BuyPower aims to ease the pain of utility payments in Nigeria
In the hard-charging startup world that the two men entered there was little time to recall the details of regular day to day existence — like paying bills on time.
"Amidst our bustling timetables we would attempt to discover time to dash down to the power organization to get power for the house," Ufaruna said. Now and again they wouldn't make it in time.
"On the off chance that they are shut you need to remain in obscurity til Monday when they open," said Ufaruna. "You have conditions where individuals are venturing out and they need to go to the utility and there are long lines."
A few ends of the week, Ufaruna said he would see many individuals processing around outside, sitting tight for the opportunity to get to the power organization to pay their bills.
"It was that dissatisfaction that persuaded us to make a move," Ufaruna said.
The men aroused utilities in Abuja to begin taking a shot at the issue. Through the span of 2015, they pitched BuyPower, saying they would deal with the cost of revealing an installment administration, every one of the utilities needed to do was incorporate with their product.
That ended up being a test in itself. "They had an exceptionally obsolete innovation," said Ufaruna. So with his accomplices, Ufaruna begin redesigning the back end of the utility's installments framework.
"We began doing the cleanup and that was the primary layer of the test. It took us a half-year," says Ufaruna.
By April of 2016, the fellow benefactors had an item. They did a little email impact to their supporters and moved up their initial 50 clients before the day's over.
Presently, the business visionaries have 40% of the paid power advertise in Abuja, all without spending a dime on showcasing, as indicated by Ufaruna.
Buypower is as of now producing $1 million in income a month, by charging utilities a rate of each power buy and a 50 penny expense for every exchange.
Just accessible to homes with net metering, who are pre-paying for power, BuyPower's originators are as of now pondering next strides and hoping to venture into the water business.
"Will extend the administrations that we have at this moment," says Ufaruna. "Since we have this high engagement we don't have to spend to obtain new business from similar clients."
About 35% of the organization's clients live in suburbia encompassing Abuja, while another half are situated in the capital itself.
"We have profound roots in two urban areas at this moment (Abuja and Jos) [and] we will grow past these urban areas after demo day and raising money. When we have coordinated with all the service organizations in Nigeria, then we will go into our next vertical," Ufaruna wrote in an email.
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