Supporting the Community in the Midst of a Pandemic
MEST’s Head of Marketing and Communication, Veronica Mulhall met with Ropafadzo Musvaire, the cofounder of Kweza to discuss their partnership with Spaza shop owners, and the impact it has had on the community.
Veronica:
Worldwide, there has been a growing movement around collaborating to get through the COVID-19 pandemic together. How has Kweza joined in to support through COVID-19?
Ropafadzo:
We have really built our engagement with our community, the Spaza shop owners who are our clients. We have become a sort of an information source for them in various areas. We have been collecting feedback on the general needs, whether it is the hand sanitizers, face masks (because the government in South Africa mandated that everyone must wear a mask in public). We’ve been keeping them up to date with all the regulations and everything they need to know about getting their business registered. they have found the information provided very useful. We are also working on a partnership with Flutterwave, on a CSR project where we are going to distribute food packages and use our Spaza shops as the distribution point.
It has been interesting to see companies come together and partner up, something that might normally not happen. As we run our daily operations, we have to be innovative and think outside the box. We have had to change and it has actually made the whole process a lot easier.
Veronica:
As Kweza considered a key service provider, your daily operations are vital at this time. How has that been? Have you had extra challenges especially with maintaining your 24-hour delivery guarantee?
Ropafadzo:
What we have seen is the prices of goods have increased because of demand and shortages that are happening in the market now, so we have had to change where we purchase. In terms of the actual operations, we have been consistent.
We have actually managed to see an increase and a consistent growth in our gross revenue, so people are finding our service quite useful during this time.
Veronica:
You work a lot with Spaza shop owners, many of whom are small business owners themselves. Do you have any stories of what they have been going through or what they are sharing with you that resonate at this time?
Ropafadzo:
They have found the Kweza service quite useful, as they do not have to worry about actually going out; they know that they have a reliable service.
What we have seen with them is that they have changed their basket size on our platform and we’ve seen an increased volume in the stuff that they are ordering. It has been great that we have a service that has able to be adaptable for their needs.
Unfortunately, there has been a rise in crime. We have had a few of our customers whose shops have been broken into, and in times like that, we have been actually able to support them. We have got great relationships with our clients, So they can come to us and let us know, “Hey, people broke into my shop so I can only pay you in a day or two” and us just being able to at least offer that service has been quite useful for them as well.
Veronica:
That is amazing. At this point being able to have that type of personal relationship is huge. How has it been for your business? Have you had extra strain or challenges?
Ropafadzo:
What this has actually allowed us to do is focus more on some of the things that we are not able to when our operations are running as normal. Even just taking time to slow down and get to understand the customers, call them, and see how they are doing, being able to provide the small extra services, like making sure that we can source sanitizers or masks has brought us closer to the customers as well. That has been rewarding.
In terms of strain, I think definitely, especially for operations, we did not really anticipate the amount of work that was going to be involved. We are committed to power on.
Veronica:
Perfect. What changes have come from this that you think will stay post-COVID-19 as well for your company?
Ropafadzo:
COVID-19 has forced us to streamline the operations. We were purchasing from quite a few wholesalers and it impacted our overall operational costs. Now, that we have gone through this experience and we’ve seen that we can cut back and still provide a valuable service. That is definitely something we are going to maintain going forward. And the relationships, the depth of the relationships that we have built with the customers now during this time has improved so much. This level of personal communication is something that Kweza will continue with going forward.
Veronica:
Overall for your industry, what lessons do you think are being learned right now?
Ropafadzo:
Our industry is quite fragmented; there are quite a few players in the space. One of the biggest lessons has been realizing that there is a lot of outstanding issues, such as compliance, that need to be dealt with. Right now, the spazas have had to be registering their shops so that they can actually continue to function. Pre-COVID-19, a lot of them did not have those registration documents and they were not compliant. This has slowed down their progress, they are having issues with the police coming and closing the shops. Now they actually realize, “Okay, so compliance is actually a real thing we need to deal with and it needs to be resolved.”
Maybe most importantly, there has been a spotlight on spazas. People recognize that it is actually a really important service. They really provide an essential service to the communities that they serve.
Veronica:
I definitely hope that you all continue to stay safe and I am very grateful, and throwing out a thank you from all of MEST for serving so many of your community members during COVID-19.
Ropafadzo:
It has been a pleasure. It has been a learning process for us as well. The opportunity has been great to be able to be part of what is happening right now and create an impact in the community.
