Dayvee and James are the faces behind Mzizzi, an e-commerce start-up platform for businesses to sell goods and services online.
The platform that comes with payment gateways and delivery solution is the flagship of the Paytree Group, their platform for helping firms set up online shops and electronic payments solution.
Failure to find “quality” honey and fruit for James’ child was to become the inspiration behind what is now a promising start-up in a highly digitalised global marketplace.
James, the co-founder and chief operating officer for Paytree, saw a need and decided to set up an online grocery shop complete with payment and delivery propositions.
“I wanted to run this as a ‘side-hustle’ and, therefore, needed to have a platform that would allow customers to place their orders, pay and have the items delivered without involving much of my
time; a solution was hard to come by and I decided to build one with my colleague, Dayvee,” he says.
“After working on this for some time, we realised that this was an unmet need in the market and decided to help other entrepreneurs just like us.”
The business which was formed in early 2018 with the e-commerce platform going live in August that year has signed up about 1,000 merchants.
“I view problems as unmet needs and come up with ways to satisfy those needs,” says Davyee, the co-founder and chief executive.
“When we create solutions that help other businesses succeed, it gives me a sense of purpose. I ensure that the customer is well served and happy to recommend us to the next potential customer.”
The duo spends long hours working for the business with an understanding that it takes “sacrifice on most aspects of life to grow a business from scratch”.
Finding, hiring and retaining the best skills has been the biggest challenge for the business partners who met in college.
“As an entrepreneur, you are a Swiss Army knife tasked with providing different value to different people, and I get joy being a useful tool to differ ent people be it, my customers or employees,”
Dayvee says.
And his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: “Don’t be entitled, the world doesn’t owe you a thing. Find a path in life that you feel is right and direct your efforts in its growth, then keep working on
it until you succeed.”
–Constant Munda