Challenge

Izemall was founded in 2017 focusing on the enrichment of our customers, sellers and the entire community. It was during one of our flea markets, a platform for small and medium traders to sell their wares, that we had a breakthrough. Traders were asking us to hold the market every weekend, but with limited resources, that wasn't feasible. Suddenly, we had a eureka moment, an idea - what if we created a market that never closed? A place where traders could showcase their products from anywhere, at any time. And to make it even more valuable to customers, we could deliver the goods they purchased.

 

With this e-commerce concept in mind, we set out to develop the business and find the perfect name. We drew inspiration from the stories of e-commerce giants like Jack Ma, Jeff Bezos, and Pierre Omidyar. After much brainstorming and feedback from family and friends, we settled on the name Buymall. The 'Buy' symbolized the customer purchasing the merchandise that we will be selling while the 'mall' represented the shopping mall/the marketplace. However, along the journey we had to change the name, we changed the name to Izemall.com (ize 'easy' representing the simplicity the platform is to bring in the lives of its users, as our moto is 'Making Life Easy). For us technology is supposed to enhance and simplify life.

Networking

Once armed with the idea of izemall.com, we knew that the next step was to start building the platform. However, we soon realized that we did not have the necessary skill set to develop a digital platform on our own. Instead of giving up, we sought advice and guidance from experts in the field. We reached out to Rachael Sibande, who was gracious enough to listen to our idea and suggest that we work with NextKode. When we shared our vision with the NextKode team, they were ready to take on the challenge. As we developed the platform, we knew that we needed to focus on setting up the company and the business, thus, we brought in another co-founder who was strong on the business side.

 

Registration

Our focus then turned to drafting the Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association (MEMARTS). We discussed the initial shares allocation, the governance structure, and many other frameworks that would have a bearing on the future of the company. With the help of our Lawyer, we successfully incorporated izemall with the Registrar of Companies in 2017. We learned that building a successful company requires recognizing and leveraging the strengths of others, protecting everyone's interests, and seeking out guidance from those with more experience.

Business Failure

When we had finished developing Izemall.com platform, we faced the challenge of finding a secure online payment system. Banks didn't have the facility to integrate with e-commerce merchants, and mobile money providers were at the time upgrading their system. We refused to compromise on the security of our platform and didn't want to rely on options like pay-on-delivery. But we didn't give up. We explored various options and found one international bank that was piloting their payment system - and we were their first customer! But even with this breakthrough, the first year of business was tough. We faced financial and technical difficulties and had to halt the izemall project. It was a painful setback, and personally, some of us even returned to the job market looking for employment. But we didn't let this defeat us.

Rebirth

When Covid-19 hit, we knew we missed an opportunity to be of service to people who were afraid and isolated due to the pandemic. We knew we had to re-strategize and re-birth the idea. And that's exactly what we did. In 2021, we decided to take a leap of faith and rebuild the platform and systems. With renewed determination, we rebuilt our platform and systems from the ground up. Now you can enjoy our services! This journey has taught us that perseverance and determination are key ingredients to success. We're a symbol of resilience and persistence, and we're ready to take on any challenge that comes our way. Our journey hasn't been easy, but we never gave up on our dream of transforming the e-commerce landscape in Malawi and Africa. We invite you to join us on this exciting journey and see what we can achieve together! Thank you for your support, and we can't wait to continue growing with you!