Meet GES Delegate: Titos Munhequete
Organization: Izyshop
Name: Titos Munhequete
Twitter handle: @realtmel
Country of origin: Mozambique
Organization website: https://izyshop.co.mz
Brief description of Organization: Izyshop is Mozambique´s first and only awarded, fully integrated back-end online supermarket, connecting producers and suppliers to consumer markets, making buying easy to customers and driving the channel shift from brick-and-mortar stores to online shopping. Izyshop is part of our macro vision of integrating cross-sectors solutions into a single, user-friendly, convenient and trustworthy online platform, giving customers access to services from retail to entertainment, from healthcare to education, employment and financial services. Our aim is to accelerate the migration to the digital world in Africa, trough providing our customers a solution which combines their everyday needs into a single platform — izylife!
What inspired you to start this Organization?: Around a year and half ago my partner and i wanted to purchase some items and decided to drive to the near supermarket, which is no more than a 5-min drive on a regular day. Unfortunately, was Saturday and apparently all the city had decided to do the same. After 30 minutes of traffic, 15-min of finding a parking space and 3 frustrating hours of finding items, products with no prices, bad customer service and long cue lines, we were home, questioning ourselves why in the 21st century, digital age, we still have to struggle to shop. Hence was born the idea of Izyshop, which is simplifying the purchasing activities and providing access to a multitude of services online as well.
What is the next big step you hope your organization reaches? We’ve managed to successfully launch Izyshop and during the last 8 months have reached more than 1,000 customers and implement the systems we require to properly managed the business. Our next step is to scale it so that Izyshop can be present in other locations in Mozambique outside the capital and other countries as well, according to our 5-year business plan. We’ve also started to tackle other sectors as well, as per our Izylife vision. We will soon launch our online based employment solution, tailored for the needs of African youngsters and our entertainment solution as well. We are developing the financial solution as well, which is to be ready mid 2017. Our aim is to have our izylife vision fully implemented by 2020, serving millions of people in Africa and worldwide!
What has been your biggest obstacle as an entrepreneur? Access to affordable financing. Money is quite expensive in Mozambique and as a startup we need access to financing to scale the business. Vc funding is virtually inexistent and Izyshop has been self-funded up until now. With our rising profile, there has been interest from banking institutions to provide us capital, but the costs remain quite high. As entrepreneurs, we need to constantly find creative ways in which to finance our business.
What advice would you give to other emerging entrepreneurs?: My advice would be for them to identify a problem they can solve in their communities, find a solution which they love and to identify a multidisciplinary team that can help implement the solution. In Africa there is a saying that if you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go accompanied. Entrepreneurship is a long journey and we can always use a great team. And never to give up on their dreams and don´t listen to the naysayers.
