Four free State residents and the founders of tech company, Next Curve Creations have created a mobile app that will help spaza shop owners operate more efficiently.
Four young men – Tumi Letsaba, Kgomotso Sebitlo, Ditjhaba Selemela and Bandile Ntombela – who are founders of a tech company, Next Curve Creations, are substantiating the expression “Necessity is the mother of invention”. Based in Frankfort, Free State-based quartet are at an advanced stage of developing an app that they believe will revolutionalise the way spaza shops do business. Once officially launched, the developers see the app help spaza shop owners restock their inventory within a short time and increase market access.
The developers mooted the concept after noticing the loss in productivity that spaza shops have been incurring as a result of the long turn around time and financial resources incurred in ordering new stock. “We realised that retailers struggle with gaining access to fast-moving consumer goods manufacturers and to organise themselves to access manufacturers,” says Lesiba. “After many casual chats with local owners in Namahadi, Frankfort, we decided to create a platform that would improve their business.”
The app has barcode-scanning capabilities which will assist with proper stocktaking. “When someone buys a certain item, you can scan the barcode and it will update the stock. You’ll be able to view sales and stock levels,” Letsiba illustrates.
The team – which has now been granted an opportunity to be part of the Black Umbrellas, a body that seeks to develop, mobilise and connect entrepreneurs – aims to launch the app across the country once it has been refined.
At present, the app is being tested among a closed user group of spaza shop owners in Frankfort.
The app is just what the spaza shop business sector needs currently when technology is the enabler of business.
In a study, the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation and the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies found that spaza shops are critical contributors to local food security, self-employment and community cohesion. However, after surveying 1,100 township grocery retailers across all nine provinces, the study found that the business landscape has undergone extensive change and owners are battling to adapt.
Hence, being a group of young men experienced in tech, finance and business, Letsaba says they view the app as the best way forward. “The app offers township businesses an opportunity to adapt to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Technology has a huge impact on our daily lives and to keep up with current trends, we believe that our people need the opportunity to adapt.”
Information credits: Sourced from an article published by vukuzenzele and adapted for Transform SA
