – far or near to it – in your journey?

We are still growing. It’s exciting to see our user database expand, which is close to 1500 with 500+ tutors now. We have just on-boarded over 200 users on the platform. It’s exciting that the solution is being adopted gradually.

Where do you see yourself with this venture in the post-pandemic times – say 2 – 5 years down the line?

We are optimistic, and are positive that we will achieve our dreams and our aspirations. We hope our business will grow beyond Africa too. We know post-pandemic things can’t be the same, this is the new normal and we just have to go with it. I would love to see more people taking lessons. This has certainly been a dream come true, and I hope nothing changes, so post-pandemic and 3 years from now, I would wish our hard work becomes fruitful and we are at a place where we want to be. We are thinking about expanding to west Africa and in the next 5 years it should be expanded to over 5 countries, including the entire Africa, UK, and ahead, with affordable education to all.

Your advice to other businesses facing the same challenges as you did?

They should be optimistic. We would have given up, considering the pressures, lack of funding, no good education, or help for teachers. But we had the optimistic mindset that we can achieve it with proper help. Even if we were not able to build a solution from scratch, we could still solve the problems. We could still empower teachers, with affordable education to learners of Nigeria. And we could get everything done, only because we did not give up. Press a little bit forward, because you can never tell that what we need is at an arm’s reach.

The post SabiTeach – Online Education Marketplace appeared first on FATbit Blog.

How did your quest towards becoming a founder in this particular domain happen?

I joined the project for Anytutor37.com after 6 months of the initial start of the company, and started out at an administrative level. But good mentorship and leadership really teaches and grows each person that works with and below them. I have learnt a lot of business qualities from the founders, that have made me proficient enough in entrepreneurial and business skills, so as for me to become a part of the Anytutor37 project. The last couple of 3-4 months have been a big learning curve. The online world was not one with which we thought we’d be involved. Lot of learning is going on from our team’s side. I am involved in a majority of activities now, from revenue to customer support. A fantastic team and all the mentors always work together, with leadership and direction coming from their side. That’s how it is shaping up.

Identifying the industry demands, how have you been able to achieve the vision you set forth as you forayed ahead in this journey? Did the steps you take help you towards your goal?

I definitely think we have a lot to learn. When we initially started looking at AnyTutor37, we took up the challenge to work for a lot of unanswered industry questions. We wanted to offer something that was not already being fulfilled 100% by anybody else in the industry. We did not want to do language or subject teaching only. We wanted to set ourselves apart by offering a platform where people were tutoring life skills as well. Essentially we wanted a platform that people found easy to use, easy to navigate, easy and free for people to sign up to, where we could connect any learner to any tutor around the world, where they could learn subjects of any curriculum for school, college or university, and also life skills. We facilitated a platform where teachers could teach anybody and earn income from it. The process of learning is never done. That is what we are trying to communicate through AnyTutor37.com. Knowledge is a continuous process and every single one of us can always learn something new.

About your first sale/deal/transaction and the way it was special.

That was quite a historical day for us. It was 22.01.2021, 7 months after the initial process started. Once we got the website to a workable platform where everything was in place for users to join, classes to take place, and transactions to happen. It took months before the first transaction happened. Everybody now believes that things are set for processes to happen. After that we have had other transactions happening, user bases activated, and sign ups are looking fantastic. Marketing teams are doing fantastic jobs of signing up users both students and tutors. The first transaction was such a momentous occasion. We knew everything we had been working for was complete, and now we had a working product.

What was your initial annual target? Where are you – far or near to it – in your journey?

We are much much closer to where we initially wanted to be, yet we have a lot to learn and achieve.

Where do you see yourself with this venture in the post-pandemic times – say 2 – 5 years down the line?

We have actually considered this. Even at the moment everyone is confined to their houses. A lot of countries, in terms of their education system, are looking for alternate systems. The pandemic will have a lasting effect in some form at some degree. There will be a lasting market for this. Essentially we will always try and diversify us. We will always try and look for something that will set us apart from what we have done. We have a very dynamic team. We continue to grow as a business. We want to set ourselves apart year by year with what we have to offer.

Your advice to other businesses facing the same challenges as you did?

Don’t stop. Just keep going. If you are persistent and keep looking for solutions, talk to different people, you learn a lot. I think for any entrepreneur, business owner, or those taking up a new venture, you cannot plan for every problem. But if you get one problem a day, count yourself lucky. There will be days when you will have 100 problems, those days you need to look at people around you and motivate each other. These days you need to know you will achieve what you dreamed of, you know this will become your life and business.

The post AnyTutor37 – Online Learning Platform appeared first on FATbit Blog.

How did your quest towards becoming a founder in this particular domain happen?

My daughter was the motivation behind the idea. She said, “why don’t we start something that helps everybody, tutors as well as kids.” Locally if we were to engage any foreign tutors, it would be very expensive, but with technology at our doorstep we are able to meet demands. Online tutoring is not something new. In Asia, and in this part of the world, it’s not a very far fetched thought anymore. We want to bring tutors from the UK, US, and make everybody reachable. That’s how the idea came. I have been doing IT for some time. So I had an idea how we could come up with the platform. And that’s the journey.

Identifying the industry demands, how have you been able to achieve the vision you set forth as you forayed ahead in this journey? Did the steps you take help you towards your goal?

