SCRATCH POWER EMERGES FOR UNDERSERVED MARKETS
Despite the rapid growth in smartphone usage and alternative transaction options, as well as internet-based market penetration in the country, scratch cards are pretty much still relevant to underserved markets. Having been in the communications industry for some time, the duo, Pule Bareki and Bernard Ngwaga, found a niche in the market and decided to embrace it.
Penetrating the market as Scratch Power, they offer electricity quick recharge and scratch cards. Scratch Power can be found at tuckshops, quick shops, retail shops and street vendors.
Available scratch power card denominations are P20, P30, P50, P100, and P200 while the quick recharge is unlimited.
The scratch card can conveniently be used at any time for any meter box, as it does not have an expiry. Customers need to follow instructions written on the card to add the electricity units. Scratch Power finance director Ngwaga told BusinessMonitor that third parties engaged by Botswana Power Corporation to distribute electricity over the years were failing, which affected the corporation’s service delivery.
He said most of them relied on the network, which is not reliable. “It all started as a concept, we found a problem in the utility distribution. The market went prepaid so that the service providers can sustain themselves as well,” he said.
The duo then came up with a channel to bring electricity to the people effectively.
The aim was also to empower the informal sector that usually sells on behalf of them.In addition, the managing director, Bareki said they realised that the way electricity was distributed was only limited to supermarkets and filling stations, but did not broadly reach Batswana. “(The) Scratch card has really opened up the possibility to serve deeper and deeper into underserved markets,” he said.
According to Bareki, since their product hit the market in November last year, the intake has been very good from the end customer, because street vendors already have their own loyal client base. To further market their product, the duo is still in the advanced stage of talks with other networks to offer the service as currently the scratch cards can be used through the Orange network free of charge. They are also negotiating with some retail shops to start offering their service. “We have a 24hour virtual contact centre, which can be picked by any of our employees at their own comfort. We also have a self-service, which mostly assists people who encounter problems with our tokens,” he said.