His goal was to come with an online platform where buyers and sellers of goods interact conveniently. It is for this reason that Charles Ivia, a third year student at Kenyatta University, developed two mobile applications.
The Titan Business app is developed for local businesses and service providers while the Titan Market app is for online shoppers.
Mr Ivia, 21, says the idea behind the platform is to provide an online market place where businesses and customers can engage and seal deals.
“We realised there was a gap between what social media platforms provide and what the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) want,” he said.
Titan Business allows a user to create own logo, upload products, receive orders, post promos and deals, among other things.
Upon registering on the platform, users are assigned a backend from where they manage their customers.
There are no charges for registration. Instead, users are allowed a two-month trial period after which a monthly service charge of Sh250 kicks in.
In just one month of operation, the platform has attracted and hosts firms such as Glam_affairs, Safaricom shops in Village Market and at Sarit, Best Lady on Moi Avenue and Ruai Family Hospital.
Other users on the platform include Kenyatta University, DenKa Investments and the University of Nairobi. Titan Market on the other hand offers shoppers “a better, simpler and more reliable market place experience”.
Upon downloading the app on Google play store, users can view online business stores and service providers around them.
The platform has Google maps API that allows potential clients to see the distance between their current location and a particular shop.
“We realised that customers preferred to deal with businesses closer to them. The platform allows a customer to filter available businesses based on distance,” said Mr Ivia.
Businesses on Titan Market have comprehensive profiles allowing users to conduct research and hence make better purchase decisions.
When customers make an order, their names pop up at the business’ backend allowing both parties to engage.
Payment options include M-Pesa, Equitel and Eazzypay. In case of complaints, the first step is to interrogate the customer before approaching the business owner.
Businesses that do not make amends or are notorious offenders get their accounts suspended from the platform after the third warning.
“With both apps, our plan is to help SMEs move to the next level by bringing customers to their site and actually convince them to seal deals,” he said.
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