Things were never always right. We faced our bumps and challenges along the way. But I would say that with W-tutors, it was the time we entered the market that was right. With the pandemic, which was of course unfortunate, we were very skeptical, as we launched just before the pandemic started. We were also skeptical as online tutoring was not as widely accepted. People are more used to face-2-face learning formats. The schools were closed, education came to a standstill. But at the same time, during the pandemic, a lot of competition came up. A Lot of companies came up with the same idea. W-tutors however was different. With FATbit, we were able to launch a platform that was more complete compared to our competitors.

About your first sale/deal/transaction and the way it was special.

At the beginning, our main intent was to get tutors as there was no one on the platform earlier. The sign up rate was however better than we thought, as because of the pandemic people were out of jobs, and they were looking for options. Once we were able to bring tutors onboard, it helped to get our first customer. Even they were skeptical at first, as there was nothing on the site that said we were reputable, and none of the tutors had any students signed up for references. So it was quite amazing for us when we had the first customer. It was very joyous. It gave us the confidence that we are going in the right direction and things are fine. We have approximately 600 tutors teaching on the platform now, with a much much higher sign up, of 2K or more. But not all the tutors were willing to work initially. Some were simply trying out the platform as an option and others were exploring how online teaching worked. So we had to filter before we on-boarded them for actual tutoring. Preparing content for online teaching was a challenge for them, and our main motive was to achieve maximum customer or user satisfaction. Because we felt that always fares well in the long run.

What was your initial annual target? Where are you – far or near to it – in your journey?

No. I think at the start, at infancy, it’s dangerous to set a target. So we made sure that first we were rolling, and made sure the platform worked. We wanted to create good user experiences, and understand better what they wanted. FATbit has been very good at catering to all our change and upgrade requests. Since I have been in IT, I look out for things to be perfect when they are running, and according to what parents want for their kids.

Where do you see yourself with this venture in the post-pandemic times – say 2 – 5 years down the line?

The dream is to ultimately launch W-Tutors in every part of the world. But that is a very far away target. Right now we want to be more established in Singapore, Hong Kong, all over Asia, and in a couple of years in China. It does not seem too difficult a destination now as W-tutors have that potential to become a very good learning website for students. Establish completely in Asia first, and then we can see where we go. We want to adopt new technologies as we move along, and as they become available.

Your advice to other businesses facing the same challenges as you did?

The basic message is always ‘not to be afraid’. It’s good to have a dream, but you have to take the first step. Once you have taken the first step, you can dream big, go ahead and make the dream a reality.

The post W-Tutors – International Online Tutoring Platform appeared first on FATbit Blog.

Website URL: https://readwithus.org.uk/

How did Read With Us come into the picture? What was the need for this business model?

Reading is very important for a child’s development. Even research would tell you that every child has to read for 15 to 20 mins, every single day when they are in primary school. But what I noticed as a teacher myself was the reliance of parents on schools and teachers in terms of reading. It is not that they don’t know the importance of reading to their children or the impact it has but they don’t have the time for it when they get home because they are working full time.

So Read With Us was founded with the intent to connect children with reading tutors who are ideally from a younger demographic, and have stronger interpersonal skills. We also work with children who cannot read or have reading issues. It aids in improving the vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension of children. The literacy problems are also addressed. When you have got the literacy right, children can fly. 

About your first sale/deal/transaction/tutor onboarding and the way it was special?

The day when I had the interest of around 20 tutors onboarding the platform, it was priceless, truly priceless. I was thinking that the onboarding of 1 or 2 tutors’ would be a success, but because of technology and having a platform (Read With Us), tutors could onboard themselves. In fact, the stages of onboarding are well managed. Individuals don’t need to call me, they can directly register and I can vet them. That’s the beauty of technology.

Before setting up this business, you must have had a vision. Where do you see yourself now? Do you think the business is in line with something you had planned?

I remember 18 months ago, I was discussing this with my nephew when we sat around the table at 2 a.m, talking about where we wanted to be in 2 years. He said, your success would be if you have 4-10 students and a concept that works and we wrote it down on paper. Never thought that I would be talking to you while running a platform that onboards tutors, is automated, and the systems are integrated, never saw that coming. It happened to me too soon. So from the beginning, we are ahead of our planning. And, we have worked really hard along with FATbit to deliver a tailored platform. Now, I can see that the end is nearer and a new beginning is right here. So that is where we are. 

How has your journey with FATbit been?

What I have noticed is that FATbit has very good customer service. I don’t know if they work 24 hours a day, but every time I need something or someone to reach out to, the response is always immediate. And, I would say the relationship is quite positive. Like when I look at the SEO work FATbit is doing for me – I have got a presence on the internet and that support is coming from FATbit.  

Your advice to other entrepreneurs who are venturing into such a business?

Anyone can run a business. The difference between people who run a successful business is not in their idea, but it lies in getting up and taking an action. 

Also, I have tried business before and have failed but every step where you think you have failed is a learning curve. You only fail when you stop trying. 

So keep trying, and most importantly as a business person, you cannot do everything yourself. Get the professionals to do the bit and you stick to doing what you know the best. That is probably the best advice I can give. You don’t have to be a marketer or a designer, there is always everything that your business needs out there. Just reach out and find the help.

The post Read With Us – Online Reading Tutors Platform appeared first on FATbit Blog.

However, with growing competition, it becomes vital to understand and pinpoint the areas where the other businesses are falling short. Hence, this blog presents a comprehensive list of indispensable features, all aimed at optimizing the grocery shopping experience and scaling your online grocery business growth.

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