Twiva is a social commerce solution for MSMEs which harnesses the power of influencers to connect with the MSMEs target audience. It provides MSMEs with a simple interface to enter details of the products that they are selling. Influencers and micro-influencers, then select products/services that they want to promote and these are automatically listed on their social media shops and are available as shoppable posts on each of their social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, etc.).
Innovation
- Market analysis indicates that MSMEs would benefit greatly from utilizing influencers and micro-influencers. A Geopoll survey in Kenya and Nigeria found that 90% of marketing professionals plan to allocate more than 10% of their budget to influencer marketing. 50% of consumers trusted influencer recommendations above brand advertising. Further afield, Smart Insights identified that 89% of marketing professions in the UK believe that influencer marketing provides a comparable or better ROI than other forms of marketing.
- Many MSMEs do not have the financial resources or expertise required to set up, manage and market an eCommerce site or tap into the marketing potential of influencers.
- Twiva is a social commerce solution for MSMEs which harnesses the power of influencers to connect with the MSMEs target audience. It provides MSMEs with a simple interface to enter details of the products that they are selling. Influencers and micro-influencers, then select products/services that they want to promote and these are automatically listed on their social media shops and are available as shoppable posts on each of their social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, etc.).
- Social listening tools are utilized to identify influencers who have a good fit with the MSME’s product/service and target market. The influencers use their social media skills to promote the products. Customers are given access to products they are likely to be interested in. MSMEs are able to build an online presence at minimal cost and complexity and acquire an initial customer base funnelled through influencers. This access to market allows MSMEs to rapidly build their on-line sales channels.
Key Milestones Under KCJF
- Projecting to enable over 2,000 MSMEs to increase their monthly revenue by more than £233 by June 2022. Assuming these MSMEs then employ an average of 1.5 additional people with this additional revenue, this will create 3,000 new jobs.
- Work opportunities will be created for Twiva’s 2,600 registered digital creative (content creators and influencers).
- The success of this initiative will catalyse the use of social commerce and influencer marketing in Kenya.
Founder’s Profiles
Peter N. Kironji is the Founder and CEO of Twiva. He has extensive experience in product and business development from his work in Cyber Security, banking and entrepreneurial ventures in Kenya and Canada. He is an experienced software engineer, an entrepreneur, and a Computer Engineering Graduate from the University of Toronto. When his Kenyan based ventures failed to attain sustainability, he zoomed in on the challenges that made it so difficult to attain sustainability and quickly realized that small business owners lacked affordable, effective, and digital access to markets despite the vast penetration of internet connectivity and the adoption of social media platforms and mobile banking in Kenya.
Esther N. Kimani is the Co-Founder of Twiva. She has extensive experience in Marketing, Finance and Risk Management from her work experience in the banking industry in Kenya and Canada. She is a Finance and economics graduate from Rotman Commerce at the University of Toronto. She joined Peter to create a platform that provides businesses with digital, affordable, and efficient access to the market as this is one of the biggest challenges faced by MSMEs.