Working from home during the Covid-19 period was supposed to be a dreary, boring time with my attention either on a screen or food at any given time.
It turned out, however, to be an incredible experience that may well be considered life-changing.
I ran a little sports store in town, selling all types of apparel including football jerseys, socks and shoes. The market it was located in, however, had been ordered shut by authorities to prevent the spread of the virus.
I went home and decided to pay for a subscription to an online streaming service, assuming I’d be spending a lot of time in front of the TV.
I knew I had to get creative. Already, I used messaging and social media applications, mostly Whats App, Instagram and Twitter, to promote my store.
But I wasn’t quite getting enough customers from my online platforms to get me through the Covid-19 period with my shop closed.
With nothing but time on my hands, I was stuck at home. I updated all my pages with photos and prices of all the goods I had in stock.
Just then, I thought of another idea I suspected could help me.
I called up Jonte, one of my neighbourhood friends who once mentioned he does freelance web design.
I wanted a website made for me to take my online shop to the next level, complete with payment options.
Other than mobile money, Jonte informed me that I could have electronic cards as a payment option, allowing people to quickly purchase my products from my site with the money going directly into my account.
“In fact, Co-op Bank have a solution specifically for business owners like you. All you need to do is to talk to them, and you’ll have it fully integrated,” he told me.
I was fascinated. I thought of all the new clients that would possibly use my platform once I unveiled it, safely paying with their cards and having their jerseys delivered to their homes.
The next day, I made a visit to the bank and I was guided on how to integrate online card payments.
Two weeks later, my online store was up and running and I was back in businesses.
I embarked on an aggressive marketing strategy, sending links to all my old clients from my store and anyone else on my contact list.
Soon, I was getting all types of orders from around the country, and it was almost like my store was never closed. I was back.
A majority of the big purchases, I noticed, were being made using cards. Although I had integrated an online payments solution from Co-op bank, it allowed me to receive payments from customers with cards from other banks.
I had new customers including from countries such as Tanzania and South Africa, paying in various currencies with all types of cards such as international VISA credit and debit cards and prepaid cards.
Waking up and going to my computer to look at a long list of pending orders, I couldn’t believe how staying at home had changed my life.