Site to connect you to available tenders
GETBIZ, an e-procument website that connects tender issuers and seekers, has become a one-stop shop for emerging businesses and entrepreneurs.
The site, launched six months ago with the aim of providing a real-time platform for tender issuers and seekers to connect, enables an easy upload of tender invitations and also the submitting of tender bids.
The easy-to-use website can be accessed by computer and cellphone.
Founder Andile Mtingi, 38, realised the hassle tender seekers had to go through to obtain tender documents.
“This is a broad-based platform. It is both e-commerce and a media website. It is geared to help the users of the platform by providing insightful information that will help them grow their wealth and find business opportunities, ” Mtingi says.
“So, we are not only helping companies to find tender opportunities, but also help them access content to help them grow their business.”
GetBiz also provides business content and features on innovative business for start-ups and young entrepreneurs. It also provides information such as available franchise opportunities and how much they cost. “We had been researching the concept of such a site for five years. The idea was always to create a unique site that was not already on the market.
“The website has an online tender box that allows for digital submissions of tenders. There is nothing like this elsewhere.”
Mtingi says they have raked in 30 000 hits online so far, with traffic coming mainly from South Africa, but also “heavy ” traffic from India, Russia and East African countries.
Mtingi, who hails from Butterworth Eastern Cape, is no stranger to the business world. He holds an honours degree in economics from Rhodes University and worked for 12 years as a financial journalist. He has a staff of 18 workers. “We have been able to generate income through various streams in our website. We also facilitate e-procument auctions, which allows tender issuers to buy goods and services.
“We have four types of membership subscription contracts – three, six, nine and 12 months. And, of course, advertising is one of our key components [with] Thebe Investment Corporation as our main sponsor.”
Mtingi is targeting growing black emerging businesses, which he says have been locked out from the availability of information that will enable them to grow.