In this internet age and knowledge economy, many aspiring entrepreneurs across Africa, especially in the e-Commerce sector, are finding it difficult to bring their ideas to reality due to the challenges faced by startups on the continent.
However, two smart African innovators have come up with a product that will enable African startups easy entry to the internet, quick and wider access to potential clients, opportunity to maximize their online presence, among other benefits.
Thabo Ledimo, South Africa entrepreneur and Kelvin Orifa, his Nigerian counterpart, who are respectively founder and co-founder, have unveiled StartWeb, a smart and responsive website builder that offers clients a platform to build tools that will boost their business growth.
StartWeb, which is unarguably, Africa’s number one easiest web builder, is aimed at helping African business owners, especially startups and anyone that needs to be found online to build professional websites in five minutes.
“We realized that the major reason business owners are unable to get websites to run their businesses effectively and efficiently is the stress involved in the website creation process”, Kelvin Orifa, the co-founder, explained.
“So, we designed a platform that would empower them to build their own websites without any technical knowledge. With StartWeb, you can easily sell your products and get paid online”.
Moreover, the mobile and Google-friendly, website designing platform has customizable templates to help businesses sell their products easily.
Explaining further on how easy it is to set up the website, Orifa said, “Our web builder allows customers to view all product details, add items to their cart and make payments without the stress of back and forth with the seller.
According to him, StartWeb is out to ensure that business owners spend less time worrying about their online presence and just connect to their customers from all around the world at one click of the button.
“We make it easy to showcase projects, blogs and portfolios for the world to see with our predesigned templates. All you need to do is replace the text, images/videos to highlight your best work and, of course, add your profile and contact information for potential clients and collaborators to get in touch”, Orifa explained once again.
As well, some of the featured industry website templates include; entertainment, fashion, restaurant, beauty, fitness, art, real estate, photography, consulting, book stores, church and even personal websites.
But the unique thing about StartWeb is that no matter how sophisticated or simple the website is, clients will always find a template that suits their business amid the option of designing their website to look exactly the way they want it to.
Another unique thing about the platform is its affordability. In Nigeria, the plans range from N3, 854 to N10, 017 monthly, a client can try StartWeb free for 14 days and you only need your email address to get started, as no card or bank details are required.
“When it comes to pricing, our plans are unbeatable. With a free domain and hosting on every annual subscription, we help to avoid any additional cost, which is the best value for your money. We also do not charge transaction fee on any sale you make – StartWeb is commission free”, he said.
Also, StartWeb’s annual plans are cheaper because they include free domain name/hosting for the first year.
Considering the growing rate of cybercrime globally, the security of the users’ websites is a priority for StartWeb. Orifa assured that the company performs routine security audits to eliminate security problems, while all the websites created with StartWeb are automatically validated with an SSL certificate.
Asides from building websites, landing pages, sales funnels or e-commerce stores, StartWeb also has an affiliate programme where clients can sign up and earn 30 percent commissions on every referral. “We recently launched our product to the Nigerian market and we are excited at the free trial sign-ups that we have seen so far. This speaks to the product fit, timing and need for the market. However, we rely on the media to help spread this gospel, the StartWeb gospel of ‘Now everyone can create a website without technical knowledge’”, Orifa concluded.
Business Day
