BiasharaBot was among the startups selected to receive the funding from Pangea Accelerator. The startup was listed alongside Onesha and TozzaPlus. In this interview, Innovation Village had an interview with one of the co-founders of BiashraBot, Felix Cheruiyot. He spoke about BiasharaBot and how the startup is helping businesses to sell more on social media.
Can we meet you?
BiasharaBot was founded by Felix Cheruiyot and Moses Korir. Moses is a graduate of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) with BSc in Actuarial Science while Felix is a graduate of Kenyatta University with Computer Engineering. We met 17 years ago in High School. Felix is the lead and head of strategy while Moses is the head of business development.
Can you tell us about BiasharaBot and what it has to offer Kenyans?
BiasharaBot is a startup that focuses on helping small and medium-sized businesses sell more on social media providing tools which help increase engagement. The application features include e-commerce chatbot that is able to take the customer through the sale process until they confirm their order, provide post manager where they can create marketing and schedule for posting on social media at specified times and message broadcast features which allows clients to send bulk messages to messenger accounts of their customers as a way of running promotion or informing customers about new product arrivals.
We have also integrated into M-Pesa so as to offer payment while still on Messenger using M-Pesa express checkout process and fulfillment providers like Sendy and we look forward to adding others like G4S and Wells Fargo. The client can compare the different cost of each provider and choose the cheapest one. They can also request for delivery at a click of a button.
What is the motivation behind setting up Biashara Bot?
We noticed a lot of businesses do not have resources to employ someone to manage their social media accounts on a full-time basis. This means they are not able to engage effectively on social media. Whenever customers inquire about a product on social media, if they are not responded to quickly, they move on to another seller thus the business misses out on sales opportunity. Also, businesses do not have time to update their social media accounts regularly missing out on building loyalty with their customer which is critical in establishing repeat business. Many small businesses do not have an engagement tool they can use to inform customers about new products and offers or promotions they are running on a one on one communication.
How will you describe the reception of Biashara Bot by Kenyans so far?
We had a successful beta test where customers made orders and they were delivered to successfully. We have now opened it to the public and we have some clients who are using it. The feedback has been great and we are improving the product further based on customer feedback.
Biashara Bot was selected as one of the startups to receive funding from Pangea Accelerator. What do have to say about the this and what will the funds be used for?
We intend to use the funds to improve our product offering and also add to the team especially sales skills which we are currently lacking. It was really good being selected among the startups to benefit from the Pangea Accelerator fund.
What are the challenges of running your startup in Kenya? Where do you see Biashara Bot in the next five years?
The awareness of the chatbot concept by businesses is one of the challenges we have faced. We have been educating our customers on how chatbots work during the onboarding process. We hope to have spread to other countries in East Africa within five years.
The Kenyan startup space is one of the most vibrant in Africa. How did Kenya get to this point?
Did government play any role in this march? The success of M-Pesa and Ushahidi has greatly contributed to the growth of startups in Kenya. The increase in incubation hubs like IHub, Mlab, IBizAfrica, Nailab has also greatly helped in the growth of startups and ecosystem.
What advice do you have for budding entrepreneurs?
To always develop their products or services with the customer in mind. Working with the customer helps you so that you don’t develop product or services no one will buy. You will also get important feedback which will help you develop a product or service that is useful in solving customer problems.
